Evadare Volney's Blog - Posts Tagged "mystery"

The Killer Wore Leather: A Mystery by Laura Antoniou

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I had a wonderful time with this book, a murder mystery set at an IML-like leather pageant/convention. At first I thought it might be a bit long for a weekend-set whodunit, but Antoniou really dives in and lets us spend time with all the characters - a huge cast representing so many different aspects of the kink community, as well as the detectives who turn out to not really be as much of fish out of water as they thought they were. So much delicious, witty detail, so many touching moments, so many engaging characters, and a few genuine twisty surprises. Although I didn't find the identity of the killer to be a surprise, by the time we get there I'd become so immersed in this world that the initial mystery plot was just one storyline out of many and not even the most compelling one. The journeys of the living characters surrounding the dead man are richly rewarding.



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The Compact by Charlie Raven

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I enjoyed this book immensely - just as much as I liked A Case of Domestic Pilfering, if not even more. Raven writes delightfully about a class-varied cast of fin-de-siecle types, and weaves a complex and compelling story about a murder and a sinister businesswoman that includes both mundane and paranormal elements. Much of the tension and emotional momentum is fueled by something we don't see very often - a love triangle of sorts between three middle-aged women. Around them are a supporting cast of theatricals, decadents, some honest police and some crooked ones, quick-eyed servants, and people damaged and deprived by the Victorian closet.

A good mix of well-loved other folks' characters combined with fascinating real historical figures is something I always enjoy: sheer genius that the mystery deduction here is driven by Dr. Watson (a little bit lost since Holmes has gone to the continent without him) finding a passable substitute in a young, callow Aleister Crowley (who is much better suited than Holmes would have been to take on the occult aspects of the case - and his mountaineering skills also come into play at the terrifying climax). Crowley's rocky relationship with Jerome Pollitt gets a lot of exploration and is beautifully handled - as superficial as Pollitt sometimes seems, he's sympathetic in his frustrated love for a brilliant eccentric. Pollitt's friendship with the tragic Aubrey Beardsley is also alluded to. (I was struck how very different Crowley's characterization was from a Sherlock Holmes pastiche I read recently that he also appears in, Guy Adams's The Breath of God.)

I loved the atmosphere of this - the rooming houses of London, the Gothic landscape of Minerva Atwell's creepy health spa. I loved the characters and their relationships; I loved the organic motivations rooted in fear of aging, fear of loss, fear of discovery; I loved a mostly mature cast who have loved and lost before; I love ethereal George's visions-cum-past-life-memories. I quibble just a little with the pacing - first part felt slow and second half rushed - but that is a minor flaw among so many things it does right.



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