Although I love the entire Austen Mysteries series so far, some of the individual books can drag. Barron's version of Austen is always a great, funny, observant, courageous detective, so she and her supporting cast and all of the historical details that Barron includes are enough to keep me interested. But some of the books have had stretches in which I was eager to get back to the investigation. Stillroom Maid doesn't have that problem and so it's one of my favorites.
The plot really moves. When the body of the eponymous woman is found among the hills of Northern England, Austen's investigation into her death basically takes place over a weekend and she's active the whole time. The story also keeps interesting by switching between three great settings: the craggy wilderness, a quaint village full of suspects, and an elaborate estate with a lavish mansion of even more potential killers. My mind's eye was quite happy.
And then there's the fact that the maid herself was possibly a witch. Just my cup of tea.
9 comments:
A very happy new year to you, Mr May!
A very happy new year to you, Mr May!
I’m not sure if THE OTHER BENNET SISTER is entirely your cup of tea, but I’ve rather enjoyed it’s gentle charms and thought that you might like to give it a look (Since you seem to have been in an Austen-tacious mood).
I have a soft spot for Mary, so I will definitely check that out! Thanks!
Dear Mr May, apologies for placing this recommendation so clumsily, but YOUNG SHERLOCK is well worth watching if you have access to Amazon Prime: it takes a while to get going, but you’ll be glad to have stayed the course by the time it reaches the destination.
No more details, but it definitely benefits from an extremely fun cast (Particular credit to Mrs Holmes for paying our heartstrings like a heavenly harp and to whomsoever tracked down an actor with THE most perfect Moriarty look outside the pages of The Strand).
Just finished watching the AD 1972 adaptation of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES that you were kind enough to point me towards via your letterboxd account: an extremely enjoyable bite-sized version with an interesting touch or two to recommend it (Doctor Mortimer as Gothic type, rather than someone more ‘Hobbit’ is quite unusual, but works rather well): I’m also especially happy to see a Holmes played with a matter of fact affect that adds to his panache without demeaning his Watson (Who also gets to be quite nearly as useful as he is comic, which is always nice to see).
Special credit to the final sequence for giving us a flourish of Holmesian mischief after he’s largely been on his best behaviour throughout.
I looooved Young Sherlock! And I completely agree about both Mrs Holmes and Moriarty.
And special props to Joseph Fiennes as a truly despicable villain that I wanted to find out wasn't actually a villain even though I knew he was. He was so good at gaslighting that I wanted to believe him too.
I really hope we get a Season 2.
THE OTHER BENNET SISTER is available for me to stream as of today, so thank you for that recommendation! Can't wait!
And glad you liked HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES '72! I can't wait to talk about it in more detail on the podcast one day.
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