August 2023 Group Read: Murder on Black Swan Lane, by Andrea Penrose > Likes and Comments

Post your thoughts, etc about Murder on Black Swan Lane here. Note: there is also a spoiler thread for this book.

I finished this last week. Good beach read.

I'm really enjoying the book although I usually don't care much for historical mysteries. Great choice!

I've been reading this series for a while now and am now on book 5, "Murder at the Royal Botanic Gardens" and it's one of my favorite series' and I love the characters.

Excited to start this series. Have to finish my current book, looking forward to joining you soon 🤗 📚

This is the first book I've read by Penrose, but it won't be the last; I've already added the second installment to my to-read list. Penrose is a good writer and storyteller. As a big fan of contemporary crime thrillers and murder mysteries, I really enjoy the differences that a good historical fiction story can offer, especially the ones from 19th century Regency England. I also like odd pairings too and Earl Wrexford and Charlotte Sloane are definitely an odd pair.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Kymm wrote: "I've been reading this series for a while now and am now on book 5, "Murder at the Royal Botanic Gardens" and it's one of my favorite series' and I love the characters."

Donne wrote: "This is the first book I've read by Penrose, but it won't be the last; I've already added the second installment to my to-read list. Penrose is a good writer and storyteller. As a big fan of contem..."

Kymm wrote: "I've been reading this series for a while now and am now on book 5, "Murder at the Royal Botanic Gardens" and it's one of my favorite series' and I love the characters."

Thank you both so much! So glad you enjoyed the charatcers and story!

I just started this a couple of days ago and am really enjoying it. At first I thought it was going to be way too similar to C.S. Harris’ St. Cyr Mysteries. But only the setting and time period are the same. Wrexford is very different a person than Sebastian St. Cyr, not in a bad way, but a more original way. I quite like it. Mrs. Sloan is fascinating and I quite like how she’s taken in Hawk and Raven. I’m looking forward to finishing the book.

I enjoyed the characters. I like a book that has more than a dash of science in it along with characters that are practicing scientists no matter the time period. Charlotte's political and satirical caricatures/cartoons and the profound effects they had on those involved added to my interest. I also enjoyed the supporting characters and their relationships to the protagonists from not-so-valet/scientific assistant Tyler, to Sheffield and Raven & Hawk.

I found the characters and mystery compelling enough to want to continue the series. I haven't read the St. Cyr mysteries. I'll put those on my list to try.

I'm about 2/3 of the way through, and while it's not exactly a pot-boiler, I'm really enjoying it. I like the way the author deftly devised a way for the Earl of Wrexford--a "peer of the realm"--to meet and join forces with Charlotte Sloan, a working class widow with no standing in Society. The way Mrs. Sloane forms an informal "household" with the two street waifs, Raven and Hawk, is charming. And I like how the Earl has a pastime more interesting than the men in a typical Austen-esque Regency novel--that is, science and experimentation versus only cards, shooting, dancing, and chasing women.

The mystery is absorbing and is keeping me guessing so far. The scientific rationalist Wrexford and the intuitive artist Sloane make a good team.

Penrose's prose is overly ornamental at times, with constant shadows scurrying over the characters' features and flickers of light playing in their eyes and whatnot, but perhaps that's a deliberate affectation in keeping with the Regency setting. The dialogue is certainly reminiscent of Austen and other authors of the period, and for that reason quite fun to read.

I recommend it, and I'm looking forward to finishing this one and continuing with the rest of the series.