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

by Lisa Tuttle

[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*