7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An enjoyable Victorian romance with a fun mystery subplot., May 27, 2006
This review is from: A Study in Scandal (Mass Market Paperback)
Amelia Watersfield is twenty-four years old and still unmarried, which in Victorian England means she is likely to stay unmarried. So she spends her time reading Sherlock Holmes stories and running a detective club with her three best friends. When her father's favorite Egyptian artifact disappears, he hires Colin Brindley, a private inspector, to look for it.
Amelia is instantly attracted to Colin, who reminds her of her hero, Sherlock Holmes. Colin is not interested in a relationship after seeing the hurt it can bring. His father loved his mother, but his mother was unsatisfied and ran off when Colin was still young. Amelia convinces the reluctant Colin to let her help him investigate the theft. However Colin finds himself struggling with his feelings about relationships when he begins to find himself attracted to Amelia. If he lets himself love Amelia, will he only hurt both of them in the end?
This was a pretty enjoyable romance set in England in 1892. I really liked the mystery subplot and the fact that Colin was a detective, not just yet another wealthy nobleman. Although this book wasn't perfect, overall I would still recommend it. I think this new author shows a lot of promise, and I will be giving her another try with her next book.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
light and fluffy, May 28, 2006
This review is from: A Study in Scandal (Mass Market Paperback)
This was a cute book. Not a lot to it, but it was okay. The two leads were likable--nothing about either one of them rubbed me the wrong way. But, if you are looking for a lot of character development or period detail, it's not here. This was a pleasant way to spend a lazy afternoon.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4.0 out of 5 stars
quick, light read, May 11, 2009
This review is from: A Study in Scandal (Mass Market Paperback)
Amelia Watersfield is a huge Sherlock Holmes fan. It's 1892 and the stories are presently being serialized in newspapers throughout London. Swept up in the craze, Amelia founds, with her three friends, the Lady's Amateur Sleuth Society. They don't really do much. But they love the Sherlock Holmes stories, the fantasy and thrill of mystery and detection. Fiction blurs with fact when a real life crime occurs in Amelia's own home. Her father's favorite ancient artifact, a bust of Nefertiti that also has sentimental value, is stolen. The father is devastated by the loss. He's one of those doddering, senile parents that are practically a prerequisite in romances, but actually Amelia's relationship with her father, in which she takes care of him more than the other way around, doesn't seem too forced or annoying.
And I actually like Amelia herself. She's a very sunny, bright, happy person, but I don't want to strangle her after the first page. For all her youthful cheerfulness, she's just barely saved from being a one dimensional Pollyanna by the genuine friendships and relationships that surround her - such as her love for her father and her three friends of the Lady's Amateur Sleuth Society. They each represent a set character type, but their friendship still manages to be compelling. Though it is very hard for me to accept that Amelia's a 24 year old spinster. More like a silly, but endearingly so, teenager or something. Even though her naïveté is shown up repeatedly throughout the book, even though her optimism and blind faith in the goodness of others does get her in trouble a couple of times, she's not exactly stupid. She always tries to learn from her mistakes, so A for effort I guess. And she actually proves herself very intelligent and useful when it comes to trying to solve the case of the missing Nefertiti bust.
Enter Colin Brindley, the private inspector called in to help recover the artifact. He's a stiff upper lip, repressed sort, lonely and gruff, and doesn't think much of the case itself. Formerly of Scotland Yard, he's trying to strike out and found his own investigative agency. He's also something of a scientist in that he's got some "research" going on, trying to devise a better way of more accurately identifying criminals - what will one day be known as fingerprinting. He condescends to Amelia and the case at first, but he can't afford to turn away clients at this stage, so he resigns himself to going through the motions of what he perceives as a farce. He certainly doesn't want Amelia's help, but she's nothing if not determined, and it's fun to see how she gradually works him over to her side and gets what she wants. She's a bit star struck by the good detective, who, in her eyes, seems like her hero Sherlock come to life.
Things progress beyond first impressions and infatuation, fortunately, and Amelia and Colin's relationship is interesting to follow in this respect. Colin has some baggage - he's scared of his feelings and all that rot, afraid of being a legitimate Dr. Jekyll Mr. Hyde and going crazy with his passions if he lets himself feel anything at all. It sounds a bit extreme and melodramatic, and it is, but he's so befuddled and distressed with regards to his growing obsession with Amelia, and strives so valiantly but helplessly to fight his feelings for her, that I'm completely won over by him. He's a unique character in his own right, and he and Amelia are very cute together. And Amelia, for her part, is also very cute in how excited she is be involved in a real live detective mystery. They have chemistry, communicate well together, and make a good team, each complimenting the other nicely. I would have liked the book even better if Colin's baggage had been handled with a little more finesse. The resolution to his issues with his hang-ups was too swift and pat, and the whole fear of his feelings thing seemed very simplistic, even dumbed down. Besides this issue, though, A Study in Scandal was enjoyable, and even had me laughing at some parts. A very quick, light read.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
