Series: Murder Most Gilded Age Mystery #1 (Standalone)
Publication Date: 30 Jan 2024
Genre: Historical Cozy Mystery
2.5 Stars (outliner)
One Liner: Good premise, not-so-good execution
1892, Boston
Ruby Irving is the daughter of a Nevada tycoon, a rich man with new money. Despite her education and money, not many like her or her family. After all, she doesn’t belong to the English aristocracy. Ruby doesn’t seem to mind.
However, when her groom jilts her on the wedding day and refuses to say his vows, Ruby is in the limelight for the wrong reason. As if that’s not enough, George, the ex-groom, is found dead (murdered). Ruby’s Pa is the prime suspect since he was heard threatening to kill the man.
With the police making up their minds and not doing the needful, Ruby decides to investigate and save her Pa from being framed for murder.
The story comes from Ruby’s first-person POV.
My Thoughts:
I’m always up for a cozy mystery, so when this was available for request, I didn’t think much. Also, it would have been my first mystery series set in the Gilded Age. Unfortunately, the results are not great.
Given the page count and that this is still the first in the series, there isn’t much character development for anyone, including Ruby. I’m okay with it to an extent since we get an idea of what they are. That’s enough for the plot.
What I Like:
This is a small book with 199 pages and has a steady pace. You can finish it in a single sitting (1.30 to 2 hours max).
The story starts with the wedding and the groom refusing to say ‘I do’. Even the death occurs soon afterward.
We get the backstory and information in bits and pieces to prevent an info dump. This helps sustain the pace and keep the readers interested.
Ruby starts out well. Her parents are rather endearing. I like the scenes where she is proud of them, as she should be.
What Didn’t Work for Me:
Well, the mystery has potential but has not been explored. Ruby starts sleuthing, which becomes half-baked in the second half. The resolution is not a result of her efforts but a chance plot development.
We are told Ruby is a smart girl, a math-loving, practical person who doesn’t believe in romance and stuff. However, somewhere along the way, she ends up with tingling(s) for more than one person. The shift from being a no-nonsense heiress to this for the sake of sustaining the mystery messes up her arc.
Ruby isn’t that different from the snobs she claims to dislike. While this can be a deliberate character flaw, it doesn’t reflect well on a girl who tends to feel ashamed of her parents when they so clearly love her and give her what she wants.
With the narrative in the first-person, the story could have been real good, especially the climax. However, the readers are left to assume that everything has been sorted when we jump to the epilogue after the killer is revealed (to us). This works in short stories, not in novels. We don’t need detailed explanations, but a paragraph or two is necessary.
To summarize, A Most Murderous Wedding is a quick cozy mystery with some lighthearted moments and depicts the social situations and flaws well. However, it is pretty much an average read.
I’m an outliner here, so check out other reviews before you decide.
Thank you, NetGalley and Somerset Park Press, for the eARC.
#NetGalley #AMostMurderousWedding
***
P.S.: I think I’m more annoyed due to my high expectations. The author has written many books and has a decent average rating. Maybe this one isn’t her best. I’ll read something from her previous works to get a better idea.
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