Title: The Deadly Hours
Authors: Anna Lee Huber, Christine Trent, Susanna Kearsley, C. S. Harris
Series: n/a
An intriguing premise that wasn’t pulled off very well
I would like to thank Anna Lee Huber, Christine Trent, Susanna Kearsley, C. S. Harris, Kensington Books, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Weapon of Choice by Susanna Kearsley – five stars
I was pleasantly surprised to find I loved this novella, and I really want to read the novel it stems from, A Desperate Fortune. This was a wonderful little story about recentlyweds Hugh and Mary MacPherson, who are on their way to protect a duke from assassination when they’re forced to make port and take shelter from a terrible storm. As fate would have it, though, all the key players find themselves staying at the same inn, along with a cursed pocket watch that may or may not have brought the storm. Tension rises and trouble ensues, and while the murder mystery and historical fiction aspects were interesting, my heart, of course, was taken by the romance. I also enjoyed Mary’s stories.
In a Fevered Hour by Anna Lee Huber – four stars
It was nice visiting Gage and Keira again, and an extra special treat to see the fascinating Bonnie Brock. A little disappointing that the timing jumped back a few books—Gage and Keira had only been married a couple of weeks—when I’m so eager to see them move forward, but whatevs. Bonnie Brock grudgingly asks for their help tracking down a pocket watch to prevent anyone else meeting with misfortune due to the curse upon it. When he falls gravely ill, Gage and Keira use Brock’s own runners to put out word that information on the watch will be rewarded. Within hours they’ve got a lead, and soon the watch is found—and then lost again, this time on purpose.
A Pocketful of Death by Christine Trent – two stars
I had a very hard time getting into this story. The lead, Violet Harper, is a perfectly nice protagonist, level-headed and intelligent, but she wasn’t particularly charismatic or unique. Rather bland. Similarly, the writing was good, but it didn’t have the energy or drive needed to make the narrative compelling. The experience was certainly of reading a story, not living it among the characters. It wasn’t until Violet had figured out whodunit and laid her trap that I was sucked in, and even then I skipped through the scene, paused to absorb the big reveal and the reasons, then was over it.
Also, the watch didn’t feel anywhere near as sinister as it did in the previous two stories. It didn’t feel like a threat, just a mundane object of mysterious origin and that was behaving strangely.
Lastly, what a pathetic husband she had. He was barely around, and when he was he came across as self-absorbed and indifferent to her goings-on. He didn’t act like he loved her or was overly concerned for her welfare, except perhaps that first night she went to keep vigil at the Ashenhursts’. Were I ever tempted to read Violet’s mystery series, it probably wouldn’t be for the romance—and therefore isn’t likely to happen at all.
Siren’s Call by C. S. Harris – three stars
My feelings on this novella were a notch above what they were for Trent’s. I had a hard time getting into it, my mind wandered terribly, but I’m not sure why. Could be the writing lacked energy or was just missing that je ne sais quoi that pulls one into a story. It wasn’t the characters, because I liked both Rachel and Jude. It wasn’t the mystery, because I was very intrigued as to who was killing and what it had to do with the watch and/or Germany. It wasn’t the setting, because that might have been my favorite aspect; a tiny little village in war-torn England, a village that had to be moved half a mile inland because the cliffs on which it was originally established were steadily crumbling into the sea.
So no, I’m not sure why this tale couldn’t hold my attention. I do know one thing I didn’t like, though; as in the previous story, the watch’s presence was much diminished. It didn’t feel sinister or dangerous; in fact, the watch was never even on screen, as it were. We didn’t witness it go through the air requirement, and we didn’t see it go through the fire requirement, only heard about them. The thing that the entire premise was built around felt more peripheral than it should have, and I feel that was a huge and disappointing error on the creators’ part.
Overall
The average of these four ratings is 3.5, so I officially give this book 3.5 stars, but since the review platforms don’t do half-hearts, I’ll be nice and round it up to four. The anthology started off strong and was a really cool premise, but the execution left something to be desired.
