Tag Archives: Mystery

The Hunchback Assignments, Arthur Slade

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I’m not a big fan of the steampunk genre. I tried it once with a manga from the library, and thought it was all right, but didn’t enjoy it as much as the martial arts manga I’d also checked out. So take this review of Arthur Slade’s The Hunchback Assignments from someone unfamiliar with the genre — I love, love, love this book!

Fourteen year old Modo is a hunchbacked orphan in Victorian London, who has the ability to change his appearance. When he was a year old, he was adopted by Mr. Socrates and trained to become a secret agent. In his first assignment, he works with fellow agent Octavia Milkweed to stop a secret society who has been kidnapping children and working with Dr. Hyde to turn them feral. I have to admit, when I first heard the name Modo, I was a bit turned off by what I saw as a gimmicky similarity to the Disney movie. But when I found out that “Modo” is Latin for “formed,” I actually like the significance of the difference from the Disney name Quasimodo.

Modo is absolutely lovable. Taught from a young age that his natural form is ugly, he wears a mask to go out in public and creates a handsome knight appearance when dealing with Octavia. Modo’s crush on the beautiful Octavia is just heart-wrenching. Octavia is an intelligent, witty girl, and as she grew up an unloved orphan forced to pick pockets, she also understands how it is to not be wanted. So I think she would accept, and maybe even love, Modo in his true appearance, but because she is so beautiful, Modo is ashamed to remove his mask or his false knight’s face around her. The way he reacts whenever she shows up just makes my heart melt, and I’m not usually romantic.

The mystery about the kidnapped children, at least one of whom has been hypnotized to attack his own father, is exciting and fast-paced. Modo, while mostly innocent of the real world, is physically strong and a quick thinker. I also love how Octavia is a Buffy-esque heroine, strong enough to fight her own battles, and savvy enough to wear pants under her skirt so she can run faster. But the power of Slade’s story isn’t really in the twists and turns; it’s in the very tangible emotions he reveals in his characters, whether the heroic agents or the child victims. The ultimate solution to the mystery, while action-packed enough to imagine on the big screen, is also heartfelt, and that adds to its wallop.

Hunchback Assignments is an intriguing science-based mystery set in Victorian London. More than that, however, it’s about not fitting in, about wanting to be an even better person for love and yet being limited by something beyond your control. It’s inspirational, but not in a sappy you-can-do-anything-if-you-try way. Modo doesn’t completely overcome his appearance or learn to live with it. Rather, he finds a community of people who also don’t fit in. Everyone is an outcast, in some way, even the beautiful Octavia, and if you’ve ever felt unworthy, unloved, or just plain lacking in some way, or, heck, even if you just enjoy a good mystery with a bit of romance, definitely, definitely read this book.

Now You See Me, S.J. Bolton #50BookPledge

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Young detective constable Lacey Flint walks to her car after interviewing a witness and finds a woman bleeding to death draped over it. An anonymous letter to a reporter points out alarming similarities between the killer and Jack the Ripper, and mentions Lacey by name. Turns out Lacey is a lifelong Ripperologist, and has some dark secrets in her past, which slowly get revealed as the investigation progresses.

As a crime buff, I’ve always been fascinated by Jack the Ripper, and S.J. Bolton’s Now You See Me takes off from one of the lesser known theories about Jack the Ripper’s identity. This book kept me guessing throughout, and I love how Bolton put in all these twists that made me think that I knew what was going on, only to find out later on that I was wrong.

Ultimately, while the mystery began as being about Jack the Ripper, it soon became more about a contemporary crime and a secret from Lacey’s past. Lacey is an intelligent detective, and while I was afraid I’d be disappointed in whatever secrets she had (with so much build up, I would’ve hated to be let down), when the big reveal came, everything just made sense. Even the minor characters, Tulloch and Joesbury, were fascinating figures, and I could never tell what Joesbury thought about Lacey. I shared Lacey’s confusion about whether he was attracted to her or suspicious of her, and I loved that ambiguity.

Bolton effectively builds an atmosphere of creepiness, with killings taking place to the soundtrack of such an innocuous song as My Favourite Things from The Sound of Music. At first, I didn’t like the chapters from the killer’s point of view, because they began as mostly atmospheric and vague, and I felt they detracted from the primary story, which was already so exciting in itself. There were also times when I wondered if plot points were going anywhere or if they were just put in randomly (e.g. flashbacks, My Favourite Things, the case Lacey was originally investigating before getting sidetracked by the Ripper copycat). However, the killer’s chapters soon became more action-packed, revealing the thoughts of the victims, and all the minor plot points turned out to be very important for the ending and for understanding the killer’s character.

Finally, I love all the discussions on Ripper lore in Now You See Me. It’s never pedantic, always in the context of trying to understand the latest murder, but it gives crimes buffs like me interesting details about Jack the Ripper. There’s even an Author’s Note where Bolton explains some of the various theories about his identity. Now You See Me is an exciting murder mystery and an original take on the Jack the Ripper myth. Highly recommended for mystery buffs.

Die with Me, Elena Forbes #50BookPledge

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Elena Forbes’ Die with Me is a classic police procedural. A serial killer targets young, vulnerable women. He cultivates a relationship with them, then murders them and makes it look like suicides. The odd thing is that the killer didn’t appear to have raped the victims (at least one victim had died a virgin).

This is the first book in the DI Mark Tartaglia series, and unlike other mystery series I enjoy (e.g. Donna Leon’s Guido Brunetti, Ian Rankin’s John Rebus, Robert B. Parker’s Spenser), nothing about Tartaglia really made him stand out to me from other literary detectives. He’s a fairly standard old school cop, skeptical about psychological profiling, and he has a complicated love life, with an ex-lover coroner, a new boss with whom his relationship goes from antagonistic to protective, and his partner DS Sam Donovan, with whom he has unacknowledged chemistry.

Despite it being “A Mark Tartaglia mystery”, Donovan seemed to take at least as much of a central role in the investigation. In complete honesty, I found her character to be more fleshed out, and  left the book with the sense that I saw her detective work more than I saw Tartaglia. Donovan’s definitely a very likable character, and I look forward to reading more about her in future books.

Forbes chooses to focus on the investigation, and this is a good thing, because the investigation itself is pretty compelling. The killer targets really vulnerable girls, those who are ostracized in school or aren’t physically attractive, and minor details (e.g. he can’t stand the scent of Pear soap) hint at the source of his psychosis. The red herrings are fairly easy to spot, but the ultimate solution, I admit, surprised me.

Reading Die with Me is like watching an episode of Law & Order or CSI. It’s a fast-paced, entertaining, engrossing police procedural. It’s a lot of fun to read, and I for one found myself racing through the pages to see what new clues Donovan and Tartaglia have uncovered and who the killer will ultimately turn out to be.