Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Obtained from: Netgalley/Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours
Read: March 10, 2015
It’s 1666 and the Great Fire has just decimated an already plague-ridden London. Lady’s maid Lucy Campion, along with pretty much everyone else left standing, is doing her part to help the city clean up and recover. But their efforts come to a standstill when a couple of local boys stumble across a dead body that should have been burned up in the fire but miraculously remained intact—the body of a man who died not from the plague or the fire, but from the knife plunged into his chest. Searching for a purpose now that there’s no lady in the magistrate’s household for her to wait on, Lucy has apprenticed herself to a printmaker. But she can't help but use her free time to help the local constable, and she quickly finds herself embroiled in the murder investigation. It will take all of her wits and charm, not to mention a strong stomach and a will of steel, if Lucy hopes to make it through alive herself.
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I find it amusing that I'm reviewing Susanna Calkins' The Masque and the Murderer on the tails of Mist of Midnight as I think the two make very good companion pieces. There are a lot of similarities between the books and I thought that brought a fun dynamic to my experience of both, but compare contrast is a topic for another day.
Calkins' uses the diversity of seventeenth century social stratification to her advantage which is something I found very appealing. From the stigma attached to those who'd escaped service, to the subjection of women, Calkins paints an illuminating picture of the London and her inhabitants over the course of her narrative. I was equally impressed with her treatment of the Quakers and how she wove the religious sect and their customs into the fabric of a murder investigation.
I ultimately liked how the story played out, but admit the pacing was a little slow for my tastes. Calkins also spends a significant amount of time on Lucy's personal life and while I enjoyed the perspective that brought her character, I often felt the effort diverted attention from the mystery at the heart of the story.
The Masque and the Murderer was not my first Lucy Campion mystery, I read A Murder at Rosamund's Gate in Jan 2013, but I was very aware I'd skipped From the Charred Remains. These books are not written as standalones, but that said, they are intricate and puzzling whodunits that have proved quite enjoyable to this particular reader.
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“So the truth finally comes forth,” the searcher said, a deep chill to her voice. She seemed unmoved by the circumstances that brought about her son’s murder. “I always knew you had killed my dear Edgar."
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Check Out All the Stops on Susanna Calkins' The Masque of a Murderer Blog Tour Schedule
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