A Gentlewoman's Guide to Murder | 
so-soFirst in a new series, Emmeline St. Germaine is a young woman (in Regency London) who lives a triple life as a society “spinster”, as a newspaper columnist (the Rogue) and as the Masked Avengeress (part of a larger group of society ladies) who rescues children (usually orphans) who are being abused (usually sexually) as servants. She rescues a young housemaid from her lecherous master only to find that the man is discovered dead later that 🔻
robinb same night. Thus begins a mystery to solve before anyone uncovers her presence that night and her secret identities. While I really wanted to like this one as the premise and laurels of the heroine are noble, unfortunately it didn‘t rate well for me for several reasons. First, it was entirely too long, and I found myself slogging to get to the end. The heroine, while strong and determined, 🔻 3y
robinb is way too critical of men…we‘re talking basically HATES all men. And while yes, she was seduced at age 16 by her tutor, she blankets every male as an abuser in some form and doesn‘t fail to pick fights with any man she comes in contact with (including the poor childhood friend who is in love with her). I‘m all for standing up to discrimination as a woman, but to be honest, her over-the-top drama got on my nerves, 🔻 3y
robinb which is unfortunate as I did like her mission and compassion for her cause. There was also a tendency (conveniently for the plotline) to have most of the male characters turn out to be two-faced in similar ways. The writing was fine, but otherwise it just did not work for me. I give it a so-so for decent writing. 2.5/5⭐️ 3y
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