it's been the ruin of many a poor boy
Over the past week or so, I read Point of Honour and Petty Treason by Madeleine E. Robins. 
rachelmanija recently recommended them as Regency lady detective novels with swordfights in, and that is true, though I think I was expecting more English cozy mysteries when they are in fact noir Regencies - with a lot of the characteristics of noir detective novels - which is an interesting twist.
First off, this is an alternate Regency, where Queen Charlotte, rather than Prinny, is Regent, which allows for slightly more freedom for women - mostly in the form of being able to belong to a club and to associate, in a business capacity, with more respectable members of society despite being a fallen woman. A self-styled agent of inquiry, Sarah Tolerance (not her real name), investigates potential suitors for concerned fathers and makes discreet inquiries over lost and possibly scandalous items, etc. She's also a dab hand with a sword and often goes about her business dressed as a man.
I don't want to spoil too much outside the cut, but I enjoyed both these books a lot - enough that I just ordered the third, even though it's only available in paperback, not as an ebook.
I was impressed that Versellion was a killer in the first book, and that Sarah turned him in - I really liked that twist, as I'd wondered about him early on, and then once they became lovers, I figured she would end up married to him and running her business more respectably for the second book, but no! True to noir conventions, he's a murderer and she can't let that stand.
I also really like that the wife was the murderer in the second book - I thought it was fairly well telegraphed, because of Sarah's insistence that she couldn't be, and also because I've read enough noir detective novels to know that as soon as Sarah debunked the evidence against her and she was set free, it would turn out she was guilty after all. In noir (neo-noir especially), everybody's guilty, even - perhaps especially - the people who appear most innocent.
Another way these books fit is that even Sarah's allies have their own agendas and can't be completely trusted - her aunt and Sir Walter, I mean. I keep waiting for Marianne to betray her somehow, too, though I hope it doesn't happen (and I wish Matt hadn't been killed so early on - it's rare to see a a gay BFF in a novel like this, even one set in the present).
So I would recommend them.
*
I'm going out tonight and I won't be home in time for Harvey Suits and I'm a little annoyed about it. I think I might have a problem, because I could watch Harvey Specter ALL DAY. I just find him so ridiculously attractive and I would like to make out with him watch Donna or Jessica make out with him a lot.
*
We had free ice cream day here at work, so I had ice cream for lunch. I approve. We should do that every week.
*
Oh, and I did two more DVD commentary thingies: Impact Winter and Objects in the Mirror May Be Closer Than They Appear.
*
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/492665.html.
people have commented there.
rachelmanija recently recommended them as Regency lady detective novels with swordfights in, and that is true, though I think I was expecting more English cozy mysteries when they are in fact noir Regencies - with a lot of the characteristics of noir detective novels - which is an interesting twist.
First off, this is an alternate Regency, where Queen Charlotte, rather than Prinny, is Regent, which allows for slightly more freedom for women - mostly in the form of being able to belong to a club and to associate, in a business capacity, with more respectable members of society despite being a fallen woman. A self-styled agent of inquiry, Sarah Tolerance (not her real name), investigates potential suitors for concerned fathers and makes discreet inquiries over lost and possibly scandalous items, etc. She's also a dab hand with a sword and often goes about her business dressed as a man.
I don't want to spoil too much outside the cut, but I enjoyed both these books a lot - enough that I just ordered the third, even though it's only available in paperback, not as an ebook.
I was impressed that Versellion was a killer in the first book, and that Sarah turned him in - I really liked that twist, as I'd wondered about him early on, and then once they became lovers, I figured she would end up married to him and running her business more respectably for the second book, but no! True to noir conventions, he's a murderer and she can't let that stand.
I also really like that the wife was the murderer in the second book - I thought it was fairly well telegraphed, because of Sarah's insistence that she couldn't be, and also because I've read enough noir detective novels to know that as soon as Sarah debunked the evidence against her and she was set free, it would turn out she was guilty after all. In noir (neo-noir especially), everybody's guilty, even - perhaps especially - the people who appear most innocent.
Another way these books fit is that even Sarah's allies have their own agendas and can't be completely trusted - her aunt and Sir Walter, I mean. I keep waiting for Marianne to betray her somehow, too, though I hope it doesn't happen (and I wish Matt hadn't been killed so early on - it's rare to see a a gay BFF in a novel like this, even one set in the present).
So I would recommend them.
*
I'm going out tonight and I won't be home in time for Harvey Suits and I'm a little annoyed about it. I think I might have a problem, because I could watch Harvey Specter ALL DAY. I just find him so ridiculously attractive and I would like to make out with him watch Donna or Jessica make out with him a lot.
*
We had free ice cream day here at work, so I had ice cream for lunch. I approve. We should do that every week.
*
Oh, and I did two more DVD commentary thingies: Impact Winter and Objects in the Mirror May Be Closer Than They Appear.
*
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/492665.html.
people have commented there.