Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson; Book Review

 

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If murder mysteries have rules, so too do Christmas Specials, which the universe has kindly obliged here. You’ll find ahead Santa-fied clues aplenty, and don’t rule out characters having to dress up in silly costumes for some tangentially related plot reason, which I will satisfy in a minor turn as Rudolph. And of course, by the end of these things, the detective has to learn the true meaning of the word Christmas. So we’ll get there too.

A quick festive novella for Ernest Cunningham fans, Everone This Christmas Has a Secret manages to tangentially follow all the seasonal special rules in Stevenson's witty way, while still in keeping with the Golden Age mystery rules. Ernest is called to solve a seemingly impossible mystery just before Christmas and steps into a world of professional tricksters, each with their own secret.

The plot is captivating and true to the Ernest's word, the readers get enough clues along the way to try and piece the puzzle together. The story provides a pretty strong foundation on which to build everything else, though not all characters are sketched out solidly. I enjoyed Stevenson's witty writing and sense of humor in this one; the blatant references to Christmas have to be forgiven I suppose.

And for those wondering if any aspect of formatting plays a role here -
In keeping with an accidental theme— my first case involved a full stop, my second a comma—this may well be the first mystery ever solved by Comic Sans.

Thanks to NetGalley, Mariner publishing group and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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[3/4 star for the premise and the whole book; One star for the story arc; Half a star for the characters; One star for the writing; Half a star for the world-building and description- 3 3/4 stars in total, rounded up to 4 stars.]


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Le Fay by Sophie Keetch: Book Review

 

Le Fay by Sophie Keetch
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

And they should fear me, the power I possessed, and the bright, ravenous rage that now fuelled my every breath. From that moment onwards, even I did not know what I was capable of.

Sophie Keetch's Le Fay tracks Morgan's journey from her ambiguous morality to in the first book Morgan Is My Name to... still ambiguous morality, even with the incredible premise, through all her losses suffered, despite the number of times she threatens to burn everything, and against all the potential antagonists.

Like the first book, there are some good secondary characters, but all the antagonists are one-dimensional men... the King of Gore returns of course, but even Merlin is portrayed as weirdly one-dimensional, and it takes some imagination to fit a potentially jealous credit-stealing male academic mentor like Merlin to a brilliant student like Morgan into the lecherous misogynist trope.

This book could have explored more of Morgan's relationship with Arthur and Guinevere, and how it devolves, but all we hear is the number of times Morgan says Arthur was her dear brother and she his trusted advisor. It would have been great to actually see Morgan help Arthur with any of the various aspects of running a kingdom, but we only see her help plan a tournament at the beginning of the book while trying to avoid Guinevere. Accolon's return starts off childish squabbles between them, which might have evolved into a mature relationship, but given the many number of times we hear that, it gives the exact opposite impression. And finally, we really should have seen Morgan explore her magic and study healing to the fullest extent here, but this is overridden by trying to blame Merlin for introducing dark magic to Morgan. Morgan le Fay's magic should have been the one thing that was completely hers!

In short, could have, would have, might have, should have is my review.

And all of this in Keetch's writing style, which I enjoyed in the first book, but was just too descriptive in this book.

To hear him tell it so plaintively was to feel it as the truth—Arthur’s truth, different from mine but no less lived and felt. I gazed across at this man, this King, my brother, his eyes shining silver with grief. His argument was convincing and logical, and blisteringly, devastatingly wrong.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada publishing group for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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[3/4 star for the premise; Half a star for the characters; Half a star for the story arc; 1/4 star for the writing; 3/4 star for the world-building- 2 3/4 stars in total, rounded up to 3 stars.]


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