Unfortunate Fortune Teller Murdered
I’ve been meaning to get back to Alyssa Maxwell’s Gilded Newport series for a few months now, but when I wound up taking a cruise that stopped in Newport, I decided that was the perfect time to read Murder at Marble House, the second.
This book picks up moments after the first book ended. So, if you want the full context of what is going on with the characters, you’ll want to read it. While this book doesn’t spoil the killer from the previous book, it does spoil some of the storylines in that first book.
We are once again in August 1895 in Newport, Rhode Island. Emma Cross, society reporter for the local paper, has her morning interrupted when her distance cousin, Consuelo Vanderbilt calls begging for Emma to come over to Marble House. While Emma finds herself caught up in some family drama, the last thing she expects is that her visit will end in murder. But that’s just what happens when the fortune teller that Alva Vanderbilt has hired is found dead behind the estate. When a family member vanishes, Emma starts to investigate. Can she find out what happened?
I always find it fun to visit places I’ve read about or am about to read about. While I didn’t get to see the insides of Marble House when I was there, it was still fun knowing a bit more about where it is located and knowing a bit more about the town in general. I could picture things so much better. I just wish I could have seen more.
Things get off to a good start, and we do have some interesting twists along the way. However, the pacing was a bit off. Some of that is because of Emma’s drama about her love life. While that did distract a bit for me, overall, I was still invested in the outcome for the mystery. The ending did make sense, but it was still a bit weaker than it could have been.
Since I’ve already brought up Emma’s love life, let’s discuss that for a minute. I actually support her decision at the end of the previous book. At least for the time being. Her trust with that character has to be earned again. Having said that, how she treats him at the end of this book didn’t quite feel right to me. I will say the love triangle is pretty lopsided, which I’m not complaining about.
Obviously, all this means the characters came to life for me. I mean, if they didn’t, I wouldn’t care this much, right? There are some real people who float through this book, and they felt just as real as the fictional characters.
As I was reading, I did feel pulled back to the 1890’s. This book does deal a little with the realities of life for women of the time. It is nice to remember where we came from. We also see the class differences of the time in a very stark way here. The author does include a note at the end that clarifies how her book fits into what was really happening for the real people featured in this book at the time. I always enjoy seeing what is true and what was tweaked for fictional purposes. This is historic fiction, after all.
Murder at Marble House is a good second entry in the series. I already have the next couple of books, so I’m looking forward to visiting Emma again soon.
Enjoy the rest of the Gilded Newport Mysteries.