Il Mistero Dei Giardini Di Hampton Court (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
The Pigeon Pie Mystery by Julia Stuart is a quirky adventure mystery book about a young princess in Victorian England. Mink is not a traditional princess, however. She is an eccentric spender who lost all her money, a woman's suffrage advocate, and an intelligent and witty character. When her dedicated servant soon becomes a suspect in a recent murder that happens in the community of grace-and-favor homes in Hampton Court Palace, she is determined to find the real killer. I thought this book was slow and boring at first, but after sticking with it I found it a charming story. I really like the characters of Mink and Doctor Henderson, a suitor of hers. The writing often went on strange tangents about the smallest of details that I actually found amusing and was one of my favorite parts about the book. I like how it spiced up things and took my mind off the main plot for a while. Julia Stuart writes using a rich vocabulary and paints vivid pictures using imagery that appeals to the reader's sense of humor. I liked it a lot, but I wish it had more details about the setting in England, which was part of why I originally chose to read this book. Charming cozy mystery set in Victorian England among the "grace and favour" set. I learned many interesting facts about arsenic, and India, and bicycling circa 1890s. Princess Mink and her maid Pooki are a wonderful comic duo, determined to find out who killed their nasty neighbor before Pooki gets sent to jail for a crime she did not commit. My only criticism is that some of the supporting characters were not drawn well enough to keep apart--I kept getting them mixed up with one another. But all in all a great way to spend an afternoon.
What do You think about Il Mistero Dei Giardini Di Hampton Court (2013)?
I really liked the characters, but the story itself was blah.
—thekittyrawr
