This is something I picked up on a whim while browsing my local library. It stars a mystery novelist and her steward/fiancé/personal barrister solving real mysteries during the Victorian era of England.
It is a fun read. The art is great and the story is good, too. Perhaps that is a good way to put it, the art is better than the story.
The art is consistency good through the volume. It can't be easy to draw all these Victorian era outfits on every page, and the staging of the cells in a manga is always an artform itself. So, the art is great. I enjoy the character, the setting, and the presentation of the mystery. The chemical experiment in the climax is worthy of being the climax when it is presented like this.
The story is good. It makes sense internally. It develops naturally. It has a suitably mysterious start and a great establishment for its protagonist. I think, for me, the issue lies in how the book feels disjointed.
It's like it is half VIctorian-era romance and half mystery. First, it's all about gossip, marriage matches and the expectations of gender and social class, and then it's all about the mystery. Then the mystery is dropped entirely for the two leads to bicker about what is and isn't appropriate behavior, and the mystery might not have returned if not for the police visit. Which has its own issues.
I'm not speaking poorly of the story. Like I said, it is a fun read. It just feels like I'm reading two genres separately.
Trickster Eric Novels gives Lizzie Newton - Victorian Mysteries V1 a B+
Click here for my previous book review: Scarlet Soul volume 1
Brian Wilkerson is an independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor's degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).
His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.
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