Title: Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Author: Amanda Flower
Series: Emily Dickinson Mystery #1
Slow, weak lead, but well researched
Thank you to Amanda Flower, Berkley, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review, and thank you as well to Yasmine Hassan for inviting me on the tour and being the messenger. Apologies for reviewing late!
This was my first exposure to Amanda Flower, though I’ve seen her work around; she seems to be a favorite of my friend Elise Cooper, who interviews Flower regularly. Because I Could Not Stop for Death (ugh, that title’s too long, it’s bugged me since I first read it) was definitely a solid piece of work, but not entirely to my taste. It’s pace was a bit plodding, the prose a bit stilted and lacking in energy, which is partly why it took me so long to finish reading it–it kept putting me to sleep. There were quite a few typos, too, which I only mention because it became distracting. But they’re a natural consequence of ARCs; hopefully most of them were corrected in the final copy.
Willa didn’t seem to have much personality, and I’m not sure she and Emily make for good sleuths. Not only do they seem to lack the finesse necessary for some aspects of detective work, but Willa’s heart really didn’t seem to be in it. For all that she professed to want to catch her brother’s killer, she sat on his diary for how many days? Yeah it grieved her to read it, but someone eagerly searching for clues would have read it cover to cover asap. I don’t think she had anything motivating her aside from her personal relationship with the victim, no general insatiable curiosity, no passion for crime solving or puzzles. Without those traits or the like, it’s going to be hard for her to propel a mystery series—and also likely why this one lacked energy. Emily was eager, she kept urging Willa on and propelling this novel, but her unconventional opinions/standoffish personality and her role in society might put limits on who she can interact with as well. Yeah I honestly don’t see this series succeeding, but I’d love to be pleasantly surprised.
Another thing about Willa was her awful romance thread with Officer Matthew Thomas. There was zero chemistry between those two. Zero development. Felt more as if he was there for plot convenience than anything to do with Willa’s character, except he didn’t have much to do with the plot, so he was essentially unnecessary. An interesting idea that wasn’t well executed. There was supposedly a bunch of backstory to their relationship, but without witnessing it, it’s hard for it to mean anything to me.
Flower’s author’s note gave me confidence that she researched the setting and Dickinson’s life as well as she could, but I rather wonder if the fictional aspects were so weak because she was too busy being concerned with accuracy and respect to historical fact. It’s surely a hard balance to strike, I don’t envy her the task.
I’m not sure if I’ll check out book two when it comes along.
