Customer Reviews

The Second Glass of Absinthe: A Mystery of the Victorian West

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While the book kept me reading (I did finish it in one sitting) I have to say most of it was fairly anticlimactic. It seemed like there were a lot of social issues raised, then glossed over. I'm not sure if it was the author's intent to make a point of them, or not. The crime almost seemed to take a backseat, and the way it was "solved..." The occult actually played a part, and I prefer my detective work based in solid science (hence the reason I don't watch CSI). I didn't particularly like most of the characters - it seemed they were a little too "odd" on purpose. Character quirks are one thing, but taken to the extreme they simply overwhelm the characters and are detrimental to the storyline. Over all, not a book I would recommend, though not the worst I've read, either.

In 1880 Leadville, Colorado is booming thanks to the vein of silver being taken out of the Eye Dazzler Mine. Lucinda Ridenour, the owner of the mine, is keeping her young lover in luxurious style indulging in all kinds of debauched pleasures including drugs and the strong liquor absinthe. The last night Kit Randall spends in his lover's home, he has some hallucinations that scare him because he thinks they may be based in reality.

A spiteful Lucinda claims that he stole some items from her before leaving but he is able to talk the police out of arresting him. When his Uncle Brad and his fiancé come to town, they help him hide from the law when Lucinda is murdered. When Brad returns to Washington DC, Eden stays behind to find a way of clearing his name, even if that means figuring out who the real killer is.

THE SECOND GLASS OF ABSINTHE is an exciting amateur sleuth tale that will appeal to fans of romances and westerns as much and those who love historical mysteries will value the tale. Michelle Black is a gifted storyteller whose stark prose and compelling characters draw the reader into the heart of the story line. The mystery is well constructed and there is a plethora of suspects who had every reason to see the widow dead including her own son. Characters from other works of Michelle Black make an appearance giving the audience a feeling of continuity.

Harriet Klausner

A mystery set in the Victorian west- intriguing, isn't it? A local mine owner known best for her ability to start a scandal is found dead, and the chief suspect her former boy toy, with whom she'd recently quarreled. The town is on the edge of strike, and tensions run high.

A great start to a mystery, and it had a lot of potential to live up to.

However, it never quite made it all the way. The characters developed- but only just enough to not be entirely one-dimensional. A great deal of plot exposition was done entirely in dialogue: rather than showing us what was going on around the town, we would hear one of the few central characters talking about it. In addition, there was some backstory that felt incredibly disconnected from the rest of the story. If it had been dropped entirely, nothing else would have needed to change.

I'm glad to have read it, but I really feel that the book could have used another round of editing before seeing publication.

Sex, drugs and rock 'n roll--circa 1879. It doesn't have the fantasy/alt-history elements to make it a traditional steampunk novel, but there's a kind of twisted, proto-steampunk vibe going on.