Monthly Archives: December 2023

Book review: The Recovery Agent by Janet Evanovich

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The Recovery Agent by Janet Evanovich

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is the first in a new series by a well-known mystery author, Janet Evanovich, who writes the Stephanie Plum series. Gabriela Rose is a “recovery agent,” someone who is retained to find lost/stolen/missing items. And this time she is off to find lost treasure in order to save her family’s home.
While the premise of this mystery is wildly improbable (lost treasure based on a family legend), the author, as usual, writes fun and appealing characters with entertaining dialogue and well-paced action plots. I was highly entertained by the book, which can best be characterized as a fabulous beach read. You don’t have to think too hard, it’s an easy read, and (surprise, surprise), the heroine lives on to fight another day (or, more accurately, in book #2, which is coming out in June).
If you’re looking for an easy escape read, this one is for you. Fans of Stephanie Plum will enjoy this book as well. While the main characters aren’t quite as quirky as Stephanie’s posse is, they are also a bit more accessible and just as much fun. I will definitely be picking up book #2 in the series.



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Book review: The Murder of Mr Wickham by Claudia Gray

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The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The premise of the book is clever–the author has taken many of the characters from Jane Austen novels, thrown them together, and murdered one of them (no spoilers, but based on the title, it’s clear which character it is). Then, two children of 2 couples from the novels are thrown together to solve the murder.
Like I said, the premise of the book is quite clever, and I applaud the author on her imaginative rendering of the story. The mystery is cleverly plotted, and as a fan of Jane Austen novels, it is fun to see the characters after their stories were told, as it were.
The issue is if you are going to borrow characters from Jane Austen’s novels, it would help to be as satirical and insightful and perceptive as she was. And while the author is a very good writer, the tone of her book falls flat, especially when compared against the original author.
This is, of course, not entirely the author’s fault. There are few writers as gifted with light-hearted satire and irony as Jane Austen. But if you are going to extend Jane Austen’s characters, then you should not be surprised to be compared to her (which is probably not to your benefit).
That being said, the book is creative and clever. It’s just that the characters don’t quite ring true to the originals. I enjoyed reading the book but will probably not read its sequel, at least not while my TBR pile is so long.



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