Customer Reviews

A Most Inconvenient Death (A Lord Danvers Mystery)

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4 star:		(3)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Donna Crow has long been known for her fiction, but with a Most Incovenient Death, she has attracted a new fan.
I must admit, I'm not a big reader of historical mysteries, although I like mystery fiction and historical ficiton. But in "Most Convenient Death", Crow had me at the second paragraph with her description of the "cragg" man in a tall silk hat. Her apt description leaves little doubt of the time period in which the novel is set and for Anglophiles everywhere, this book is a treat. Recommended.

Although I don't make a habit of reading historical fiction, I found Donna Fletcher Crow's "A Most Inconvenient Death" to be a fascinating journey into the daily lives of nineteenth-century British aristocrats and their servants. She did an amazing job of creating believable fictional characters and scenes to embellish the true stories of real-life individuals. Her detailed descriptions, which were seamlessly woven into the story, made the book believable as well as visual in my mind. I could easily picture the character's homes, furniture, clothing, carriages, hairstyles, fields and much more. And I learned about communication methods, sources of entertainment, court procedures, customs and mannerisms of the day.

The mysterious deaths of innocent people and disappearances of not-so-innocent people keep the hero--and the reader--guessing. Step-by-step, the author builds confusion, mystery and tension, but not without moments of levity and spiritual insights.

All in all, "A Most Inconvenient Death" is a fun, educational read guaranteed to make one contemplate life and death, right and wrong--and how much fun it would be to float over the British countryside in a hot air balloon, sipping champagne and waving to the farmers and hunters below.

I always enjoy historical mysteries, and this one didn't disappoint. This is a fun and entertaining read suitable for all ages. Donna Fletcher Crow's research is impeccable.

I hadn't read any of these books before, and just got this because it sounded interesting. It was. The characters are believable, and I like that the author brings their beliefs and doubts into her characters. Since the vast majority of people have a belief in some deity, I always find it odd that in so many books what has such a large role in the lives of real people has no place in the lives of the characters. I appreciate as well that doubts are handled respectfully, as are sincere religious beliefs, and that people of faith are not portrayed as "automatic hypocrites," but as imperfect humans who have found a reason to keep trying to be better.
The mystery was good, and the solution not obvious until the end, which I also enjoyed.
These aren't deep books, but for a quick, entertaining read with believable characters, they'll do nicely.

Unfortunately, although this book might be minimally entertaining, that's all I can say for it. I did finish it, but only after skimming over some of the more tedious Christian descriptive parts. Really, it didn't know whether it wanted to be a treatise on morality, or a mystery novel. The central protagonist Lord Danvers seemed to spend most of his time with soul searching and agonizing over his suspicions, and although it may have been true to the original crime, I found the ending very unsatisfying and not true to form of a mystery. A fan of "True Crime" might like this story better than I did. The writing was minimally competent and some of the characterizations I found trying, especially that of the young boy "turning handsprings;" in the words of another author, "Real children do not go hoppity skip unless they are on drugs." I can only imagine what would be said about this particular "child." All in all I felt rather cheated as I adore a good historical mystery, especially of the Victorian/Edwardian eras, but this one didn't fill the bill. I can only be glad that at the time it was fairly cheap as these flaws did not come out in the sample that I downloaded.