annieb123's Review of Felicity Carrol and the Murderous Menace (A Felicity Carrol Mystery, #2)

by Patricia Marcantonio

Heiress and amateur detective Felicity Carrol makes a perilous journey to apprehend a notorious murderer who has terrorized England--and now continues his vicious killing spree across the pond.

Felicity Carrol would rather be doing just about anything other than attending balls or seeking a husband. What she really wants to do is continue her work using the latest forensic methods and her photographic memory to help London police bring murderers to justice, so when her friend, Scotland Yard Inspector Jackson Davies, weak from injury, discovers a murder in a wild mining town in Montana that echoes the terrible crimes in England, Felicity decides to go herself.

In Placer, Montana, her first obstacle is handsome lawman Thomas Pike, who uses his intuition as much as his Colt in keeping law and order in this unruly town. When the murderer strikes again, Felicity begins to suspect Davies is correct: Jack the Ripper has come to America. Felicity sets out to find the killer in a town chock full of secrets, shadows, and suspects, but as the body count rises, this intrepid sleuth faces her most dangerous adversary yet--and discovers that not all killers are as they seem.

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Felicity Carrol and the Murderous Menace is the second book in a cozy mystery series by Patricia Marcantonio. Released 11th Feb 2020 by Crooked Lane Books, it's 324 pages and available in hardcover and ebook formats.

Despite being the second book in the series, it works well as a standalone. The author is adept at interweaving back-story and previous character development into the narrative fairly seamlessly. It is a period Victorian cozy with a young wealthy brilliant protagonist who flouts social convention throughout the book and never seems to suffer any repercussions for her one woman campaign to recreate the social fabric of England and solve crime at the same time.

I never felt one time during reading that there was any actual danger to Felicity, the plot wouldn't dare not go her way in all things, all the time. She's never thwarted and never corrected for what would have been completely scandalous behavior (for the time). The subject material (Jack the Ripper) is quite dark for a period cozy, but it is admittedly well written (apart from some clunky and anachronistic dialogue). The book simply didn't feel like a historical cozy (except for the Jack the Ripper plotline).

General thoughts: the author is adept and writes well and it's an entertaining read but it felt so smug and self satisfied most of the time.

Three and a half stars.

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

Felicity Carrol and the Murderous Menace (A Felicity Carrol Mystery, #2)

by Patricia Marcantonio

Reviewed by annieb123 on Feb 14, 2020

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