A Dickens of a Crime book #3
by Heather Redmond
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A very nice Dickensian mystery.
The author of this book (installment #3 in a series named "A Dickens of a Crime", but readable as a standalone) introduces us to a young, friendly and affable Charles Dickens, not yet a writer (but with a book almost ready to be published), journalist and sketch artist, full of energy and enthusiasm.
The plot of the book cleverly mixes fact and fiction, borrowing characters from his own very famous Christmas story: A Christmas Carol, but changing the names slightly, as if those were the people who inspired him to tell his Christmas tale .
The concept, as I expressed it, may seem convoluted, but if you read the book you will understand what I mean.
__ THE PLOT ___ London, December 1835: Charles and Kate, two of their brothers and a couple of friends are singing Christmas carols to raise money for charity for poor children living on the streets.
Suddenly a man's body, with chains wrapped around it, falls from a window.
The group is involved in the suspicious death as witnesses, but above all, after the magistrate declares the death as accidental, Charles, as a good journalist, decides to see clearly and discover the truth.
Together with the investigation into the murder, we follow the personal events that enter the life of our young Dickens, who finds himself in such an ambiguous and complicated situation that it could ruin his engagement and planned wedding with Kate.
I have to admit that the murder mystery was interesting to uncover, but not as completely engaging and intriguing as I expected this book to be and this is why I didn't give 5 stars.
However, on the whole, the Dickensian atmosphere of London made up of poor dirty and barefoot children, food stalls and taverns, rich and greedy people, scoundrels and actresses of dubious morality, the enthusiasm of the young Dickens, the disinterested affection of his friends and his brother, the small moments of family life... it's all described so well, that the story kept me good company page after page until the end, without ever getting tired.
I really liked seeing this mix of real characters with fictional characters taken from Dickens' own story and placed in this book as if they had been real.
I also liked the strong feeling that unites Charles and Kate. Dickens's strong desire to have not only Kate's love, but also her trust...however, I couldn't stop thinking for a moment that then he, in reality, later in the marriage, betrayed that trust, having a lover for many years and my knowledge of reality has prevented me a little from enjoying the romantic side of the protagonist.
Up to three quarters of the book it is not possible to find out who the murderer could be, then thanks to some attitudes and jokes one comes to guess, but an unexpected surprise still remains and at the end there's also an action scene that made things more compelling.
It would have been nice if there had been more action scenes spread throughout the story.
The conclusion to the book is satisfying, so for me, overall, the 4 stars are well earned.
Thanks for reading my review and forgive my bad English, it is not my native language. :-)
Merry Christmas everybody !
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