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I had never read Brenda Joyce before and I was enthused about reviewing Deadly Desire. The Francesca Cahill series has gotten fairly good reviews here, Joyce has her fans and some of her other books have been very well received. So it came as a complete shock to me how much I loathed this book.
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Francesca Cahill is a twenty-year-old sleuth who lives in New York City at the turn of the century. Her parents are wealthy and socially promiment but Francesca is dissatisfied with what the future holds for her; she doesn’t want to marry, produce a few babies, and tend to charity work. No, she wants to solve crimes, and has been successful (in three earlier books) in doing so with the help of NYC Police Commissioner Rick Bragg. Francesca is addicted to sleuthing, and has no care for the danger this occupation exposes her to.
This book begins with a new crime. Sarah Channing, Francesca’s soon-to-be sister-in-law wakes up to discover that her art studio has been violently vandalized. She pleads with Francesca to help her find the culprit, so Francesca takes up the case. Her first decision: interview Calder Hart, her sophisticated, womanizing friend, NYC art connoisseur, and, unfortunately, Rick Bragg’s half-brother. But involving Calder is courting trouble because he seems to be interested in being more than Francesca’s “friend.”
The storyline boils down to “Which man will Francesca pick: Rick Bragg or Calder Hart?” She spends roughly an equal amount of time with both of them. When she is with Rick, she is sure of her love for him and his abiding love for her (they’ve know each other for a relatively short period of time – all four books in the series to date are set in 1902). But Rick is married, and if he divorces his cheating slut of a wife, all his hopes for a political career will be lost forever. Forever. Francesca, loving him as she does, cannot let that happen. She vows to leave him alone, but when they meet again, they fall on each other in passion. This is true love. What will she do?
She runs to Calder for solace and advice. He tells her she’s living a fairy tale, and he hates to see someone as wonderful as her tearing her heart out over a married man. Then he gives her a little leer, and Francesca begins to wonder if Calder is jealous of Rick. But that is impossible because Calder is Not A Marrying Man, and he has plenty of women. Is it possible he can want her too?
Duh! Francesca is just such an idiotic character. Everyone is always commenting on how brilliant she is, but there is absolutely no evidence of this. In her crime solving, she throws herself into dangerous situations without considering the cost. She acts no better in her love life either. Her agonizing over Rick is bad enough, but the way she treats Calder borders on sexual teasing. It would be, if she were bright enough to get a clue about his feelings for her. Some “sleuth” she is.
None of the other characters were appealing. Rick seemed pretty noble, until it’s revealed that he is no true martyr to his marriage. Turns out Rick has had his bits on the side as well. He’s hardly been celibate since his wife left him four years ago. And Calder is too amoral to like. He hardly bats an eye at the thought of murder. Francesca’s family is annoying, especially her brother who bemoans his fate. A true father would pay his $200,000 dollars in gambling debts, he thinks. A true father would understand and not force him into a loveless marriage to settle him down. Can we kill this character off, please? The (fiction) world would be a better place with one less irresponsible, self-absorbed idiot like him. The Bragg family is peopled with rakish rogues (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) and at least one moronic female.
Essentially, nothing happened in this book. At least, nothing important happened. The book’s mystery plot is wholly unsatisfying; those readers looking for an explanation of why Sarah Channing’s art studio was vandalized will look in vain. Francesca makes absolutely no progress on this “case” in the course of the book. It’s not an historical mystery, it’s an historic soap opera, plain and simple.
There were so many sub-plots and side stories in this book that it was hard to follow them, and they were all soap opera fodder. Infidelity, blackmail, gambling debts, impossible attraction, all of these committed by staggeringly beautiful people who were somehow related by blood or marriage. Reading this book was like experiencing Chinese water torture. The same stupid, banal things kept happening, and in response Francesca would think the same stupid, banal thoughts. Over and over and over and over and over and over and, well-you get the picture. Drip, drip, drip.
I did not enjoy Deadly Desire in any way. I cared nothing for any of the characters, and some of them downright annoyed me. The plot was nonexistent, there was no resolution, and there were too many family members to keep track of. Frankly, it was a bit of a sacrifice to even finish this book. In order to do so, I had to keep repeating my mantra, “It’s for the readers; it’s for the readers; its for the readers.” So Dear Reader, please make my sacrifice worth something, and skip this book.
Grade: F
Book Type: Historical Mystery
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 13/05/02
Publication Date: 2002
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.