The third installment of Blake & Avery has arrived (with another gorgeous cover!). I really enjoyed The Strangler Vine, the first book of this very early Victorian amateur sleuth series. The Strangler Vine is set in India at the dawn of the Victorian era and is a true adventure wrapped around a mystery. The following book, The Infidel Stain, took our British duo to London a few years later but didn’t quite enthrall me in the same way. For Feast, we remain in London, in the lanes and squares but also into the finest kitchens and private clubs of the age, where gentlemen are being poisoned. French celebrity chef and inventor Alexis Soyer, known perhaps only to food historians today, but quite real, plays a starring role in this newest book.
It comes as no surprise the history and details come across so richly from the pen of author M. J. Carter. Carter has previously written and published non-fiction history as Miranda Carter and her work is well regarded. Her research is thorough and it shows, but I know that’s not every novel reader’s favorite part of a good mystery.
… and into the fire.
I was very glad to see a new installment of the Blake & Avery series and hope for more. The second book didn’t quite capture me the way the first did, but this third book was better than the previous, but still not quite as captivating as Vine. One distinct criticism I have in this adventure is that we see far too little of Jeremiah Blake in this book. He has a couple very brief cameos before finally coming forward for the final third. It was in this final third as a reader I sat up and paid attention.
…
RECOMMEND
If you love food history, the early Victorians, or just a good British mystery, get The Devil’s Feast and the earlier Blake & Avery books. I received an advanced reader copy of this ebook via NetGalley in exchange for my review.
About the Author: Benjamin L. Clark writes historical mysteries and works as a history museum curator.
