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88 of 91 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You will love following Nell around 19th century Boston!, January 11, 2005
This review is from: Still Life with Murder (Gilded Age Mysteries, No. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
I was up until 7am this morning reading this book and its sequel, Murder In a Milltown. Not since Owen Parry's Abel Jones series have I been so excited about a mystery series.
Nell Sweeney is a young woman with a dark past struggling to make a new life for herself assisting a physician when she is given the oppurtunity of a lifetime. Out of the blue, she's offered a position as governess to the wealthy Hewitt family's new ward, Grace. She knows that her scandalous past would disqualify her for the position but decideds to hide her past and take the job, hoping that this will bring the safety and security she's always wanted.
For a time all goes well, but Nell's carefully maintained new identity as straight-laced governess is put in jeapordy when her mentor and employer, Viola Hewitt, begs her to help save the eldest Hewitt son, Will, from hanging for murder. Unable to disappoint the woman who took such a chance on her, a poor unconnected Irish girl, Nell agrees to ivestigate the case. Suddenly, Nell is plunged back into a world of crime and poverty as she investigates the murder Will has been arrested for. Will, rich boy, martyr and rake, dominates every scene he is in. While his innocence is questionable, his charisma and the tragedy of his story soon have Nell determined to do everything she can to help him. While Will might be a bit of a cliche, the way he wears his frailties on his sleeve making him a worhty counterbalance to Nell's self concious propriety and righteousness. Their scenes together are some of the best in the book.
Still Life With Murder is teeming with fascinating characters. Nell's remarkable empathy with each of them, from Detective Cook to the prostitute Pearl to self-destructing Will Hewitt, make her not only a great amateur sleuth but the perfect guide through the posh parlors and rank opium dens of 19th century Boston.
An entertaining and satisfying read and a very promising series.
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41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best mystery novel I've come across in years, July 14, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Still Life with Murder (Gilded Age Mysteries, No. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
Excellent, excellent novel. A hopeless lover of mysteries, I will be the first to admit that 95% of the mystery novels out there are badly written and poorly conceived. "Still Life With Murder" is a true exception to that rule. I so enjoyed this world -- I am so glad that I picked this up at the bookstore. I am so devastated that I have finished it and that no sequel has been published yet. The sleuth is no shrinking violet: born to a delicate age, she is anything but fragile and no where near naive. (Jane Austen would be shocked out of her little white bonnet.) The handsome, damaged, wildly charismatic and most-likely murderous William Hewitt had me swooning in my chair as if he were standing right in front of me -- cooly mocking and deadly enticing. Her characters are that well-drawn. And the setting, 1860's Boston, was marvelously vibrant. As a current-day resident of Boston, I learned so much about my adopted city's history. I will never be able to stroll trough the Public Gardens again without thinking of this book and hoping to find Nell and Dr. Hewitt engaged in furtive conversation on a bench nearby. WORD TO THE WISE -- don't read the 1st review down there written by a highlighted reviewer -- they give WAY too much of the story away. The most enchanting part of this mystery is the mysterious sleuth herself -- the author knows what she is doing will let you know what she wants you to know WHEN she wants you to know it. Nell's history is meant to unfold slowly and tentatively throughout the novel.
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Still Life With Murder, November 13, 2004
This review is from: Still Life with Murder (Gilded Age Mysteries, No. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
Wow! How wonderful to find a new author in the field of Historical Murder Mysteries. This book is completely outside and above the typical Victorian murder mystery story. The characters are so interesting I can hardly wait for the next book, and the historical detail is fascinating. P. B. Ryan has shot to the top of my list of favourite authors pushing Ellis Peters, Anne Perry, Linsay Davis, Dianne Day, and Candace Robb all down a notch.
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