Kindle British & Irish Mystery Book Club discussion

A Killer in the Crystal Palace, by Deb Marlowe

"London, 1851, and the Great Exhibition is on. A soaring success despite months of dour predictions, it is the event of the year, on front pages and wagging tongues the world over—and Miss Kara Levett is thrilled to be in the middle of it. The daughter of a baron and an exhibitor herself, she happily demonstrates her elaborate automatons and case clocks to the crowds.

But her situation grows perilous when a man is murdered in the Crystal Palace and she becomes the prime suspect. With the unexpected aid of Mr. Niall Kier, a reserved Scottish blacksmith, artist and fellow exhibitioner with secrets of his own, Kara begins the work the Metropolitan Police show no inclination for—finding the true killer."

Discussion Leader: Shell
Link to Book on Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/49E1TtR

Although I enjoyed a lot about this book, it was a little too cosy and predictable for me. I did like Kara's character. An interesting angle on a woman of her time, if a bit unbelievable. I was very interested in the exhibits at the Crystal Palace and would have liked a lot more of that. Would loved to have seen some of the moving figures and displays. A little too much of British toffs running about the countryside at the end and I'm not moved to hunt down the next in the series. But it was Okay. I'd give it a 3.

I read quite a bit of Regency and Victorian mystery series, almost all with women as major characters and so I looked forward to this book. Although I think that her profession is quite unique and she she comes across as a very intelligent woman, the fact that she could do almost everything was bit over the top for me. I would love to know what Niall's secrets and past story is about and I would probably read another book to find that out. I also gave it 3.

Sorry. I looked at the cover and deduced “cozy” and that’s not a genre that I enjoy

On this case I did judge the book by the cover