Purchased from BOOKSALE (Hard Bound)
Price: P35.00
Condition: Very Good
FOLLOW THE JUMP TO READ MY REVIEW!
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As all murder-mystery books go, this book starts with a phone call about a murder to catch the reader's attention on the get go. I have just finished a modern murder-mystery book before this so the wow-factor was lost on me.
The story is the first person POV of Ursula "Sully" Marlow, the only daughter of Edwardian magnate, Robert Marlow. At this time, the middle classes have risen and a select few have accumulated riches from various industries. Yay for industrial revolution! Sully is no ordinary heiress or respectable Edwardian upper class debutante. She takes part in the suffragette business and has attended often violent rallies. She even has friends within the elite intellectual female circle. Sully even went to Oxford! This is quite rare in Edwardian England as women were not seen as very intelligent nor interested in the intellectual side of things. Education is usually reserved for men, and even then only those who could afford it.
The opening murder happened within the household of Winifred Stanford-Jones. Freddie, as Sully calls her, has a dead girlfriend in the bedroom by the name of Laura Radcliff. Naturally, Freddie is suspect number one. The first half of the book follow's Ursula's efforts to free Freddie from suspicion. Her efforts doubled when Freddie was eventually arrested. There was even an attempt at Ursula's life in the garden. She survived a blow on the head, having been put to sleep by the doctor to avoid possible hysterics (Good job, Doctor!). You know how women are. They have such feeble constitutions. Never mind that they give birth in the most dire of medical situations. A little incident is sure to put their nerves in a knot.
Anyhow, other characters that populate Ms. Marlows worlds are:
Robert Marlow, dear old papa. Mr. Marlow is a self-made man whose father was a humble coal-miner. Marlow's amazing business instincts, perseverance and hard work had paid off immensely. He was able to establish himself as a respectable and very wealthy business man. Marlow is the ideal father who loves Ursula to death.
Prince Charming #1, Lord Wrotham. His lordship is an impoverished aristocrat with his own issues. He was the younger son and had very little prospects. That was until no-good older brother with a gambling habit died passing the title and estate on to his most capable and very Mr.Darcy-esque hands. So far, I've only read two period murder-mystery set in England. And both of them had a Mr. Darcy. From now, Lord Wrotham becomes Lord Darcy.
Prince Charming #2, Tom Cumberland. He had the most boring introduction as the man whom Sully's papa wanted her to marry. He was the quintessential apprentice. He was honed by Marlow himself to take care of the business. Naturally, papa wanted Sully to marry the bugger as papa was that kind of man (who didn't think women could run a business, weak constitution see). Mr. Cumberland seemed boring enough. Over eager to impress, as what was expected. To be fair, Tom probably had been told repeatedly that all of the business could be his if he could persuade Sully to marry him. SEE SPOILER IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT TOM AND THE LOVE TRIANGLE.
Mr. Biggs, the butler. He is the most interesting character here. He keeps the house tidy and collected. He is SUPER BUTLER, with the ability to anticipate needs and give out white lies to keep everybody happy. Oh how I want a Mr. Biggs in my life.
Julia, the lady's maid. Due to the complicated and multi-layered Edwardian costume, all respectable ladies need to keep a lady's maid. The prime function of a lady's maid is to help Sully look like Sully. Julia even "suggests" the proper accessories and does Sully's hair, when I only have YouTube for that. *jealous*
The other businessmen are a group of old farts who are in the same line of business as papa. They come with their wives and children.
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Ursula's characterization was poor. Maybe, the author is being accurate here. As what I have learned from "The Supersizers Go... Edwardian", it's all about freedom and nothing about education. There's freedom to express one's self, but there's really not a lot of education and learned wisdom to express here. With this, I found Ursula absolutely annoying. She wants to run a business she knows NOTHING about. Had she any plans of doing those things, she ought to have have observed her father a little bit more closely. For example, she knows nothing about their business except that there's a factory there and there's a mill over there. If her papa was truly the good man that she thinks he is, then showing interest in the business would have paid off. Instead, in college, she hooks up with a Russian hunk who was had delirious love for the Bolshevik. If she wanted equality as much as she did, she would practice it. Wear the pants now and ask for women pants later (when you've proven that pants look good on you and makes you ass look nicer).
At the end of the first half of the book, Marlow gets shot seemingly taking a bullet for his daughter. Ursula is devastated because she's alone in the world. Personally, she has Mr. Biggs who could probably run the business better than Marlow. If she had half a mind, she'd make Biggs her personal lady's butler and have him advice her on business matters. Anyhow, Lord Wrotham becomes the Marlow estate's trustee, wherein Ursula gets a lump sum now and would get all when she turns 30 (because women weren't mature enough until later in life) or gets married. Ursula accepts this and gets engaged to Tom. Seriously??? Has the suffragette movement taught her nothing? At the end of the book, triggering the climax, Freddie throws Sully a heavy handed one liner... Will Sully always live under the shadow of a man? Well, Freddie now seems to be the more intelligent female. At least the female who had actually embraced the suffragette movement with her mind, body and soul. Ursula is a failure. No matter how much charity work she does, at the end of the day she goes home to central heating, electricity and indoor toilet and bath. She doesn't know the poor as she doesn't know how to BE poor, be hungry, be cold, etc. Marlow had raised a completely useless daughter. Good enough to look at, but nothing in her head.
Speaking of wearing the pants, Ursula did get to wear the pants - literally. Early on in the book, it was established that heiresses within Marlow's circle were murdered one by one. Eventually, Ursula is one of the few girls left alive. We know that there's this bigger mystery of the Radcliff expedition into South America to search for birth control plants. Marlow has a thing about the purity of the races. I suspect that Marlow just saw how population can be beneficial. I am all for that. With Radcliff was Bates who was a crazy crazy fellow. Bates was in love with Marlow's wife and suspected that Radcliff et al was out to get him. He was delusional wherein the entire world revolved around him. The ready would already know that Bates wasn't personally doing the killing as he was in Venezuela where he was dirt poor and living like the natives. Ursula travels to Venezuela disguised as a man... for a few days at least. He was quickly discovered by Lord Darcy. Sully and Lord Darcy connect physically. Sully, as usual, wanted to see some action and seeks Bates alone. Bates was crazy and locked her up in his hut. To all the ladies reading the book, that's a good lesson. Never seek out the crazy suspected murderers on your own. They are crazy and could harm you. But Ursula was naive and on the stupid side of the life. Ursula escapes with the aid of Lord Darcy and the police after learning that Bates had a son. Eventually, we learn that it was Tom (Ursula finds out after she decides to break off the engagement after Freddie's one liner). OF COURSE! We knew this from the get go.
Unfortunately, Tom only has two chapters of action. This is the funniest bit. Tom chooses to strike on Mr. Bigg's day off!!! Naturally, his plan succeeds. The household is drugged and he has some precious alone time with Ursula. It ends happily as Tom is caught and Ursula pursues to manage her father's business. The lesson they have all learned is... MR. Biggs would never be allowed to have a day off.
It was entertaining enough. But it lacks so much heart, so much intelligence. The main character is boring and annoying, similar to Bella Swan of Twilight. Sigh.
-- report of original entry at goodreads.com --
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