TEST
B.D. Joyce is the pseudonym adopted by Brenda Joyce for her new series of historical mysteries set in turn of the century New York City. Such a pseudonym might invite comparisons to Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb and the similarities go beyond the name. Deadly Love sets up Francesca Cahill, a wealthy reformer, and Rick Bragg, New York City police commissioner, in an Eve/Roarke style relationship – a relationship that will presumably progress and mature over a series of novels.
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Francesca Cahill is a naïve, rich girl with a lot of reforming zeal. She belongs to several societies that benefit the poor, and she secretly attends Barnard College without her parents’ knowledge. Her mother would like her to get married to a man of her own social class, but when she meets police commissioner Rick Bragg at a party in her home, she knows that he is more her type. After an upsetting encounter with some women at the party, Francesca flees into a library and discovers a mysterious note. Though she dismisses it at the time, she recalls it the next day when she learns that her neighbors’ son has been kidnapped.
Francesca rushes over to the Burtons’ home and presents her evidence to Bragg, who is there questioning the parents. Thus begins the adventure for both of them. Bragg thanks Francesca for her help and asks that she leave further crime solving to the police. But Francesca just can’t do that. Time and time again she finds herself drawn into the case, searching after clues and suspects. Bragg is highly resistant to Francesca’s involvement, but as time goes on he gains respect for her intelligence and bravery.
As this is a mystery I don’t want to give away any more of the plot. But make no mistake: although the spine of this book tells you it’s a romance, it is much more a mystery than anything else. I have assigned it a sensuality rating of warm, but that refers to a scene involving characters other than Francesca and Bragg. If you want to see the hero and heroine do more than kiss, you will have to read the next book, and even at the end of this one they are still in the “getting to know you” stage.
Judging the book mostly as a mystery, I was engaged enough to keep turning the pages. I thought at first that it was a sunnier version of Caleb Carr’s The Alienist, but as time went on it became clear the virtually none of the characters were particularly pleasant, and at the end I was reminded more of the infamous JonBenet Ramsey case than anything else.
While I was interested enough in the story, I found it fundamentally flawed. Police procedurals are my favorite type of mystery, but Bragg and his fellow officers struck me as being not overly bright or clever in their police work. I would hardly expect them to be versed in modern forensic techniques, but searching the homes of the suspects should have been within their capabilities. There are also loose ends to the case which are never tied up. The most notable unanswered question is why the first clue is in Francesca’s home. We never find out.
Francesca’s “assistance” also presented problems. To call her naïve hardly does justice to some of the stupid moves she makes. She thinks nothing of traveling by herself into horrid parts of town and walking into establishments which no lady could safely frequent. Every time Bragg told her to stay out of police business I couldn’t help agreeing with him. Her lame schemes reached an all time low when she discovered what she believed was the typewriter and notepaper that the kidnapper was using. Her first instinct (I swear I am not making this up) was to sneak into the police headquarters and steal one of the notes, then sneak back to the typewriter in question and type out a note to see if it looked the same. Her sister pointed out that perhaps she could just tell Bragg about the typewriter instead. And Francesca’s response? “Why didn’t I think of that?” Why, indeed. I could almost hear the air whistling through the empty space between her ears.
Overall I’m not really sure this is worth reading. It does have its moments, but none of the characters are all that likable, and even the mystery is flawed. However, I think the idea of an historical mystery series is a good one. Perhaps it is worth following these books to see if they improve.
Grade: C-
Book Type: Historical Mystery
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 16/01/01
Publication Date: 2001
I've been at AAR since dinosaurs roamed the Internet. I've been a Reviewer, Reviews Editor, Managing Editor, Publisher, and Blogger. Oh, and Advertising Corodinator. Right now I'm taking a step back to concentrate on kids, new husband, and new job in law...but I'll still keep my toe in the romance waters.
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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.