Thursday, December 22, 2011

CR3 #93: A Broken Vessel by Kate Ross

 Oh man, I am SO CLOSE to reaching my goal for the year, but I simply do NOT want to write these reviews. However, I am going to battle through it, just so I can say I managed to complete a double Cannonball in a year. (Also, speaking of, if any of you are interested in joining the Cannonball Read this year, you can find the information here. It's a lot of fun, and there are a lot of cool people involved.)

A Broken Vessel is the second book in Kate Moss's Julian Kestral series, and the British dandy once again finds himself embroiled in a mystery. This time, the action starts with Julian's valet Dipper's sister. Sally is a prostitute, and while stealing from her johns one evening, she discovers a letter from an anonymous woman begging for help. Unfortunately, it's impossible to know who the woman is, and Sally isn't sure which of the three men she saw that evening had been carrying the letter. When she runs into her brother Dipper, he gets Julian involved. Soon, Sally has to go undercover, and a woman is murdered in a house full of suspects.

Once again, Kate Ross has done a great job. The plot of the book is twisty and engaging. I followed all the clues carefully, and was still surprised by the ending (but not in a "where the hell did THAT come from?" sort of way). The characters of Julian and Dipper, as well as Julian's elderly doctor friend are all wonderful. I liked them very much and was definitely invested in what happened to them. Sally was not as believable, and I frankly found the romantic subplot a little ridiculous. However,  on the whole this was another very enjoyable mystery.

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