A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch - My Thoughts
This is the third book from my Christmas haul and again, I enjoyed my read.
The book and the author were recommended by one of my most favourite authors, Louise Penny, the author of the Gamache series. I just spent 20 minutes trying to find the reference and failed miserably *LOL*. Anyway, that's the reason I picked it up.
So, Charles Lenox is a Victorian gentleman who likes to solve mysteries. He has an interesting group of family and friends and he's a smart fellow. I liked him. I can see why Louise likes him as well - there's a faint Gamachian feel to the book and the characters which is fine by me.
I like Finch's writing style, it's easy to read and while there are instances of what could be termed as info-dumping, they're handled well and not annoying. He also does some easy back and forth banter between Lenox and his old friends that I found quite fun.
The mystery worked for me, as did the wrapping up of the various plot-lines. There was a question or two that didn't get answered, or if it did, I missed it, but that didn't impede my enjoyment of the book.
If I had one real problem with the book, it was that there was an awful lot of snowing going on in London for late December/early January. I don't think it snows that much over there at all.
Anyway, I enjoyed the book enough to add Book 2 to my wishlist. :)
