Still Life With Murder - P.B. Ryan

   2003; 296 pages.  Book 1 (out of 6) in the “Nell Sweeney Mysteries” series.  New Author? : No.  Genre : Historical Crime; Murder-Mystery; Women Sleuths.  Overall Rating : 8*/10.

 

   The Good.  William Hewitt, one of the sons of Boston’s “upper crust” Hewitts, and reported as killed while attempting to escape the dreaded Andersonville POW camp four years ago, has just turned up alive in Boston!

 

    The Bad.  He’s been living under the assumed name “William Touchette”, and has just been arrested for murder.  Eyewitnesses confirmed his presence at the scene of the crime, kneeling over the corpse, knife in hand, and screaming at it about revenge.

 

    The Ugly.  William and his parents can’t stand each other.  His father is fully convinced of his son’s guilt and his mom wants to question Will about the incident.  William refuses to meet and talk with either one.  What can the Hewitts do?

 

    Maybe they should send their governess, Nell Sweeney, posing as some sort of spiritual guide, to visit “William Touchette” in jail.  She can at least ask him if he wants to retain a lawyer and/or get out on bail.

 

    Before they hang him.

 

What’s To Like...

    Still Life With Murder is set in the Boston area in the 1860s.  The prologue, which introduces us to Nell Sweeney and gives a backstory of how she came to be governess of little Gracie at the Hewitts’ manor, takes place in 1864; the rest of the book takes place in 1868.

 

    Although this is primarily a murder-mystery, I was impressed by the depth and detail paid to the historical aspect of the novel.  Things like women’s wear and house furnishings felt well researched.  So did, for that matter, the opium dens which play a prominent part of the storyline; including how they were laid out and the various gambling games they hosted, such as chuck-a-luck, rat’s night, and lansquenet, to keep the addicts entertained and spending even more money.

 

    There are some nice character studies in the story.  Nell, of course, gradually evolves into an amateur sleuth.  But that’s no easy task since Will Hewitt is a most uncooperative client – he refuses to confess or deny his guilt, and at times acts like he’d welcome the hangman’s noose.  The police detective is also non-stereotypical:  far from being bull-headed and resentful of Nell’s meddling, he shares information with her at times, and even occasionally invites her along on some of his inquiries.

 

    I enjoyed the smattering of French and Chinese phrases that were worked into the text, since I’ve taken some night classes in both.  Unfortunately, I drew a blank on the Chinese words (but maybe this was in the Cantonese dialect, not the Mandarin I studied), and I had to look up the context of the French phrase “Vous l’avez voulu, George Dandin”.

 

    The ending is satisfying, logical, with a bit of a twist to it that causes Nell, the police detective, and myself all to be slightly off in our theories as to who did the killing and why.  Will Hewitt rides off into the sunset (well, you knew he wasn't going to hang, right?) but I suspect he’ll become an important character in the series.  I have a felling that little Gracie will show up in the next book as well.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.2/5 based on 8,401 ratings and 1,523 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.91/5 based on 9,796 ratings and 958 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “The round head is because of the Caesarean.  She didn’t have to pass through the . . .”  Nell looked away, chastising herself for having made such a reference in polite conversation, especially with the likes of Viola Hewitt; what would Dr. Greaves say?

    Mrs. Hewitt chuckled.  “I’m afraid I’m not particularly easy to shock, Miss Sweeney.  Mr. Hewitt is of the opinion that I ought to be a bit more prone to swooning, but I never could quite get the knack.”  (loc. 301)

 

    “Let’s see if I understand this correctly.  Will is supposed to have killed this man because of an altercation over a woman.”

    Nell nodded.  “Kathleen Flynn, the owner’s daughter.”

    “Is she beautiful?”

    “I . . . she’s . . .”  Nell shrugged.  “I’m not really sure, from a man’s perspective.  Why?”

    “Will’s women are always magnificent.  And very sophisticated.  He liked them smart and a little dangerous.”

    “Kathleen is none of those things.  Although her father did compare her to his most vicious rat terrier.”  (loc. 3295)

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Gowsters (n., pl.) : violent or unmanageable persons; swaggering fellows  (alt. spelling)

Others: Merlin chair (n.), Stertorous (adj.).

 

Kindle Details…

    Still Life With Murder sells for $3.99 at Amazon right now.  The other books in the series are priced at $4.99 apiece.  P.B. Ryan, who writes under the name of Patricia Ryan as well, also pens the Historical Romance series, Lords of Conquest, with its six books all going for $3.99 each.

 

“Hate to ruin your little theory, sweet pea, but dead men are even worse at payin’ off their debts than live ones.”  (loc. 3884)

    There’s not much to gripe about in Still Life With Murder.  The profanity is light, just seven instances in the first 25% of the book, and all but one of those were the relatively mild epithet “damn”.

 

    There were a couple of ethnic slurs later on, but those would be consistent with lingo of the times.  There are several visits to opium dens along the way, but frankly this book serves as a warning against the usage of that drug, not a glorification of it.

 

    The editing was good; I noted just two typos: lean-to’s/lean-tos and wretching/retching.  Kudos to whoever the copy editors were.

 

    That’s about it for the nitpicking.  I like it when the murder-mystery I’m reading is set in another time and another place, with just as much attention paid to getting the historical fiction right as to getting the murder-mystery coherent.  Still Life With Murder succeeded nicely in that regard.

 

    8 Stars.  In looking at the Amazon blurbs, it looks like the e-book versions of the books in this series all came out in 2010, and the paperback versions all came out in 2014.  I’m guessing that means this is a completed series.  For me, Still Life With Murder was a great way to get introduced to Nell Sweeney.