Rating: 3/5
Spoiler Alert! If you haven’t read the book, this review will contain spoilers so it’s up to you if you continue…
The Strings of Murder has been an interesting one for me. It's say on my TBR for maybe 5 years now, but I thought with Halloween approaching it was an appropriate time to break out the supernatural murder mystery...not that I was sure if there was any supernatural elements until I'd finished it.
There was many moments that I wasn't sure how I felt about de Muriel's writing; whilst the plot was compelling, the characterisation felt faulty, and some of the subplots clunky. My main issue with The Strings of Murder though was the opening. Like I said, the plot was genuinely compelling and mystery clever, if gruesome, but it was difficult to settle into it at the beginning.
The scene must be set, of course. Frey must be shown as an upstanding Londoner with a difficult family but an appreciation for the finer things in life so that when he is paired with rough and tumble, punch first ask questions later McGrey, the contrast between them is ever more impressive. Buuuut this didn't feel quite natural for me. For multiple reasons.
With little to no understanding of the political setting, I couldn't care less about the reasons Frey had to leave the London CID. Likewise, I didn't care for his fiancé or their relationship. Or his disapproving family. Feeling sympathy, as I suppose the reader is supposed to at this point, was close to impossible considering I barely even knew the protagonist.
(Also, whilst we're touching on the barely-there fiancé, please say I wasn't the only one who knew instantly who she was going to be engaged to? It was just so obvious after setting up a poor relationship with Laurence).
Even after this initial rush of events which left me feeling very little for Frey, his characterisation never quite felt nailed down. Sometimes he was prim and proper, concerned about wearing a navy suit at a formal event, and other times he was openly critical of lower class characters, or lost his temper, in front of people, over very small matters. For somebody who cared about their status and appearance, he shouted at people an awful lot; maybe it's just me, but this didn't make sense for the time period. He was angry and rude on occasion and it felt needless, especially when McGrey had been established as brusque and caring little for manners.
McGrey felt much more complete, but as with Frey's sub-plot, it was set up for a series, not one book, leaving it feeling awkward and messy. Being a series, there is no expectation that things should be tied up neatly with a bow, but as a stand alone book, The Strings of Murder didn't feel complete purely due to its subplots. If they were to be present, they should have been their throughout. McGrey's sister only came up when the two visited the asylum - though his family reputation was mentioned frequently - which left her feeling like a strange addition to the cast. His reputation could have been created without her, I think.
That being said, I did enjoy the mystery side of things. The Strings of Murder played the two characters against each other well when it came to puzzling things out and using their respective detective methods to solve the murders. Suspense was built up as more murders occurred, and I never reached a point where I had figured something out before Frey and McGrey - frustrating but 100% the way I like a mystery book to work. For a long while I was convinced Danilo would be found alive and that Elgie would die - and the fact I was wrong tells me it was a well-written mystery.
However, it was also hella gruesome. This book is not for the squeamish. Most the body mentions were fine for me, but when we reached the point when the detectives were in Guacomo's caves, I was truly grossed out.
My only other note on the writing is the tense changes. I mentioned that The Strings of Murder is suspenseful, but I attribute that in no way whatsoever to the annoying chapter closes which made strange comments about what was to come. Frey was writing from some future point, but his annoying comments saying things such as "The night was to become much bloodier" or "I would regret asking that" really bothered me. They didn't add suspense, they just sounded patronising and - being at the end of almost every chapter - repetitive.
Was the mystery convincing? Maybe not entirely, but I enjoyed it none the less and would quite happily read more of the series...if only my local library stocked it.
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