There were constant times where I had to go back to check dates. The one and biggest complaint I have about this book is the timeline. I personally would have cut back on Georgie’s scenes and focused more of Janie. Often her chapters revealed too much about the mystery, so when Janie figured out the same things, I was like, “Yeah, I know, the reader figured that out fifty pages ago.” Just as it’s annoying if the detective solving the crime knows more than the reader, it’s also annoying if they know less. In a lot of Georgie’s chapters, I skimmed a lot more. Janie’s chapters were much more likable than Georgie’s (I’ll explain who she is in the spoiler section). But, for me, it didn’t detract from the book because I looked at the plot as more of following the unfolding of family secrets than of a typical murder mystery. For example, I had pretty much all the plot twists figured out nearly a hundred pages before they were revealed (save for the murderer him/herself). Saying that, I don’t think this detracted from the book that much. I love historical mysteries, and this one feels more like historical fiction than mystery. The plot itself felt less of a mystery than it did a family drama. There are little insertions of real world events, the dialogue feels genuine, and the descriptions are poignant. All the characters feel from the time period (a rare compliment from me, considering how many historical books I read where the characters feel modern). The historical context of this book is incredible. But I was, on the most part, pleasantly surprised.

So, for this book, I went into it trying to keep my expectations low, because I knew it would be either good or bad. Some of them I loved, some of them I hated. I read the first nine books in her Pink Carnation series (my rating for them vary from one star to four stars). I have actually read quite a few of Willig’s books.

Bay’s younger sister Janie, with the help of newspaper journalist Mr. This is, until they throw a Twelfth Night Shakespearian ball and Bayard is found with a knife in his chest and Annabelle is missing, possibly drowned in the river.

Bayard, the heir of the house, and his lovely English wife Annabelle are considered a perfect couple. Plot Synopsis: Set mostly in New York City near the turn of the century, this story follows one of the wealthiest families in the city, the Van Duyvil family.

I did find one cozy mystery I finished a couple days ago ( Murder and Marble Cake by Nancy McGoven), but besides that so far I hadn’t found a book released in 2018 which I thought was really good. If you followed my last two reviews on my blog (The Cruel Prince and The Mitford Murders), you’ll notice I haven’t been a fan of books released in 2018.

The english wife lauren willig