This will be short cause I really loathed this book. It took me two days to get through. If not for the fact that a DNF does not count towards bingo, I would have done so at the 10 percent point. This book is tedious, boring, and overwrought somehow all at the same time. The main character is opposite day Sherlock Holmes. I really wanted him to reach a terrible end, but since this is the first book in a 11 book series, there was not much hope of that. I heard through reliable readers that the series gets better. I hope so.

I read this for the "Darkest London" square since this is a mystery taking place in London during the Victorian age. 

The lead character is Charles Lenox. He is self proclaimed amateur sleuth who helps out the Yard from time to time. He has a Yard inspector that doesn't like him, a close friendship with a childhood friend, another friend who is a doctor with a drinking problem, and his butler is used as his runner for certain jobs he needs him to do. When his childhood friend and London neighbor, Lady Jane asks him to look into whether a former maid of hers was murdered, he does. Frankly, I never got a good reason why Lady Jane cared, but that is neither here or there. So off Lenox goes to stick his nose in and quickly deduces that the former maid (Prudence Smith) was poisoned. Hence the name "A Beautiful Blue Death."

Lenox really is just a boring type of Sherlock Holmes. He fusses about being cold, his feet being cold, being wet, taking naps, how much toast to eat, his freaking tea, wine, scotch and soda, everything. I have never read so many boring descriptions about what a character was doing in one book before.

Everyone in this book is a version of a character in a Sherlock Holmes novel. I refuse to list them and all the ways. 

The writing was blah. Reading that when X woke up, they stretched their arms, and thought about what they would have to break their morning fast. They rose from the bed and admired their pajamas which were silk and put their feet into soft slippers. Looking around the room, X admired a winter painting of London which he thought captured London as it's most beautiful when it was quiet and no people around. Blah. The whole book was like that. He literally took a paragraph to describe a terrible ass room that he needs to re-do. I just can't anymore. Skip this first book unless you want o know the main players for future books. 

The ending was a mess. It didn't make much sense. I think Finch is trying to set up Lenox having his own Moriarty and once again, good luck to him. Once we find out the guilty party it's like another 50-70 pages before the book ends. Maybe I am exaggerating, I don't care enough to open my e-reader to check.  

Made sure I finished last night. So irritated. Call this dude watered down Sherlock Holmes and be done with it. There were also three endings to this book.

I swear that Charles Lenox is boring as watching paint dry. He gets attacked by two men and almost swoons because he is not used to getting into "fisticuffs" with other men since he was raised as a gentleman. 

There are endless descriptions of his drinks, food, and his socks, boots, coat, hat, and how much he likes to take naps once in a while. 

The lapse into American slang once in a while is pretty hilarious to read.

Plus there is no there there while I am reading. Meaning, we go into a general overview of how he met his now butler. But seriously, there is a long winded description about how they pretty much don't talk about personal matters, but you know, are friends. It's so weird. This reads like a toothless version of Sherlock Holmes. 

Stopping and heading to bed. This is so boring. Written okay, though I am getting a little bit confused since some of the wording he is using is not British or even Victorian sometimes. The main character is like a watered down version of Sherlock Holmes. 

Slow going. Think I'm hitting a reading wall. I can tell this is the first book in the series, everything is being over explained and described. FYI this would fit the Amateur sleuth square for bingo.