Classics Challenge 9: The Leavenworth Case

I was happy to realize that one of my Back to the Classics Challenge choices--the one for "A classic crime story, fiction or non-fiction"--would work nicely for the RIP Challenge as well -- The Leavenworth Case (1878) by Anna Katharine Green. This is another one that I've had sitting around for years. I think I even saw somewhere that someone thought it was boring and so I was worried about giving it a try. Now I'm just bummed that I put it off so long.

This was THE first serial detective story, even before Sherlock. And, BONUS!, it was written by an American woman. The funny thing is that the serial detective is totally just in the background. The story is told by a young lawyer who becomes overwhelmed by the personalities of the two adopted daughters of a wealthy man who is murdered. He decides to investigate on his own, under the loose guidance of the detective Grice. What follows is a string of misunderstandings, misinterpretations, and surprises.

I quite enjoyed this story! It honestly didn't seem like it was from 1878. It was well-paced, smart, and had some nicely developed personalities. I certainly wouldn't mind finding more books from Green. (She wrote something like 40 others!) This was just her first novel and had the honor of being praised by none other than Wilkie Collins so I'm sure there are some other hidden gems out there.

Interpreting clues,
K

Resorting to Murder

I've finally read my first book from the British Library Crime Classics! Considering that I own seven books in the collection already, it was definitely time to get reading. Luckily, I'm in a classic mystery mood all of a sudden and a short story mood to boot so I decided to start with Resorting to Murder: Holiday Mysteries, edited by Martin Edwards. The juxtapositions of holiday towns and trips with murders and disappearances was unique and the book kicks off with a Sherlock Holmes mystery so, really, how could it go wrong?! Edwards did a great job digging up some rare finds to pair with the better known authors. Out of 14 stories, I really enjoyed 11 of them and plan to search out some other works from a few of the lesser-knowns. And now that I've broken the BLCC seal, I'm sure I'll devour the books I have and spend way too much money on even more.

Mysteriously,
K

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter

I had seen Theodora Goss' The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter around for a while but was on the fence about whether I wanted to read it or not. I used to really love new stories with historically or fictionally-based characters but, recently, I've found many of them to be annoyingly inaccurate or badly constructed. But then I saw a glowing mention of this and decided to give it a shot anyway.

The story starts with Mary Jekyll, simultaneously mourning the death of her mother and also finding out a huge secret that her mother had been keeping. The secret leads her to meet Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherine Moreau, and other daughters of famous, well, mad scientists. They join forces to try and figure out what motives joined their fathers and to discover whether they can trust each other as they have each been betrayed by their "creators". Oh, and did I mention Holmes and Watson are there too?!

So, basically this was a Wilkie Collins novel of orphaned women trying to keep their heads above water, but with the wonderful added elements of horror and science fiction that other Victorians did so well. I really cared about these characters and loved the reminders of each of their original stories. The sequel, European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman, is out today and I can't wait to dive into it. I wouldn't even mind rereading this one so soon!

Avoiding madness,
K

Classics Challenge 4: The Red House Mystery

It's May and I've only just finished my fourth Back to the Classics Challenge read -- The Red House Mystery (1922) by A.A. Milne. I was hoping to be a bit farther along by now but I had a false start last week with a book I just couldn't get through. Anyway, this read was for the A Classic With a Color in the Title category and it's one that I've had on my TBR shelf for a few years now. I'm very glad that I finally got to it because it is a story written just for people like me--country house mystery fans.

In Milne's introduction he says "that the detective must have no more special knowledge than the average reader. The reader must be made to feel that, if he too had used the light of cool inductive reasoning and the logic of stern remorseless facts (as, Heaven bless us, we are quite capable of doing) that he too would have fixed the guilt." And, what do you know, he succeeded! In this story of newly-minted amateur detective Antony Gillingham who stumbles across a country house murder, Gillingham as Sherlock and his friend Bill Beverley as Watson lead us through every clue and thought process and we are allowed to solve the mystery alongside them. And I will proudly say that I solved the murder at just the moment that Gillingham did! Alas, Beverley was slightly behind us.

This wasn't a perfect book. It was a little choppy to start and slightly repetitive in places. But it was short and fun and obviously written by a fan of the genre. I'm disappointed that Gillingham didn't get to use his ever-improving detecting skills again but I'm equally glad that we ended up with the many adventures of our favorite honey-guzzling bear.

Playing the sleuth,
K

New Release: Truly Devious

I don't have a lot to say about Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson because it pretty much delivers what is on the jacket but I wanted to be sure to mention it in case anyone was looking for a YA read that

- is set in a New England boarding school
     - for super smart and talented kids
     - juniors and seniors only so that they are all old enough to hook up
- is a murder mystery inspired by the classics
     - multiple murders actually
     - and a very long-term missing person case
- has entitled divas
     - and tentative introverts
     - and a girl detective
- has a manor house
     - with an attic!
     - and secret passages!
- ends in a heinous cliffhanger so that you will be DYING for the sequel to come out ASAP.

If any of those things interest you, don't miss this one. I read it just about as fast as humanly possible and can't wait for the rest of the story!

Briefly,
K

Next in the Series

I just finished books from two of my favorite series as the newest and latest in each series is out soon (or recently).

The Inheritance is the 10th Charles Lenox Mystery by Charles Finch. This one stood out by having a glance back into Lenox's Harrow days and also a surprising villain.

And the 8th Flavia de Luce Novel by Alan Bradley is Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd. Though Flavia is still twelve, she's slowly starting to react in a more mature and tactical way to some of the things around her and it's a pleasure to see.

Obviously I'm not going into the plots of these since they are so far along in their respective series, but I will tell you that they both have major changes and shocking happenings. I'm actually feeling a bit betrayed by both authors at the moment and hope they redeem themselves in the next books. It's less likely to happen with Finch because The Woman in the Water is actually a prequel, a return to Charles Lenox's first case, so I won't find out what happens next in the current timeline until book 12. But Bradley's choice of the title The Grave's a Fine and Private Place, as a riff on Peter S. Beagle's classic, is worrying me too because that was an incredibly depressing read and, in a way, I don't want to wade through what will inevitably come next in Flavia's life. I guess I have to give credit to these authors for not letting their series get stale and for making me care so much. I guess. ::broken heart emoji::

Are either of these series that you follow? Are you caught up?

Extremely invested,

K

New Release: Jane, Unlimited

Jane, Unlimited is the latest by Kristin Cashore, of Graceling fame. Although she spells her name wrong, she sure knows how to tell a compelling story.

The beginning: Jane is an uber-orphan, first losing her parents when she was two and then losing her aunt/guardian recently during her first year of college. She is grieving and adrift so, when invited to a unique island home by a former tutor, Jane leaves her life behind and heads to Tu Reviens. Almost from the first moment they arrive, she begins to sense (and investigate) the mysteries unfurling around her.

The twist: What follows are five different stories stemming from a single choice, a full set of alternate realities.

I don't think I can even begin to tell you anything else about this book because my brain hurts when I try to put it into a nice little pigeonhole in my mental library. This is a story with many genres and I found them all equally strong. The only thing I hoped for as I read was more romance because I liked Jane best when she was considering love and/or attraction. I wrote a little bit after I finished Bitterblue, the final book in the Graceling trilogy, and one sentence just stood out to me as I looked back: "It was harder to side with Bitterblue when she was being irrational or petulant but then a learning experience would happen and she would win me over again." This is almost EXACTLY how I felt about Jane too! She had a tendency to blurt without thinking first, to ask impertinent questions, or to be downright rude and I would get annoyed by her only to have a personal revelation or a discovery bring me right back to her side as an ally. Also, her hobby was making umbrellas which I couldn't get enough of for some reason. Anyway, if you aren't sure about genre fiction and need a unique story that lets you dip your toes in it, pick this one up!

Ready to reread already,
K

"New" Release: Murder for Christmas

Originally published in 1949, Murder for Christmas by Francis Duncan was found in the archives at Vintage Books a few years back and not much was known about the author. Eventually, they discovered that it was the pen name for one William Underhill, a lecturer in economics and history. Sourcebooks is now publishing this book just in time for intrepid readers to unwrap a little murder with their holiday festivities.

The simple set-up is a traditional holiday party at the country house of wealthy bachelor Benedict Grame. He likes to play Santa and his guests range from best friend, Jeremy Rainer, and Jeremy's ward, Denys Arden, to various hangers-on and, not last or least, new acquaintance Mordecai Tremaine, amateur detective. Grame's secretary, Nicholas Blaise, sends Tremaine a note with his invitation saying that he thinks something is wrong with Grame and Tremaine can't resist a visit to Sherbroome House for Christmas. When a murder indeed occurs on Christmas Eve, Mordecai is the only one who can piece together the clues.

I know that this sounds like a pretty standard country house murder mystery but there is one big difference that I LOVED -- everyone is suspicious of Tremaine and close-lipped! They know he's an amateur detective, known publicly for solving a murder in Sussex the summer before. And many of them have something to hide and therefore do not want Tremaine snooping around and sussing things out. This is so different from many other amateur detectives who manage to collect tons of information from every spectator and suspect. It was refreshing to have Tremaine get the cold shoulder, to be lied to, and to be deliberately avoided. The mystery was also satisfying and I hope that more of Francis Duncan's books get reprinted in the US! (It looks like Vintage has started reprinting them in the UK.)

Sprinkling extra tinsel,
K

#RIPXII 3-17: Agatha's Poisons

After my latest reading project, I just might be able to poison someone and get away with it. I started by picking up Kathryn Harkup's A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie. I soon noticed that each of the fourteen chapters was based on a specific Christie book or short story collection and, because I wanted comfort reads this season, this project quickly formed in my head -- read or reread a classic mystery before each chapter of non-fiction. It turned out to be a wonderful idea. I loved reading the novel or stories and then delving into why the poison of choice was used and if Christie made any errors, the science of what it is and how it kills, how/if it would have been detected at the time, and some real life poisoning cases/influences. I loved the science, the history, and, yes, the Poirot (and Marple, Tommy and Tuppence, Ariadne Oliver, and even Mr. Satterthwaite). I was shocked as I reached book ten or eleven and found that I wasn't at all tired of Dame Agatha's stories. Each one was unique, with a wide variety of settings, characters, and even points of view.

These are the books I read, ranging in publication date from 1921 to 1961:

Murder is Easy

The Labours of Hercules

Sparkling Cyanide

Appointment with Death

Crooked House

Five Little Pigs

4:50 from Paddington

Three Act Tragedy

Sad Cypress

Dumb Witness

Partners in Crime

The Mysterious Affair at Styles

The Pale Horse

Lord Edgware Dies

I want to point out too that Harkup's book has the most amazing appendix -- a list of every Agatha Christie story and how all of the people die in them! I still have a few Agatha books that I haven't read (I own 66 of her books, not counting her autobiography and her travelogues) but when I'm done, I'll really dive into that appendix.

The only person that wasn't exactly happy with this project was my husband. Apparently, having your wife learn the ins and outs of 14 deadly poisons and then recount all of the gruesome details in bed each night for weeks isn't fun. All I know is that I've already made the mistake of saying too much.

Formulating an alibi,
K

Bryant and May, Completed (For Now)

It is with a heavy heart that I must reveal that ... I've caught up in my favorite current series. Bryant and May have been my companions during the dog days of summers past, the late night hours of readathons, and the stressful days of current events. But, with Bryant and May: Strange Tide, I've used up all of my comfort reads for the moment. I was saving the last couple of books for stressful times and, well, yeah ...

I won't lie. This one, the 13th in the series, was a tough read. One of the main characters isn't well, as you can guess would eventually happen with two elderly detectives past the expected ends of their careers. But these aren't just any men and the reader can't help but pull for them to stay on the job for as long as they possibly can because they are likely the only ones who can figure out why bodies keep showing up near the Thames. Full of lots of Thames lore and current London politics, I once again learned while I was entertained. Sigh. I love that the most.

Now for the good news -- Bryant and May: Wild Chamber comes out in the US on December 5 so luckily I don't have to wait too long until I have another comfort read waiting on my TBR shelf for the next rainy day (figuratively, of course, because ... Seattle).

Following the Thames,
K

A Big Stack of Books - The Last Two

Finally! The last two books from the stack! My coffee table looks so bare ...

Magpie Murders is a new release from Anthony Horowitz, a murder novel within a possible-murder novel. The narrator is a book editor at a small publisher and she's just been given the next book in a detective series. She settles in for the weekend to read the manuscript and we read it along with her. Both of us notice that the last chapter is missing and we, of course, think about contacting the author -- right until the moment when we find out he is dead, a presumed suicide.

The inside book is a pretty standard cozy mystery in the Poirot style. The outside book is an up-and-down journey through the actions of a woman who thinks solving a mystery in real life is just like a novel. I liked this one but didn't love it, perhaps because it was one of those books where there aren't really any likable characters. The inside author is horrible and the outside one is just a little too much of a mess to want to hang out with. So, the final word on this one is that it's fun enough to pass the time but not a do-not-miss.

Bellwether by Connie Willis is one of her non-science-fiction books so don't be confused by people who label it wrongly in LibraryThing based solely on assumptions. This story takes place almost entirely in an office building, with a few forays out to trendy restaurants and cafés. It focuses on a woman that studies fads, a man that studies chaos, a flock of sheep, and an administrative assistant named Flip. It's a bit of a comedy of errors, like To Say Nothing of the Dog, a bit of a romance, and a great satire about trends. I really had fun listening to this one and it has kind of put me in the mood to binge read/reread some Willis!

Back to a clean slate,
K

#RIP XI : 12, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

I was about to start reading Alan Bradley's eighth and latest Flavia de Luce Mystery but then, on a whim, I decided to reread the entire series first. I won't have enough time to read them all before the end of the month as part of the RIP Challenge so I'll just make this a personal project for the fall and winter, using them as comfort reads as the days get shorter and the rain heavier.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie was possibly better than I remembered it being. The writing is fantastic, the characters are sufficiently complex, and the peril was quite real. It didn't even matter that I could kind of remember some of the details of the various crimes. I was there mostly for Flavia, the de Luces, and Dogger and just wanted them all to be safe and well. Now that I've started the second book, I'm even happier that I decided to do these rereads!

Do you reread mystery series? Which is your favorite one to revisit?

Picking my poison,

K

#RIPXI : 11, Murder is Bad Manners

Published as Murder Most Unladylike in the UK, Murder is Bad Manners is the first in the Wells & Wong Mystery series by Robin Stevens. Stevens has one of those author bios that makes you green with envy as you read it --

Robin Stevens was born in California and grew up in Oxford, England, across the road from the house where Alice of Alice in Wonderland lived. Robin has been making up stories all her life. She spent her teenage years at boarding school, reading a lot of murder mysteries and hoping that she'd get the chance to do some detecting herself. (She didn't.) She studied crime fiction in college and then worked in children's publishing. Robin now lives in London with her pet bearded dragon, Watson.

I'm pretty sure that Stevens stole the life that I was meant to have right after that born in California part. But, the great thing is that this life has made her the perfect author to write a middle grade boarding school mystery series! She goes one step further too and sets in the interwar period where she can explore the complexities of life as a girl/woman in the 1930s. And, as if that isn't enough, she also makes one of the main characters (and the voice of the story) a girl from Hong Kong so that she can explore race and outsiderness. The icing on the cake, so to speak, is definitely her inclusion of classic mystery titles throughout the story. If a kid loves this book and ends up picking up Peril at End House or The Man in the Queue, a new little mystery fan-for-life will be made. I adored all of these various aspects of this story and I look forward to continuing in the series.

The only change I might make is from reading the US to the UK versions. The US version of this first book has a couple of Americanizations (cookies and grades instead of biscuits and forms) that actually pulled me out of the story because they seemed so out of place. It was especially strange because there was a glossary at the back of boarding school and period terms. I don't know why these words couldn't have just been added there to keep the authenticity. Many of the titles are also changed for the US versions and they just aren't as fun. I don't even want to know what they're going to do with Jolly Foul Play. Still, these are very small complaints about a great little story!

Dreaming of my imaginary home in Oxford,
K

#RIPXI : 10, Rustication

One of the books that I was specifically saving all year to read during the RIP Challenge was Rustication by Charles Palliser. His books are always dark and moody and tense and perfect for when the days get shorter and the rainy hours outnumber the dry ones. When our power went out on Thursday night as the wind and rain beat down on us, I couldn't resist popping my book-light on this book and diving into the Victorian English marshes.

The story is written as the journal of one Richard Shenstone, seventeen years old and recently expelled, or rusticated, from Cambridge. His father has recently died but Richard doesn't really even know how because his mother and sister won't tell him. They didn't even tell him about the death and he had to find out from a newspaper. But now that he has been sent down from school, he has had to move in with them, into the dilapidated manor that is now his mother's only possession. What happened with his father and why his remaining family is treating him like an imposition is only one of the mysteries in this twisty, opium-and-hormone-tinged tale.

With an incredibly unreliable narrator but also an unreliable everyone else, this is a crazy and sometimes frustrating story. But it comes together in a satisfying way and it's on par with The Unburied, Palliser's other tale set in the fictional town of Thurchester. Neither of these books provoked the visceral reaction that I had to The Quincunx so now I want to go back and read that again to confirm that it really is Palliser's best work. But, even when he's not at his peak, he is still a master of gothic atmosphere and peril.

In the mood for misery,

K

New Release: The Madwoman Upstairs

New this past week, The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell is an exploration of the Brontë family from the viewpoint of their last remaining descendant, Samantha, who has no love for the tragic siblings regardless of the fact that she is supposedly the heir to a secret trove of Brontë treasures. Even though she has just arrived at (the fictional) Old College, Oxford, to study English literature, she refuses to read the Brontës or any classic authors. Her tutor, however, wants her to expand her knowledge and analytical skills and so they begin a course of study that may eventually reveal Sam's inheritance from her famous ancestors.

First let me tell you what this is not. It is not a modern retelling of any of the Brontë stories. It is not a sequel. It does not use any of the historical characters in a fictional way, other than Samantha's suppositions about some of what could have happened between them that was not recorded. I know I actively avoid some of these kinds of books and so do some of you so I wanted to put this out there. What you do get in this novel is a presentation of the Brontës' lives, their works, and the possible ways to analyze both. You also get a lot of history, a trip to Haworth Parsonage, and a lovely experience with the decrepit tower room that Sam is supposed to live in.

Sam is probably one of the most perplexing and sometimes maddening narrators that I have ever encountered. She blurts out responses to reasonable questions that are strange, rude, and almost entirely out of place. She makes terrible decisions even for a first year college student and she is a horrible judge of character. Whether these things are a consequence of being homeschooled by her author father or are just in her nature is left to the reader to decide. However, despite Sam's attempts at making me dislike this book, I stayed up until 5am finishing it and am recommending it to all of you!

Planning some Brontë rereads,
K

A Series of Murders

I know it has been a while since I last blogged but I have a good excuse. I was distracted by Kittypatra! She is the centerpiece of the Hello Kitty exhibit at the EMP Museum here in Seattle and she's 10 feet tall. She mystified me and took away my blogging mojo. Yes, I'm sure that's where it went. Anyway, I have a lot of books to tell you about so I'll start today with three books from mystery series --

Bryant & May Off the Rails is the eighth book in what is still one of my favorite series. Christopher Fowler brings alive a different aspect of London in each book and this time it was the London Underground with some of its quirks and secrets. This was a tense story as the Peculiar Crimes Division was fighting the clock to solve the mystery, save lives, and also save their own division from being completely disbanded. There are four more books published in the series after this one and, I believe, another one coming out this year so I totally won't feel bad if I binge read a couple more this year. I can never stay away from these characters for long!

The book I finished most recently was Elegy for Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear, the ninth Maisie Dobbs book. This was one of my least favorite of the series because it was so much about Maisie's internal dialogue and so little about the mystery. It's just not easy to feel sorry for someone having a crisis over having inherited too much money. I did however enjoy the various depictions of the differences between the haves and have-nots of the time. This was definitely a transition book though, both in the things going on in Maisie's life and also in the world as Hitler starts coming to power and WWII looms on the horizon. I anticipate a lot more action in the coming books, especially with the upcoming twelfth book (release date March 29) being called Journey to Munich.

Finally, I read my first Phryne Fisher mystery because I won this copy from Poisoned Pen Press. It's the third in the series but, because I had already watched many episodes of the television show, I didn't feel the need to start from the beginning. It was fun because I had forgotten what happened in the mystery and because it was even more sexy than the tv show. I also love the tie-in cover for once because Essie Davis is so fantastic as Phryne! I definitely saw and heard the characters as they appeared on tv and it wasn't a bad thing at all. I can't wait to dive into some of the other 19 books in this series. I hope that Poisoned Pen does a few more tie-in covers too!

What mystery series are you loving right now?

Getting back on the blogging train (hopefully sans murder),
K

RIP X: 12, The League of Beastly Dreadfuls and 13, Sad Cypress

My last two RIP reads have nothing in common but it's time to wrap this month up so ...

The League of Beastly Dreadfuls by Holly Grant is a middle grade fantasy/mystery that is a bit uneven and leaves too many threads hanging at the end. I wanted to love this book but it feels badly edited and Anastasia, the main character, is a bit of a dummy. She's at school one day when the school secretary comes and takes her out of class with the news that her parents have been in an accident. She's told that her "aunts", two women she's never seen, met, or even heard of, are there to pick her up. She takes the bait and leaves the school, only to find herself in an abandoned Victorian mental asylum, locked in a mildewy bedroom, and wondering if her parents are okay. And yet, for a significant amount of the book, she finds her situation unfortunate but not strange. I just didn't get it. And things were left open at the end for an obvious sequel/series but in a way that you still know nothing about why any of this happened to her. I'm not sure if I will read book two when it comes out or not.

I put off reading the last few Poirot novels that I had on my shelf because I had watched the television series first and so I knew all of the plots. But enough time has now passed that I was able to pick up Sad Cypress and not know what was going to happen. This one is a riff off of the old country house murder -- three women in a house, one ends up dead. Did Elinor really kill Mary out of jealousy? Eventually Poirot is brought in to figure it out. This was a standard Christie -- not one of her best but still entertaining and a good way to end the RIP season.

Returning to peril-less reads,
K

RIP X: 10, Jackaby and 11, Beastly Bones

With Beastly Bones being released this month, I couldn't help but reread Jackaby as well because William Ritter has created a fascinating world of strange magic and malevolent creatures, part Sherlock Holmes, part Doctor Who. (I know it says this same thing in the cover copy but I swear that it is true. You will find yourself thinking of both as you read.) With a smart and secretly caring detective and a strong and capable female assistant, these stories are a pleasure to read. The crimes are bloody and the climaxes are explosive but everything is tempered with a bit of humor and romance, which makes these my ideal RIP books.

My review of Jackaby was actually posted a year ago tomorrow and I would be immensely pleased if Ritter could keep to this brisk schedule as he releases successive books in the series. I wouldn't mind total series rereads every October!

Under a spell,
K

RIP X: 7, The Mangle Street Murders

Moving right along with my RIP reading, I was in the mood for a detective story so I picked up The Mangle Street Murders by M.R.C. Kasasian, first in the Gower St. Detective series (there are currently three books in the series). The crimes were strange but nothing incredibly amazing but the characters were fantastic.

The year is 1882. March Middleton's father had died and she has no other relatives and so she goes to live with her godfather, Sidney Grice, in London. She has never met him but she knows he is a famous detective. What she finds is a strange, arrogant man with an ill-fitting glass eye and a poor opinion of young women. But, fortunately, March is awesome and she immediately inserts herself into his business. Though her instincts sometimes fail her, her unique knowledge does not and through the course of the story she grows into a formidable detective in her own right.

The best part of this story was definitely the commentary on the various lives of late Victorian women. From match girls to wealthy widows, this book presented a broad range of female lives. March's strength was refreshing and Grice's late change of heart was as well. I will definitely be continuing on with this series.

Celebrating girl power,
K

RIP X: 5, The Aviary

A middle grade tale of family, history, and magic, The Aviary by Kathleen O'Dell has been on my TBR for a while. I'm glad I finally picked it up because it was strange and unique and I enjoyed almost everything about the story.

Clara and her mother live with old Mrs. Glendoveer in a deteriorating house with locked doors and an aviary of somewhat frightening birds in the yard. The birds belonged to Mrs. Glendoveer's husband, a famous magician. One day, she starts telling Clara her secrets but it will be up to Clara to find out the rest of them -- and what they mean for her life.

That description is a bit vague on purpose because not knowing what was coming made this read better. I was nervous more than once about what would happen. My only small complaint about the book is that it is supposed to be a period story but there were very few clues to that in the story or the writing. I didn't even realize that it was supposed to be set in the past until a little way in when a date was mentioned. Still, though this was a bit annoying, it didn't affect my enjoyment of the story. This is a super creepy read that was perfect for the RIP challenge.

Changing my mind about birds,
K