The London Seance Society by Sarah Penner 352 pp
The London Seance Society is the story of two sisters. Once is alive and one is dead. Lenna has apprenticed herself to medium Vaudeline D'Allaire in hopes of finding out what happened to her sister who she believes was murdered. Her sister, Evie, believed in ghosts and psychics and had been Vaudeline's apprentice before she died. Vaudeline is well known among people looking for resolutions to murders that the police cannot solve. Vaudeline has been sent to Paris for her protection because she believes the group is defrauding people that hire them. Mr. Morley, the vice president of the Department of Spiritualism at the London Seance Society (an all male group) calls her back to try to solve the murder of Mr. Wolckman who died the same night as Lenna's sister Evie. Lenna comes along in case Vaudeline needs help and finds out that her sister was more embroiled in the mystery than she originally thought.
I enjoyed the story, but it did have a slow start. I really liked Sarah Penner's previous story The Lost Apothecary. It may have been easier for me to empathize with a modern person since that story went back and forth between the past and the present. Both stories involve some nod to modern day feminism by noting the problems women had with being respected in the past. I want to give this 3.5 stars, but since I cannot. I will have to err on the side of three.
No comments:
Post a Comment