Kate Griffin (1)
Teoksen Kitty Peck and the Music Hall Murders tekijä
Katso täsmennyssivulta muut tekijät, joiden nimi on Kate Griffin.
Sarjat
Tekijän teokset
Associated Works
Merkitty avainsanalla
Yleistieto
- Sukupuoli
- female
- Kansalaisuus
- England, UK
- Syntymäpaikka
- Canonbury, England, UK
- Asuinpaikat
- St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England, UK
- Ammatit
- journalist
- Organisaatiot
- The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings
Jäseniä
Kirja-arvosteluja
Kitty Peck and the Music Hall Murders Tekijä: Kate Griffin
Great characters, very atmospheric, a tad long-winded.
½
I don't think I've ever raced through a series so quickly - and all library books too! Although none of the sequels quite matched up to the first novel for me, I could not stop reading about Kitty Peck's Limehouse misadventures and needed to unravel the mystery of the Vinculum and the identity of her mysterious father. I'm glad there were only four books to get through, however!
In the final instalment, the murders continue, including a poor little dog (even fictional animal cruelty makes me sick). Reading the books in quick succession, I did feel like Kitty's life is sort of stuck in a loop, despite the villains being different in each story. I also noticed the narrative quirks, like 'dandled' and 'sidled', cropping up with grating regularity, and Kitty having a memory of Nanny Peck's fairy tales and Joey's life lessons from her childhood for every occasion. Still, Kitty has a distinctive and likeable voice, and I love characters with photographic memories - what a talent! Lucca is unflappable as ever, and Lord Vellum a fascinating new ally, but Sam the journalist's upgrade from professional partner to love interest didn't work for me.
I rolled my eyes at Goonies/Indiana Jones ending and was going to dock a star, until I read the author's notes: 'I have taken gleeful pleasure in snatching at the tropes of Victorian melodrama, throwing them into the pot and stirring vigorously ... This is a heightened world of artifice, theatricality and the penny dreadful.' In that case, well played, madam! The revelation of Kitty and Joey's father, however, felt like an echo of the plot from book two.
Characters and intricate plotting aside, another joy of this series for me has been the hidden history lessons about Victorian London - I often had Google to hand for further research into the various places featured, like Wilton's Music Hall, the inspiration for the Gaudy, and St Bartholomew the Great.
Tell truth, despite the Victorian EastEnders vibe, this is an entertaining series with larger than life characters which kept me hooked. Brava, Kitty!… (lisätietoja)
In the final instalment, the murders continue, including a poor little dog (even fictional animal cruelty makes me sick). Reading the books in quick succession, I did feel like Kitty's life is sort of stuck in a loop, despite the villains being different in each story. I also noticed the narrative quirks, like 'dandled' and 'sidled', cropping up with grating regularity, and Kitty having a memory of Nanny Peck's fairy tales and Joey's life lessons from her childhood for every occasion. Still, Kitty has a distinctive and likeable voice, and I love characters with photographic memories - what a talent! Lucca is unflappable as ever, and Lord Vellum a fascinating new ally, but Sam the journalist's upgrade from professional partner to love interest didn't work for me.
I rolled my eyes at Goonies/Indiana Jones ending and was going to dock a star, until I read the author's notes: 'I have taken gleeful pleasure in snatching at the tropes of Victorian melodrama, throwing them into the pot and stirring vigorously ... This is a heightened world of artifice, theatricality and the penny dreadful.' In that case, well played, madam! The revelation of Kitty and Joey's father, however, felt like an echo of the plot from book two.
Characters and intricate plotting aside, another joy of this series for me has been the hidden history lessons about Victorian London - I often had Google to hand for further research into the various places featured, like Wilton's Music Hall, the inspiration for the Gaudy, and St Bartholomew the Great.
Tell truth, despite the Victorian EastEnders vibe, this is an entertaining series with larger than life characters which kept me hooked. Brava, Kitty!… (lisätietoja)
Now we're cooking with gas! Book two was a bit too much for me, with double identities and royal Russian babies galore, but I enjoyed Kitty's rise from the ashes - or the shit, as she might say - in the third instalment. The Barons are the usual evil toffs, in the style of Dan Brown does Dickens, so I'm excited to read the final story in the series and hope they get what's coming to them. Bonus points too for the 'hidden history' titbits, like the Temple Church with its creepy effigies!
Spoke too soon! After falling in love with Kitty Peck in Kate Griffin's debut novel, I rushed back to the library and reserved the next three titles in the series, which arrived surprisingly quickly. Started on the second book - and was a little bit disappointed, sadly, from the switch to the standard 'headless model in period dress' cover to the ridiculous plot. And how, HOW could the author destroy the Gaudy, which was more of a character than a setting at times?
Kitty, still a likeable leading lady even if she does keep letting her heart lead her brain, is now the baron-in-training of Paradise and the three music hall theatres, with Lady Ginger taking an ever-watchful step back into the shadows. Keen to learn if her brother Joey really is still alive, as promised by the Lady, Kitty travels with Lucca to Paris and finds a different kind of underworld. There she meets the enigmatic David, who asks her to take his baby son back to England with her, but neglects to mention why the child is in danger. Kitty of course agrees because *heart eyes*.
Although I still enjoy the main characters, my suspension of disbelief was challenged with this one. One case of double identity is fine, twice is a trope. And while I found the Romanov backstory interesting, I honestly did not care about the damn baby - like I think one of the characters tells Kitty, so many lives and the Gaudy lost, but for what? I think I started skim reading in the final chapters - until the meeting with the barons, which shook me. I thought they were just criminal gang leaders, not members of a secret society.
I am still going to read the rest of the series, but the gilding has worn off a little for me - and I'm going to miss the Gaudy!… (lisätietoja)
Kitty, still a likeable leading lady even if she does keep letting her heart lead her brain, is now the baron-in-training of Paradise and the three music hall theatres, with Lady Ginger taking an ever-watchful step back into the shadows. Keen to learn if her brother Joey really is still alive, as promised by the Lady, Kitty travels with Lucca to Paris and finds a different kind of underworld. There she meets the enigmatic David, who asks her to take his baby son back to England with her, but neglects to mention why the child is in danger. Kitty of course agrees because *heart eyes*.
Although I still enjoy the main characters, my suspension of disbelief was challenged with this one. One case of double identity is fine, twice is a trope. And while I found the Romanov backstory interesting, I honestly did not care about the damn baby - like I think one of the characters tells Kitty, so many lives and the Gaudy lost, but for what? I think I started skim reading in the final chapters - until the meeting with the barons, which shook me. I thought they were just criminal gang leaders, not members of a secret society.
I am still going to read the rest of the series, but the gilding has worn off a little for me - and I'm going to miss the Gaudy!… (lisätietoja)
Palkinnot
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