Author: M.R.C. Kasasian
Series: The Violet Thorn Mysteries #1
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Gothic, Historical
Publisher: Saga Egmont
Narrator: Emma Gregory
First Published: June 2023
Book Description: Home is where the horror is…
Jilted thriller writer Lady Violet Thorn has withdrawn to the Suffolk market town of Montford with two servants and her leading character, the adventuress Ruby Gibson, for company.
Violet’s peace is disturbed when a stranger asks her for help, claiming that a friend is being kept prisoner in her own home. Her visitor seems so afraid that Violet, despite her scepticism, is persuaded to investigate.
A woman is killed outside Violet’s house, then another murdered in the town and, as the deaths mount up, she becomes convinced that they all lead to one place: the increasingly forbidding Haglin House, and whoever lives there
Thoughts:
This is a very good example of Gothic stories, the Victorian times, big flowy dresses, overly conservatory beliefs and a time fully ruled by men- a thinking woman? No, of course not, that's too unnatural. Let's make sure not to bother the flimsy little women's minds with troubling things like information.
This is a very unevenly paced story, but the contestant twists and turns are so over the top it becomes enjoyable and funny, the characters are not very well displayed, mostly just serve as a plot point but still you get invested in the ups-and-downs of the story you won't want to put the book down until you get to the bottom of the who done it.
Enter Violet, she decides not to get married- she is actually still recovering from a heartbreak, and she's trying to be an independent woman, making her own money with her books. Her stories are about detectives catching murders, and saving the day. The funny part is that her characters do not actually stay on the page, she's constantly rebuking several of her characters' commentary on her life choices. This either you will find hilarious and entertaining or you will hate and it's present throughout the whole book.
It kicks off when a mysterious lady shows up looking for Violet. She presents such a frantic story and asks for help from the renowned Lady Violet, after all, in her books, she creates marvelous detectives who carry out amazing feats to capture the bad guy by the end of the story and come out mostly unscathed. While she's there a novellesque thing happens. A beggar woman is murdered right in from of the house.
Lady Violet rushes to give aid, she does give herself big airs but really knows very little about first aid or medical treatment but at least she tries to help the injured woman. From the start you see the struggles, the policemen are not interested in the death of a beggar and want to quickly close it as an accident. The only one heavily invested in looking into the cause of death is Violet, and she mostly follows the nudges from her character's voices. This aspect of Violet being able to carry out conversations with her characters intrigued me greatly. Are they made up or does it have a hint of paranormal to it? They did seem to know a few things that their creator, Violet, did not.
She takes journeys to parts of town where no lady should venture, meddles in other people's business and just about makes a nuisance for plenty of the men in the situation. It's hilarious.
There is a mention of a possible romantic interest but is so slight and actually not too relevant that it didn't bug me one bit. I will be continuing the series and if the romance actually develops or get more page time, it might be one of those times where it doesn't affect my enjoyment negatively.
We have a lot of running around, Violet chasing her tail trying to figure out several different mysteries that end up intertwining. Be aware that there will be so many big reveals that by the time we get to the last one, you caught up to the style and will be able to predict them. This is a fun quick read that you can use as a pallet cleanser between bigger or more serious books. Be aware this is not going to be a literary masterpiece, it's a comic cozy mystery with a very childish and amateur detective.
This was used for the challenge:
2023 Releases
Continue or cath-up to series- there is no other published work so I'm up to date ;)
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