Arsenic With Austen is my first book by Katherine Bolger Hyde. The novel starts with the return of Emily Cavanaugh to the little town of Stony Beach, Oregon to inherit a fortune from her great-aunt Beatrice. What Emily is not counting on is having to solve a murder mystery and face and old flame, Luke, who she hasn’t seen in 35 years.
Hyde’s novel has a great premise with a whodunit style of crime and a love story. There is, however, very little Austen in the book except for the fact that each chapter opens with a quote from Jane Austen’s more famous novels (Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility…). I’m a huge Austen fan and I think that had a lot to do with my first interest in this book, however, the Austen connection ends there. The characters although nice are a bit flat and stereotypical, the love story between Emily and Luke seems unrealistic and the murder mystery, although cozy, is quite predictable.
Arsenic With Austen is book number one in a series called Crime With The Classics, and although I couldn’t rate it more than 3-stars I’m definitely looking forward to reading the next books in the series.
I’d like to thank NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This book is scheduled to be published on July 12, 2016.
The book has an amazing title that had me immediately intrigued, so I’m sad to hear that it doesn’t really match the story itself. I kinda hate when that happens. Your review, however, was wonderful.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLike
Thank you for your follow, I am not sure if you follow my book blog as well. I see that you are following my artist blog, Yuba Gold. I am wondering if my blogs are getting confused. 😦 I had to start a new blog because I couldn’t assess a site where it was originally. I’ll be looking forward to browsing through your blog. Blessings!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Margaret. I’m not sure if I follow your book blog. Please send me a link to your book blog and I’ll check it out. Thanks
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sure 🙂 here it is: https://bookwormingalonglifestrail.wordpress.com/blog/
LikeLiked by 1 person