GENRE: Historical Fiction/Mystery
SETTING: Rhode Island, USA, 1896
SERIES: Gilded Newport Mysteries, #3
AUTHOR SITE: link
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: B-
FROM PUBLISHER: For Newport, Rhode Island’s high society, the summer of 1896 brings lawn parties, sailboat races…and murder. Having turned down the proposal of Derrick Andrews, Emma Cross has no imminent plans for matrimony—let alone motherhood. But when she discovers an infant left on her doorstep, she naturally takes the child into her care. Using her influence as a cousin to the Vanderbilts and a society page reporter for the Newport Observer , Emma launches a discreet search for the baby’s mother.
One of her first stops is a lawn party at Mrs. Caroline Astor’s Beechwood estate. But an idyllic summer’s day is soon clouded by tragedy. During a sailboat race, textile magnate Virgil Monroe falls overboard. There are prompt accusations of foul play—and even Derrick Andrews falls under suspicion. Deepening the intrigue, a telltale slip of lace may link the abandoned child to the drowned man. But as Emma navigates dark undercurrents of scandalous indiscretions and violent passions, she’ll need to watch her step to ensure that no one lowers the boom on her…
MY THOUGHTS: Let me start by saying this book has way too many characters, around twenty, most introduced within the first fifty pages. Most weren't even in the picture much. By the end of the book I still wasn't 100% sure who was who and had to keep looking at my notes to help me figure things out.
There were multiple mysteries going on at the same time, too many- who, if anyone, caused the explosion on the boat, who dropped the baby off at Emma's doorstep, who shot a carriage driver, who shot a maid, and so on. I was interested in all of it. The person(s) who did the crimes, or some of them, just wasn't believable. At least not to me. The motive(s) presented were ridiculous too.
Emma's character is too perfect, flawless actually, and she's clearly a genius at solving crimes, all on her own, and without help from another soul. Sure. I didn't get any backstory on her and that's very necessary for a main character. I realized that was probably given in book one of the series but the author should have recapped in the next two. I don't even know how old she is or what she looks like.
The book is flawed, I never really got to know any of the characters, but I was kept interested and was disappointed in the climax for being far-fetched. Emma's not a character I'd want to keep reading about because she's been written as someone I can't relate to.
I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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