Murder on Black Swan Lane

The prose isn't just purple, it's that jewel-toned oversaturated royal purple you only find in satins and velvets. I cannot read a whole novel of this. That and the amount of “telling, not showing” infodump dialogue in the pages that I did attempt to read told me this book is not for me.

This was an engrossing mystery novel that took place in Regency London. The historical fiction elements seemed well-researched, with the exception of some of the dialogue, which felt more modern. (I'm pretty sure “cut to the chase” is a term from the film industry.)

It was well-written and edited, though some of the words seemed redundant. (Charlotte is described as “pragmatic” too many times to count.) I also got tired of reading an interpretation of what was said between every line of dialogue, though the character development felt thorough because of it.

I enjoyed the mystery elements, though they weren't particularly hard to figure out, and I also enjoyed the action sequences.

The writing in the end verged on the romantic for me, and I felt the characters were unnecessarily stereotyped by their gender. (Charlotte was described as being ruled by her emotions and intuition, though that wasn't reflected in her words and actions. Likewise, Wrexford was described as cold and unfeeling, with a hot temper, which also wasn't reflected in his words and actions.) It would've been a more interesting writing choice to flip those stereotypes, maybe, but I liked the characters so it was fine.

Overall, I intend to keep going with the series and I look forward to more.

While this book has the usual first book growing pains, it sets the stage for a beautiful ongoing partnership. This book offers a unique view of Regency London, and I can't wait to return.