A Murderous Relation

I'd previously read the first in the series and found it promising if not a new favorite. When I saw this one pop up on NetGalley, I requested it without reading every detail of the blurb—only enough to think it was a Jack the Ripper novel.

Thus I was completely blindsided by 30% of the book being placed in an upscale brothel and describing all the outlandish sorts of debauchery that occurs in it, the most disturbing of which was a creepy guy who was into bondage, who got nearly 10% of page real estate, and who played no role in the mystery to boot. This sort of gratuitous kink is disgusting and extra annoying, only playing a role of showing how Veronica thinks “well, more power to him, whatever he likes as long as he's an adult making his own decisions” even though he can't seem to leave her alone. Showing some facts of life as a part of a mystery is one thing; throwing in detailed descriptions of the atmosphere just to use up page space by giving loads of details which are disturbing and gross is completely different. Nearly everything she saw in that 30% of the book spent in the brothel had no effect on the mystery at all. Before finding the body—after which the kink was left behind for facts and a new twist—the scenes yielded only two minor clues.

I did enjoy it better after the kidnapping. A relation comes back to stage a new assault on Stoker and Veronica and they aren't going to stop until their ends are accomplished, no matter how little our MCs are inclined to go along with those plans. The hair-raising escape attempt sequence was the best part of the book, with all sorts of danger and a royal prince along for the crazy ride. This is about 30% of the book and gained an entire star for the book...this is the sort of action I was looking for when I asked to read this novel. Especially the masterful scene where Veronica brushes up against a monster in the fog.

But then the story deflates again and Stoker and Veronica become mere reactionaries to others' plans. They try to put a few clues together but they are always a day late and ten pounds short. Ultimately they fall for a trick that should have been excessively transparent and nearly die for their troubles while someone else solves the whole thing. Say what? Yes, that's right: Veronica doesn't solve the case.

So yeah, a mystery viewed by side characters in the solving of it was a big bummer. I'd have preferred to follow the Scotland Yard group who was actually matching clues together instead of being in Veronica's head thinking only about how she's going to manage to sleep with Stoker. And Stoker does hardly anything except get gravely hurt more than once and swear a lot. As in, nearly every other word that comes out of his lips is a high-level profanity.

Sadly, I won't be continuing this series after a disappointment of this level. There are too many other good books waiting on my overstuffed TBR.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free reading copy. A favorable review was not required.