yay, mysteries!

I used to be an avid reader of mystery novels. That faded over time; it's not a genre that I pay much attention to anymore. So it was a pleasant surprise to find a mystery that a) I enjoyed, and b) has a lot of potential as the first in a series. The book is Murder on Black Swan Lane, by Andrea Penrose. It's set in the British Regency era. The mystery was solid, but the character-building was stronger. Mrs. Sloan is a widow who has, without revealing this to employers, taken over her deceased husband's job as an artistic satirist/illustrator of current events. The Earl of Wrexford is interested in chemistry--and also involved in a war of words with a man who ends up dead. As lead suspect, he takes steps to find the real murderer, which leads him to Mrs. Sloan.

We are clearly meant to ship the two leads, but I'm willing to bet that movement toward anything other than a working relationship will be slow. Did I mention that this is the first in a series of books? The author has done her job well in making an instant romance seem utterly implausible while investing the reader in the tantalizing future possibilities.

The Belles was a creepily accurate take on beauty standards; it was also an excellent fantasy novel with solid world-building and interesting characters. In the author's note Dhonielle Clayton recounts an experience as a teenager, overhearing a group of boys who were discussing the various ways they would change their girlfriends: skin tone, coloring, temperament... it made a long-term impact on Clayton, and the eventual result was this novel. I do think it's a worthwhile read; Clayton's prose was smooth, and as mentioned before, the world-building worked well.

I'll post about season two of The Expanse some other time. Short summary: wheee!