The Curious Affair of the Witch at Wayside Cross (The Curious Affair Of, #2)

by Lisa Tuttle

• ASIN: B01N43CEFZ
• Publish Date: 2017
• Publish Status: Unknown
• Format: eBook (Kindle)
• Pages: 261
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The second book in the Jesperson & Lane casebooks, The Witch at Wayside Cross nevertheless works well as a standalone. The author, Lisa Tuttle, is a prolific and entertaining writer. The series is marketed as a Victorian paranormal mystery series, but apart from a single strange subplot (basically a few pages), this book at least is very much within the scope of realistic murder mystery.

The book does have a fairly odd 'vibe', and the central plot line concerning the establishment of a school to educate and research pre-Christian belief systems in the British Isles, isn't the usual fare for more traditional Victorian murder mysteries. The oddness persisted for me throughout the book and I found myself wondering about the behavior of several of the characters (Mrs Reverend Ringer for example... odd doesn't begin to cover it).

The writing on the whole is adept and the plotting works pretty well. There are quite a number of interwoven subplots which are resolved satisfactorily by the end of the book. I do have some caveats, however. The two titular characters (Jesperson & Lane) are refreshingly free from romantic entanglement with one another (and I hope the author continues that way), but I found myself being very slightly annoyed that he (Jesperson) treats her (Lane) as a glorified secretary or appendage or finder-out-of-things and certainly not as an equal. I'm sure it's intended as a nod to Holmes and Watson (or Poirot and Hastings), but since they are male and female, the power disparity was quite noticeable for me. Not quite annoying, but slightly distracting. Also, the aforementioned odd behavior of some of the characters made me feel off-balance when reading the book. It didn't quite break my suspension of disbelief when reading, but it was something of which I was often aware.

At 261 pages (Kindle version), there's enough room for the plot to be fairly detailed and the it moves along at a good clip; I didn't find my interest waning or the narrative dragging. For the denouement, I didn't really buy the motivations of some of the characters which also lent an odd feeling to the ending. It almost felt as if the author had five or six different plots in mind at the halfway point and picked a likely winner and finished writing that one. (I'm not a writer, perhaps ALL writers do that to a greater or lesser degree).

It's a tricky thing, writing period dialogue for modern audiences which doesn't break character and also appeals to the modern reader. The author manages it quite well, and the dialogue, if odd in places, maintains character and form throughout the book. I enjoyed it. For readers of modern Victoriana who don't mind giving the romance angle a miss, it's a nice series to seek out.

Three and a half stars
Published November 28th 2017 by Random House - Hydra
261 pages, ebook format

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.

[chymerra]

The Curious Affair of the Witch at Wayside Cross is the 2nd book in the Curious Affair of series. If you have read this blog long enough, you know my thoughts on picking up books out-of-order in a series. I won’t go into it but I do get aggravated because I am missing out by not reading the first book. The Curious Affair of the WItch at Wayside Cross can be read as a stand-alone. Which made me happy.

The book starts off in a very interesting way. A man turns up at Jesperson and Lane’s office/house, accuses Lane of being a witch and then drops dead. This starts off a case that was very weird, to say the least. They are soon asked by the deceased man’s brother to look into his death. The brother wants to know why a healthy man would die of a heart attack. Through some detective work, they end up in Norfolk. It is there that the mystery deepens. While investigating the death, Lane and Jesperson get involved in a kidnapping of a newborn. How are the two tied together, if they are at all? Will Jesperson and Lane solve Mr. Mannings death? Or are they in over their head?

I couldn’t get a feel for Lane. She seemed nice enough. I couldn’t connect with her. Not enough background was given for me to see if I liked her or not (see, this is where reading book 1 comes in handy). She did seem like she was a good detective. She also bucked the norm for Victorian England. She cohabited with an unmarried man. That was a serious no-no back then and I loved it!!!

Jesperson reminded me of Sherlock Holmes. He was quirky and went to great lengths to solve the case. I mean, he showed up at the sisters’ house dressed as a hunchback to read a book that they kept in their library. That is genius. I would have liked to see some of the book from his viewpoint. I was happy with what the author showed us. He is the reason this book didn’t get a lower rating.

If I had to have a complaint about the book, it would be that there weren’t enough paranormal elements in the book. I understand that the shrieking pits along with the story of the kidnapped baby was supposed to be on the paranormal side but I wanted more.

I will say that the author did a great job at keeping who the killer was under wraps. She threw out a few red herrings too. I was pretty shocked when it was revealed to be who it was. I was not expecting it.

The end of the book was very good. Everything came together. Like I said above, I was shocked at who the killer was and the motives behind the killings.

The Curious Affair of the Witch at Wayside Cross was a good read but I couldn’t get into it. I couldn’t connect with the female lead main character. I felt that the paranormal elements were very sparse. But, I did like the male lead. I also felt that the mystery part of the book was excellently written. It was those two reasons why I gave the book a 3-star rating.

Will I reread: Maybe

Will I recommend to family and friends: Maybe

Age range: Older Teen

Why: mild violence. Other than that, it was a very clean book.

I would like to thank Lisa Tuttle, Random House Publishing Group, Hydra and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review The Curious Affair of the Witch at Wayside Cross

All opinions stated in this review of The Curious Affair of the Witch at Wayside Cross are mine.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy*

[Quirky Cat]

3 1/2 Stars.

I received an advanced copy of The Curious Affair of the Witch at Wayside Cross from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The Curious Affair of the Witch at Wayside Cross is the second in the series, following The Somnambulist and the Psychic Thief. It’s very difficult to pass up reading books with titles like those! As an added bonus, the cover is absolutely beautiful (what can I say, I’m a sucker for blue and green toned covers). While it is not the first book in the series, the Curious Affair of the Witch at Wayside Cross can be read as a standalone book, if you so desire. If you’re looking for a female Sherlock Holmes or a mystery with a fantasy twist, then this is the book for you.



As mentioned above, the main perspective is a woman, and her name is Miss Lane. Her investigation partner is Mr. Jesperson (trust me – the controversy of having an unmarried man and woman working together during that time period is in fact covered). Together they’re trying to unravel the mystery that was dropped at their feet – quite literally in this case.
Following a rather sudden death at their doorstep, Miss Lane and Mr. Jesperson find themselves whisked off to Norfolk, where another death and a kidnapping fully entrench them in the problems at hand.
The Curious Affair of the Witch at Wayside Cross is a Victorian suspense with a Sherlock feel added to the mix. As with Sherlock, one investigator is by far the leading one, while the other tends to more serenely follow along and appreciate the other’s observations.
At first I assumed that Mr. Jesperson was going to be modeled after Holmes – but I’m less convinced of that now. While they certainly share the same interest, as well as both being very bright (I’d argue Holmes more so however), that’s about all they have in common. In truth I found Mr. Jesperson to be a bit of a flat character on the whole (perhaps it was just the Victorian politeness? But I don’t think so).
Miss Lane is supposedly Mr. Jesperson’s partner in the investigation business they run, but he certainly doesn’t treat her as such. He withholds information and opinions from her, but expects her to share any and all news she receives. I’ll confess that Miss Lane’s passive tone of voice was a bit irritating to me – but perhaps I’m being harsh. It does feel as though her main purpose in the novel was to tell us the story, rather than resolve the mystery herself.
On the whole I think the Curious Affair of the Witch at Wayside Cross had a lot of potential. The start to the novel was perfect – it immediately drew me in, the plot was interesting, as were some of the secondary characters. I think with some work I could really have grown to like Miss Lane, and perhaps even Mr. Jesperson. I’ll be curious to see what adventures they get mixed up in next.


For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks