Please note: This review was drafted on June 19, 2024 but was held back from being posted in solidarity with the ongoing SMP boycott calling for action and accountability in regards to systemic racism at St. Martin's Press.After the events of OF MANNERS AND MURDER, Violet and Sephora are bored out of their minds. While they don’t wish harm to anyone, they do miss the rush of playing detective and solving a homicide. But when a new Miss Hermione letter that arrives in the mail for Violet leads to the discovery that Sephora’s dearest friend Margaret has gotten caught up in a cult, Violet is on the case. She sets off for the compound to try to convince Margaret to return home, only to find herself in the midst of yet another murder mystery.
A cozy mystery at its core, this story has high stakes that somehow still didn’t inspire anxiety in my very anxiety-prone brain. Just as with the first book in the series, I was unable to figure out where the story would end which is one of my favorite parts of a mystery.
Where the story kind of fell flat for me was the main characters—Violet and Sephora. They felt like they continued to be the same people they were in book one with very little growth or change and I didn’t find myself really caring about them as much as I would want with main characters. However, I really adored some of the side characters like Eli and Bunty, even with their minimal page time. In the brief time they are present, they made more of an impact to my feelings (in a positive way!) than I felt either Violet or Sephora did.
Overall though, it was a fun romp in Victorian England filled with mystery and a bit of romance. Hastings's writing is intriguing enough to keep me coming back for more and I look forward to seeing what the rest of the series has in store for Violet, Sephora, Bunty, and Eli.
Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher for free and have voluntarily written this review. If you purchase a copy using my Bookshop affiliate link above, not only will I receive a small commission (which will fuel my coffee and tea addiction and help to keep me up all night reading more books to recommend to you), but you will be supporting indie bookstores like my local fave Linden Tree Books! If you prefer Amazon, visit my Amazon storefront and click on the list titled "2024 Book Recommendations."
