So exciting. I didn't even know how to track down news about this, since I didn't know the author's non-Archive of Our Own name. Stumbling across this info was a pleasant surprise. I still have the original free download on my phone and definitely plan on picking up the new version once it's available. The only thing I don't like about the announcement: it doesn't include any dates.
Edit: I found it on Amazon! It says February 2, 2021, not that their dates are always accurate.
I happened to still have this downloaded to my phone, and I needed something to read while waiting in various places. This was just as good as I remembered it being. A little less choppy-feeling the second time around than the first, but I'm going to keep my overall rating the same.
And I'm still rolling my eyes at the commenter on Goodreads who chastised me for potentially ruining the book by including "spoilers." I do my best to use spoiler tags when appropriate and, at the time, couldn't figure out for the life of me what the person meant. And of course they never answered my question about which part of my review they thought was a spoiler. After this reread, I suspect that the part they were talking about was the bit where I mentioned that Jainan and Taam's marriage hadn't been good and had involved abuse - it does take a bit for Jainan to admit this, even to himself, and it takes a while for Kiem to catch on, but Jainan's behavior and thought processes make it painfully obvious to readers long before details are included. Even if that is what the commenter was so upset about, there's a bunch of plot threads I didn't even hint at in my review - I still don't understand how my mentioning the abuse would in any way ruin the book for anyone.
Oh well. I'm leaving the book on my phone for the next time I'm stuck in line an need a sweet m/m sci-fi romance to help pass the time.
While this has a trope I'm not fond of - our heroine has retained her accent and holds herself like a member of the upper classes, I would say this would be hard to do and often is rubbish, people like to blend. Apart from that it's a fun read that I found hard to put down. (another bad decisions book club book).
Annabelle Smith works as a healer in Whitechapel and was surprised when Lytton Staines, Earl of Thornton turns up on her door... his sister is suffering from some sort of wasting disease and he's exhausted regular medics. She comes recommended by servants. When they meet the impression is ruined by the pet dog who rips his waistcoat and spills tea on him.
The two of them are an interesting couple and it was a fun read. There were bits that stretched credulity but overall it was a good read.
Honour Among Punks is a gender-flipped Sherlock Holmes pastiche set in the London punk scene of the 1980's. To make it more Holmes-ish, it is also a world where respectable English society never moved on from Victorianism. It would have been very interesting if the hows and whys of this world had been explored, but it just exists as an unexamined background element. The main character is a former CID Inspector who was dismissed for exposing police corruption and then went punk and solves crimes as a hobby.
I am a fan of Guy Davis' art. His runs on Sandman Mystery Theater and The Marquis are among my favorites. His work is detailed, gritty, and not afraid to be ugly when the situation calls for it. Unfortunately I did not care for this story.
The biggest failing of the story requires some spoilers, so spoilers follow.
One of the main characters is revealed to be trans and the story proceeds to hit every cliched negative trans trope from immediate pronoun confusion to the psychologically unstable trans woman. Eventually the trans character is revealed to be a serial killer who targets men. I am not a reviewer who insists all trans portrayals must be positive, but the trans = monster trope is a tired thriller cliche.
Title : Honour The Dead
Author: John Anthony Miller
Genre: Historical Mystery
Pages:341
Endeavour Media
book synopsis
Six English survivors of the Great War – four men and two women – converge on Lake Como, Italy in 1921. The result: one corpse and one killer...
Psychiatrist Joseph Barnett is treating wealthy socialite Penelope Jones for schizophrenia at a sanitarium in Como. She is convinced someone is trying to kill her.
Penelope is married to war veteran Alexander Cavendish, hero of the Battle of the Somme. Barnett knows – and hates – Cavendish from the trenches where both were officers during the battle: one was trying to save lives, the other take them.
Both men had been wounded and treated at a hospital in Amiens where Bartlett met and later married Rose who worked there as a nurse. But why does Rose also harbour an intense animosity towards Cavendish?
My thoughts
Rating: 4
Would I recommend it ? yes
Will I give this author a second try ? yes
What got me to pick it up was when it said Six arrived - five survive , because it kind of give off the vibes of something I would of picked up if written by Agatha Christie , it kind of was like something she would of wrote but it was also different in some ways. Over all it was still good to read , the characters was and where engaging and complex. Especially Penelope Jones because there was times I thought she was just plain crazy , and there was times I thought if someone was trying to kill her it has to be someone close to her . As for the story it self it, the story plot was well written and tricky enough to keep the best guessing, but with enough clues to let the reader play along. The story came to life as did the characters and that is something that definitely reminds me of Agatha Christine. I can see it as a TV mini-series if they could and would do it right , with that said I want to think Netgalley for letting me read and review it exchange for my honest opinion.
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