Last night I finished A Stranger in Mayfair by Charles Finch. There are three other books in the series, A Beautiful Blue Death, The September Society, and The Fleet Street Murders. I enjoyed them all , but this fourth one a bit less than the other three. It seems now the characters are established, they are not developing.
If you have read the first three I would give the fourth a chance; Iwill also give the fifth a chance before I give up completely. With these types of mysteries the draw is the sleuth and his life as much as the mystery. I would like to see more progression in Charles Lennox's marriage and friendship with his butler and Dallington. Maybe it was that there were too many subjets (marriage, Parliament, promotion of the butler, the murder, godparenting, and Dallington's training) to address any in detail. It is like they say in fashion, "Take one thing off before you leave the house." This book needed just one less topic so that the others could be explored more deeply.
Tonight I will begin I Am the Wallpaper (2007) a young adult title by Mark Peter Hughes. I will follow it with Lemonade Mouth (2008) from the same author. Neither is new, but I only recently discovered them via my favorite book blog...Bookshelves of Doom. I am looking forward to both!