2018 historical mystery; fifth in Huber's Lady Darby series
(post-Regency amateur detection). Our heroes are plucked from their
honeymoon to investigate the murder of a nun in Ireland.
And the basic problem for me is that this book is written to a
very American view of Irish history: all Irish Catholics are saints,
if sometimes regrettably hot-headed, while all Irish Anglicans and
Englishmen are devils, let's all put our dollars in the NORAID jar. I
am entirely ready to concede that the English rule of Ireland was a
thoroughly bad thing, but books like this make me start looking for
exceptions, because I've never met any historical issue. no matter
how apparently clear, that had nobody bad on the good side and nobody
good on the bad.
And then there's the rest of the writing.
It is more important to seal off access to the abbey from such an
importune position.
There was some hinting that the nuns didn't stick strictly to their
proscribed duties, nor inside the confines of their walls.
Which might not have irked me as much if I'd felt even slightly
engaged by the story. Nobody wants to talk to the investigators,
information is leaked one dribble at a time, and there's too much
faffing about and, substituting for the earlier romantic tension, some
maundering thoughts about possible pregnancy… no, I can see this was a
passion project for Huber, but it's just not very good.
Under my usual rules I'll try one more in the series to see if the
things I've enjoyed in previous books return.