Book Review: Inspector of the Dead by David Morrell

Inspector of the Dead by David Morrell
Book 2 in the Thomas de Quincey series
ARC, 352 pages
Mulholland Books
March 24, 2015
★★★★ ½☆

Genre: Historical Fiction, Thriller

Source: Received from publisher as part of HFVBT tour

The year is 1855. The Crimean War is raging. The incompetence of British commanders causes the fall of the English government. The Empire teeters.

Amid this crisis comes opium-eater Thomas De Quincey, one of the most notorious and brilliant personalities of Victorian England. Along with his irrepressible daughter, Emily, and their Scotland Yard companions, Ryan and Becker, De Quincey finds himself confronted by an adversary who threatens the heart of the nation.

This killer targets members of the upper echelons of British society, leaving with each corpse the name of someone who previously attempted to kill Queen Victoria. The evidence indicates that the ultimate victim will be Victoria herself. As De Quincey and Emily race to protect the queen, they uncover long-buried secrets and the heartbreaking past of a man whose lust for revenge has destroyed his soul.

Brilliantly merging historical fact with fiction, Inspector of the Dead is based on actual attempts to assassinate Queen Victoria.

When I started this book, I honestly couldn’t remember what had happened during Murder as a Fine Art – so I had no idea what to expect from reading this one. The only thing I remembered what that I had really enjoyed the previous book. And guess what, I really enjoyed this one too! I absolutely inhaled this one.

Thomas de Quincey, his daughter, Emily, and Scotland Yard men Ryan and Becker are all back and up to their necks in another murder mystery that is somehow surrounding Queen Victoria. The relationships and connections between these characters builds on the first book in a very natural manner. These are characters that I easily fell in love with during Murder as a Fine Art and just grew more dear. Again we travel from those seedy locales to the palace of the Queen and everywhere in between as Victorian London comes to vivid life in the pages of this book. Morrell is one of the best writers I have found to express the Victorian world in a way that is palpable to readers.

When looking back at my review of Murder as a Fine Art, one of the things that I found interesting was how my perception had changed over the style of the book. While reading the first book, I found that I did not really appreciate the shifting perspectives as well as the shift between narration and the journaling of Emily de Quincey. While reading Inspector of the Dead, I did like how these different sections were utilized to move the plot forward. I’m not sure if it is just that I was more used to the style after having read the first book or if the nature of the story being told just fit better with the style.

I never saw the resolution of this mystery coming – I actually was misled in another direction – which is a great mark of a mystery novel where they can tend to be very formulaic. I can’t wait to see what Morrell has up his sleeve for another book in this series as he finds these little nuggets of history to spin his mystery/thriller.

If you would like to preview the story before reading it, why not try out this excerpt of the book? On Morrell’s website he has some great photoessays on the locations featured in the book – check them out (about halfway down the page)!

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Mina’s Bookshelf
• Back Porchervations

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

 

Also by David Morrell:

David Morrell has written many contemporary set thrillers, of those, his historical thrillers are as follows:

Murder as a Fine Art (Thomas de Quincey book 1)
[My Review]

The Opium Eater (Thomas de Quincey short story)

Find David Morrell: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Google+

Follow the Tour!

On Twitter: #InspectoroftheDeadBlogTour    #HistoricalMystery

HFVBT Tour Page

 

 

Copyright © 2015 by The Maiden’s Court

Book Review: Murder as a Fine Art by David Morrell

Murder as a Fine Art by David Morrell
E-Book (Kindle), 368 pages
Mulholland Books
May 7, 2013
★★★★½☆

Genre: Historical Fiction, Thriller

Source: Received through Netgalley as part of Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tour

“GASLIT LONDON IS BROUGHT TO ITS KNEES IN DAVID MORRELL'S BRILLIANT HISTORICAL THRILLER.

Thomas De Quincey, infamous for his memoir ‘Confessions of an English Opium-Eater,’is the major suspect in a series of ferocious mass murders identical to ones that terrorized London forty-three years earlier.

The blueprint for the killings seems to be De Quincey's essay ‘On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts.’ Desperate to clear his name but crippled by opium addiction, De Quincey is aided by his devoted daughter Emily and a pair of determined Scotland Yard detectives.
In Murder as a Fine Art,David Morrell plucks De Quincey, Victorian London, and the Ratcliffe Highway murders from history. Fogbound streets become a battleground between a literary star and a brilliant murderer, whose lives are linked by secrets long buried but never forgotten.”

This was one powerful novel. At every turn the reader is taken by surprise and the suspense keeps you moving on to that next page. You don’t know who the murderer is until the author wants you to know – I dare you to guess in advance and see if you are right!  The style very much reminds me of Dan Simmons in The Terror.

The point of view of this novel was interesting. You get both 3^rd person omniscient, which is more of a rarity, as well as 1^st person in the form of a series of journal entries. While I didn’t mind either the 3^rd person omniscient or 1^st person on its own, I didn’t really like them juxtaposed one after another. It didn’t seem like the segues between them made sense. If hard pressed, I would state that I didn’t find much value in the journal entries of Emily De Quincey. Her character seemed to be with the others who were being narrated about in the other sections and we didn’t learn anything new from these sections. According to an author’s note, this POV style was used in keeping with the styling of a Victorian sensation novel and in accordance with the time period and events transpiring in the novel, which I find admirable, however as this isn’t a style I’m used to, it was a little difficult to adapt to.

There were also some awkward areas where the novel seemingly turned into a non-fiction. The author would begin doing a lot more telling and a lot less showing. The things that he was choosing to explain I didn’t feel needed explaining necessarily; it felt jarring and unnecessary.

I do have to admit that I loved the characters. Detective Inspector Ryan and Constable Becker were my two favorites. I enjoyed learning about the early use of forensics within Scotland Yard as well as the understanding of medicine. These two men were quite admirable and were enjoyable to read about in every scene, especially when they were in them together. I wouldn’t mind seeing them in a series.

Author David Morrell has written many other books within the thriller/mystery category, but as far as I can tell, this is his first historical. You can visit his website for additional information about the book.

You can also watch the book trailer below:

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Quite Bookish
• So Many Books, So Little Time

Here are some choices for purchasing the book: Amazon, B&N, RJ Julia (my fav indie bookstore).

You can follow along with the rest of the blog tour by visiting the Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tour site or on Twitter with the following hashtag: #MurderAsAFineArtTour.

Also, as part of the tour, I have a giveaway opportunity for one lucky person from the United States.  Simply make your entries in the Rafflecopter below before June 2nd to have a chance to win.  The giveaway is sponsored as part of the HFVBT tour for the book and will be mailed out by the publisher. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Copyright © 2013 by The Maiden’s Court