Title: Murder in Westminster
Author: Vanessa Riley
Series: Lady Worthing Mystery #1
Poorly written and confusing
Thank you to Vanessa Riley, Tantor Audio, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I feel meh about this book. My biggest issue with it was that, bizarrely, it often felt like I was missing information—it felt like the fourth or fifth book in the series, always referring to things that happened in the past, things that are arguably crucial to character development—the other mysteries she’s solved, her elusive sister, her mother’s relationship with that one guy, her own relationship with her absent husband, how she became Lady Worthing, how she got involved with abolitionists—and yet this is the first book in the series?? I tried to find out if perhaps this is a spinoff of a long-established series, but I couldn’t find evidence of it. I just can’t get over it—how often do you read Book 1 and feel like it’s Book 4?
Feeling like I was missing information produced a disconnect that stuck with me through the whole novel. Not to mention it speaks to poor writing. The murder mystery and Henderson’s involvement confused me–so did he dislike his wife or not? Were their fights real or not? So the priest wasn’t the culprit, it was the butler or whoever? And why on EARTH would you put such an important event as capturing the culprit in the EPILOGUE??? Just—what?
Also, so does Lady W like her husband or not? Is he good to her or not? Am I supposed to approve of her sparking with Henderson while her husband’s in the picture, just away? I did not like Henderson, so the idea of he and Lady W somehow getting together, as I believe is implied, makes me cringe. This whole book made me cringe, honestly. Very poorly written. The developmental editor really dropped the ball.
The narrator, Chanté McCormick, was okay but not great. She read too smoothly, tried way too hard to sound . . . I don’t know, it’s hard to describe. It was like she was either reading a lullaby or poetry, something that’s supposed to sound soothing and meaningful at the same time. She tried to differentiate characters with modulation and accents but wasn’t consistent. She definitely added to the disconnect I felt with the narrative; it was hard to connect to the characters the way she portrayed them.
