Customer Reviews

Bleeding Heart Square

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

There's nothing better than a good mystery - unless it's a good historical novel, and Andrew Taylor has crafted both in Bleeding Heart Square. The characters are creatures of their era, sometimes maddeningly reserved, not quite modern but with telephones and cars. The two main protagonists evolve wonderfully because of choices each is making, and there are also two wicked villains to compete for your attention, both of them with designs on the heroine.
I was able to guess one of the twists that came clear towards the end - so satisfying, that - and was surprised at the other - also satisfying.

Pay attention here to the negative reviews. If you prefer characters dashing from explosions and shoot-outs to sex every few paragraphs - this probably isn't the one for you.

If, on the other hand, you enjoy intelligent, complex characters and meticulous plotting, then Bleeding Heart Square is a winner.

Using the diary of a woman who disappeared 4 years prior, the author sets up a mystery that keeps the reader guessing right up until the very end. Bleeding Heart Square is a dreary cul-de-sac in London that is home to a collection of seedy and vile characters. The superstitions and legends concerning Bleeding Heart Square create a climate of suspicion and violence among the residents.

The heroine is Lydia Langstone, an "almost 30" lady of the manor who flees an abusive husband to live with her estranged and alcoholic father. The hero is Rory Wentwood, a jilted and unemployed journalist turned private detective. These two people examine the disappearance of P.M. Penhow, who disappeared four years earlier and was the previous owner of the building in Bleeding Heart Square, in which they both live. Their efforts begin independent of each other, but as the story progresses, they work together to try to find out what happened. The villain is Joseph Serridge, landlord to both of our heroes and an imposing and powerful figure, both physically and politically.

I must say that I was completely surprised by the ending. While the main characters uncover a lot of information and learn more than they bargained for in other areas, they never do find out what happened to Miss Penhow. The reader does, however, and in a very unexpected way.

There are several story lines at work throughout the book. The personal stories of each character are woven into the whole of the story, but the appearance of the Facist Party in England and the relationships of characters both past and present keep the reader on his toes and guessing at what will happen next. Each chapter begins with an exerpt from P.M. Penhow's diary with comments made by in the second person to "you." Not until the end does the reader find out who "you" is.

I was so impressed with this book that I couldn't put it down. It wasn't a fast read for me. I've read a lot of mysteries, but this one is completely different from anything I've read. There was some confusion in the first couple of chapters as the story sets itself up, but if the reader will just keep reading, it will all become clear. It's a complicated story with a raft of characters and many different plots coming and going. Through all of that, it never lost it's focus on the original premise. I will be looking for more by this author.

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. Sadly, there wasn't nearly enough mystery and the novel didn't start to pick up steam until page 300 or so. At first, I thought the stagnating plot might be a clever device. That Talyor was winding down a spring, building up tension that would inevitably explode into a fast paced novel. But, sadly, that was not the case. Taylor kept winding and winding. And the not-quite-big-enough explosion when it occurred waited until the very end of the book.

Perhaps Taylor simply wound things up too much and the spring snapped. Most readers probably do not have the patience to wade through all this prose or have the fishing boots to wade for that long. And by the time you get to the end, the impending danger didn't seem dangerous enough and the mystery seemed somewhat predictable and not all that mysterious.

And that's a pity. Taylor is really quite a gifted writer. His writing is rich and his prose is elegant. He has a keen eye for detail and fleshing out believable characters. The descriptions are never forced, but really add incredible dimension. When Lydia Langstone enters her house at the beginning of the novel he describes it as a 'dirty wedding cake.' In one simile he gives us a visual image of the building, insight into the state of Lydia's marriage, and conveys Lydia's feelings about coming home. This is potent stuff and Taylor writes this way throughout the book.

He also has a knack for creating a solid cast of characters and an unexpected, convoluted web that joins their lives together. He even hits the setting, spot on, for a mystery novel. He describes a dreary, 1930s, pre-World War II London with incredible aplomb. He even sets his characters within their various social classes and within the political turmoil of the times.

But in spite of the writing, the characters, the tangled web, and the dreary setting very little happens of significance until the bitter end. The feelings of impending doom are not impending enough to propel the reader along. And by the climax, the various characters end up appearing to be simply who they are; they do seem to get what they deserve in the end but in a somewhat too tidy and predictable fashion.

If I were a betting man, I'd put my money on Taylor. I have not read the rest of his oeuvre, but he seems to have the raw talent. If he hasn't already penned a great mystery novel he most certainly will. Unfortunately, this was not it.

A facet of the writer's craft involves arming the readers with a particular viewpoint of the characters within a story. Here, the author effects a somewhat different approach on that notion - he keeps the reader somewhat off-balance. One cannot put his or her finger on any of the principals (at least not until the very end) and say "good guy" or "bad guy." I applaud Andrew Taylor and appreciate his tactic in trying to present his story in a fresh manner but, for me, it simply doesn't click.

Granted, being surprised by a white hat which suddenly turns out to be black (or even the reverse) is often a terrific feature of numerous mysteries. But as a matter of emotional comfort and in support of "reader escapism," most of us prefer clear labels appended to our characters. Achieving this placation becomes a bit of a dilemma in this rather strange tale.

Here's what we have:

-- the setting is London, not long before WW II

-- a foolish and rich old aunt... semi-married to a con man, and now missing

-- a concerned niece and her sympathetic fiancé

-- several ne'er-do-wells and other brutish political characters

-- an affable lady fleeing her philandering and abusive husband

-- the father of this lady, a desiccated drunk

-- an unsavory, not-too-likeable minister

-- a seamy old rooming house in a seedy section of London

-- a derelict hamlet outside of London where certain principals cross trails

-- a mysterious death

This account unfolds partially in retrospect through the device of the missing and naïve lady's diary entries. We don't know who now has their hands on it but this lamentable lady's marital sojourn emerges as each new diary page is intermittently revealed. It's not a spoiler for me to discuss the weak link in this tale which concerns the missing lady, (since she is absent from the very outset).

On the strength of a letter posted from New York City telling her minister that she's run off with a former lover, leaving her former one in England, the search for her is quickly concluded and the police case closed. That proviso is hardly credible and it didn't fly with me. In the pre-WW II era, Scotland Yard would clearly have followed up with the New York Police to track this lady down to verify her status.

If the character development is a tad thin here, the wallpaper is equally so. The setting of this story presented every potential to have oodles of historical backdrop layered in. Sadly, that did not happen. There are numerous references to an historic chapel but the details on that are fairly superficial. And when one of the author's vital clue-bombs was dropped, (for me anyway), it just sort of went "Ffffsssssst!"

You might be wondering why I finished this 432-book if it's so bad. Well, the book isn't really all that bad -- it's quite pleasant reading. It simply does not ensnare the reader as we expect a clever mystery to do. But the work does convey one huge plus. Andrew Taylor can write dialogue like nobody's business - this is some of the best conversational writing that I've ever encountered. So that is the feature which sort of kept me on board.

If you're looking for an engaging Christie- or Rinehart-type mystery here, you're on the wrong track. This is a mystery-noir, more akin to Val McDermott's contemporary A Place of Execution. I would never re-read this particular book but, given Taylor's extraordinary gift for penning terrific dialogue, I'm going to give at least one of his other works a chance.

I have been a fan of Andrew Taylor's mysteries since reading his marvelous "Caroline Miniscule" years ago.
Some Amazon reviewers have complained that this novel is too slow. Surely it is too slow for those who expect a mystery to be like an action comic. This develops in a leisurely way as the characters and situations develop in ever more complex ways. It is bifurcated, in that sections of mounting horror in a diary are interspersed with events in the life of a young society matron who leaves her brutal husband and goes to live with her dishonest and impoverished father in Bleeding Heart Square. [And yes, there are echoes here of the Bleeding Heart Yard from Dickens' Little Dorrit, but I think mainly for the gruesome name. And there actually was such a place.] It soon becomes clear that the author of the diary, who is clearly heading for her death, is somehow connected with the house in bleeding Heart Square. Our young matron becomes involved with a journalist who has been drawn into the mystery of the missing diarist -- not that the diary has been found and read by anyone; a part of the mystery is just who it is that is aware of this diary and whose comments introduce each section. In the best mystery fashion, one thing leads to another in a deepening spiral of disaster, all leading to a rousing and unexpected finale.
A minor but interesting aspect of this novel is its inverse Cinderella story: the rich girl finds herself living in near squalor and has to work to earn just enough for bread, tea, and occasional cheap meals at the local hash house. The "Prince Charming" she meets is in love with another, and in any case is unemployed, of a lower class than she, and not all that attractive.

Rory is trying to find out what happened to his fiance's aunt, Miss Penhow. Lydia has just left her abusive husband. Their lives intersect at 7 Bleeding Heart Square.

Lydia is an upper-class woman on left to her own resources for the first time in her life. She moves in with her father, a man she barely knows, at Bleeding Heart Square.

Rory is an out of work journalist who has just been jilted by his fiance. But he is still trying to track down the mystery of her aunt. So he moves to Bleeding Heart Square, which was formerly owned by Miss Penhow.

The building is now owned by the mysterious Mr. Serridge, who has a strange relationship with Lydia's father. Serridge is being watched by a detective, Sergeant Narton, who enlists Rory to aid in his investigation.

This is only the beginning of this tale. You'll quickly be drawn into its further twists and turns. Why did Miss Penhow sign her property over to Mr. Serridge? What happened in the village of Rawling, where Miss Penhow spent her last days before disappearing? Who is sending rotting animal hearts to Serridge, and why? And is the British Fascist party, in which Lydia's husband is an officer, involved in the mystery?

This is a cleverly written novel. I enjoyed it a lot, and it was a bonus that it is set in my favorite historical period, the years between the World Wars. "Bleeding Heart Square" is definitely not a typical formula mystery. Your brain will get a workout trying to figure this one out!

This book turned out better than expected! Fully engaging. All the characters are complex and interesting. It starts out great & ends in a way I didn't anticipate. A real page turner. This isn't a scary mystery book. It's a who done it mystery book. The London setting is a nice change from most of the mystery books I've read which are usually set somewhere in America. The vast gully between the rich/privilaged & the poor/underprivilaged is a painful reminder of the intense hardships of the past. This is a fantastic historical mystery novel set 1934. How far women's rights have come! I would have given this 5 stars if it wasn't for the lack of satisfaction at the very end. Not necessarily a lack of satisfaction in the story, but in the way I personally hoped it would end.
Absolutely a recommended read!

Had I not committed to reviewing this, I'd have bailed at page 43. But I felt I just had to give it a better shot than that and soldiered on, mumbling repeatedly to myself "what am I missing here?" until I reached page 137 and simply could not force myself to go further.

Normally such a melodramatic title might have given me pause. But one of my favorite writers of British mysteries, Deborah Crombie, gave this book an absolutely glowing blurb--as I recall, the word "brilliant" followed by multiple exclamation marks was involved. Also, a check of my London A to Z map showed that there actually is such a place, which led to the possibility that a title that sounded mustache-twirly might actually be more Anne Perry-like. I'd never heard of this author, but a quick check of Amazon shows he's written several other mysteries that are averaging a little over four stars from reader reviews, many of which take pains to single out the exceptional quality of the writing. Not only that, the back of the jacket lists an impressive array of awards. How could a reader go wrong?

And where do I get off telling you I think this is book verges on unreadable?

Well, for one thing, each chapter (at least the 9 I waded through) opens with an excerpt from the diary of a naïve and uninteresting woman, introduced by an unidentified narrator, which I guess is supposed to sound mysterious but just comes off dull. From there we move on to the eponymous Square and its denizens, environs and lore... none of which come alive enough on the page to be compelling. At least not to me. Paragraphs plod along in a herky-jerky mix of short declarative sentences and flat, largely irrelevant detail that slows the flow, while frequent and unexpected scene changes cry out for segues. I kept hoping plot would triumph over presentation and perhaps eventually it did. I just couldn't make myself stay long enough to find out. So the question remains: What am I missing here? Perhaps one of you who makes it to the end will let me know via a comment.

Unlike other mysteries this one is clever, suspenseful, surprising and introduces a cast of characters Dickens would love. The slow build up is important as the slow threat of an impending war is on the horizon and the ominous signs of fascism contribute to the suspense and make this historical mystery a great read.
The ending is surprising as it should be in a good mystery and I loved the woman protagonist, as she was believable and bold at the same time.

It is 1934 and twenty-nine-year-old Lydia Langstone has left her wealthy, but abusive husband and moved into a flat with her alcoholic father at 7 Bleeding Heart Square, not the best address in London, a definite drop in status for someone used to her own servants.

Other tenants at 7 Bleeding Heart include landlord Joseph Serrige, who someone is sending rotting hearts to. Imagine opening a package and finding maggots eating away at something like that. Think Serrige has a past, has made some enemies? Rory Wentworth also has a flat at 7 Bleeding Heart. He's an out of work journalist.

Also residing at that address is the memory of the former owner, Philippa Penhow, who mysteriously vanished a year ago. Supposedly she met the love of her life, picked up and took off to America with him without so much as a by your leave.

Rory is engaged to Philippa's niece Fenella Kensley and Fenella thinks there is something suspicious about her aunt's disappearance and before long Lydia and Rory are in the thick of things. Also looming in the background is that abusive husband, a guy named Marcus, who is also a fascist. He wants Lydia back and, of course, she doesn't want to go back. And there you have the setup of this superb mystery.

I have to say, if you like historical mysteries, you're going to love this story. Andrew Taylor has nailed the time and place. He's nailed his characters too. This is a mystery you can sink your teeth into and you'll be thinking about all the strange things that happen at 7 Bleeding Square long after you finish this novel.