Listen, I'm a simple person with messy taste. Romance book with a lot happening? Girl cross-dressing for a noble cause? Cozy mystery? I love all of these individually but when it's all together, I'm signing up.
This book didn't disappoint! I really enjoyed this book. Larsen has a gift at balancing Tiffany's struggles and the murder mystery. I never really felt like Larsen spent too much time on one or the other. It did feel a little tedious whenever she described the more mundane things of Tiffany's day like baking or the decor but if she had cut that out, the book would have felt too rushed. I enjoyed our key players and hope that some of the staff will return in future books.
I listened to this on audiobook so shout out to Marni Penning. She did a great job capturing Tiffany's complex emotions and in making the town Rector the grossest man on the planet. It really made me think of Burn Gorman in Bleak House and even Alun Armstrong at his most loathsome. I also appreciated the more subtle way they changed Samir's and Thomas' accents as they're the two POCs characters. It sets them apart without making it too othering or distracting.
It does get a little too "Not all white people" for me? Tiffany was always aware of the world's injustices towards the marginalized (As she's a spinster in the 1700s, living under her brother's thumb). However, her love interest is Indian-English and the prime suspect in the case is an African valet and as the book progresses, she laments and even apologizes for the cruelty of the world. It feels a little hamfisted. Still, I appreciate how she notes how the world really sucks for anyone not a Cis/Het white man, and doesn't make it a competition.
At the end, it does feel like it has a little too much, probably so Larsen can establish the needed characters for her next book. I think the book suffered a little from that and I wish she would have used that time. I also need to address something about one of the characters. I'll hide it so if you don't want to see, you won't. That said.....
</spoiler> SPOILER: Thomas who was an enslaved child who was then purchased by a wealthy white woman. It's eventually revealed that he's her adopted son and they have a loving relationship.
I mention this because unfortunately, history is full of BIPOC children taken from their homes and stripped of their culture under the guise of having "Better lives" when in reality, they were treated no better than animals. It's hard to remember that history when reading this plotline about this one nice white woman. Not when I remember just how many children weren't as fortunate.
I didn't personally mind this storyline. I feel like this was a good way of adding diversity to the book while adding to the mystery itself. I also appreciated that Larsen didn't wave off the cruelty and injustice Thomas would endure as an African man. Thomas is also his own person and not just an Emotional Support BIPOC person to prop up Tiffany.
That said, as a Black woman, I felt the need to talk about this and warn BIPOC readers who might be triggered by this. I also felt like ignoring this would be dishonest. I'm not saying it's badly done but even Michelin-starred meals with peanuts in it still need to warn folks with peanut allergies, you know?</spoiler>
Overall, I give 4 stars. It was a fun cozy mystery that balanced the personal and the mystery stuff well, even when it was handling a LOT of spinning plates. I look forward to the next book.
TW: Vomit, descriptions of dead bodies, racism, formally enslaved person as a child, classism, xenophobia, sexism, brief violence, brief discussion of infertility, shaming women, murder, brief mention of child abuse
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