Sir Maurice Newbury is bereft as his trusty assistant Veronica Hobbes lies dying with a wounded heart. Newbury and Veronica’s sister Amelia must take a sleeper train across Europe to St. Petersburg to claim a clockwork heart that Newbury has commissioned from Fabergé to save Veronica from a life trapped in limbo.
No sooner do they take off then sinister goings-on start to plague the train, and it is discovered that a mysterious cultist is also on board, determined to recover a precious artefact. Can Newbury and Amelia defeat him before he carries out his terrible revenge?
But as Newbury and Amelia hurtle towards the only thing that can save Veronica, they uncover a terrible secret that could threaten the lives of everyone on board. A secret linked to Veronica’s past…
Published: 12th February 2019
Publisher: Titan Books
Goodreads : Click here
Series or Stand-Alone: Book 7, Newbury and Hobbes
Source: Review Copy from Publisher
MY REVIEW
George Mann is a relatively new author to me who is fast becoming a favourite. In 2018 I read and loved his Wychwood duology (duology at the moment but I hope there may be more...…) and I was really excited to pick up another one of his books.
I will start by saying that I have not read the previous books in this series and, to be honest, I wish I had and that is something I am certainly going to remedy when I get my hands on the previous books. Although this is one of those books that you absolutely can pick up as a stand alone away from the series, I had the feeling that there was something I was missing in the background of the characters, which I would pick up easily had I read the previous books.
The above said, I enjoyed the mystery in this novel, the whodoneit element is an element in a novel that I particularly enjoy so that was a huge part of why I thoroughly enjoyed this. For it, it also had an element of comedy in parts, especially nearer the beginning of the novel where Sir Maurice is on a train with a lady (who I won't identify as I am not sure whether that is a spoiler for previous books or not) and there is someone at the door wanting to come in thinking there is a serious problem but the problem Sir Maurice has is that there is a dead body in his room. The way that scene was handled and what they did made me giggle.
A really enjoyable whodoneit mystery that I am looking forward to picking up more and learning more about this world.
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