[NOVEL] A Slash of Emerald by Patrice McDonough

London, 1867: Among the genteel young ladies of London society, painting is a perfectly acceptable pastime—but a woman who dares to pursue art as a profession is another prospect, indeed. Dr. Julia Lewis, familiar with the disrespect afforded women in untraditional careers, is hardly surprised when Scotland Yard shows little interest in complaints made by her friend, Mary Allingham, about a break-in at her art studio. Mary is just one of many “lady painters” being targeted by vandals.

 

Painters’ sitters are vanishing, too—women viewed by some as dispensable outcasts. Inspector Richard Tennant, however, takes the attacks seriously, suspecting they’re linked to the poison-pen letters received by additional members of the Allingham family. For Julia, the issue is complicated by Tennant’s previous relationship with Mary’s sister-in-law, Louisa, and by her own surprising reaction to that entanglement.

 

But when someone close to them commits suicide and a young woman turns up dead, the case can no longer be so easily ignored by ‘respectable’ society. Layer after layer, Julia and Tennant scrape away the facts of the case like paint from a canvas. What emerges is a somber picture of vice, depravity, and deception stretching from London’s East End to the Far East—with a killer at its center, determined to get away with one last, grisly murder . . . 

Dr. Julia Lewis. Book 2

I must say I don't agree with this official synopsis. It's better not to read it all-together. Partially it's true what is said, but partially it gives attention to something that wasn't the central part of the book for a very long time.

There are several episodic instances that lead us to what we explore in this book:

- Julia is asked by Tennant to observe a girl Annie O'Neill who was arrested and was suspected to prostitute, but happened to be a female model for painters;

- A horrific incident on the lake in Regent's Park (real incident) where Julia comes across the Allingham family (fake characters of course);

- Mary Allingham's studio has been vandillized by the unknown person, there are blackmailing letter addressed to almost every female painter and as we know - sitters too (above-mentioned Annie O'Neill) So the story starts from a slash of emerald;

And then happened the suicide, which was the first layer to scrape off.

I find this book more interesting in general. First book was more a book of revenge with a pretty depressing tone. Doesn't mean this has fun topic, on the contrary. But author doesn't shy away from them to produce some posh literature without any of the gruesome details. First book pretty much reflected the script of a movie where the main perpetrator won't be discovered until the very end, because they need to finish what they started. It kinda made sense in my head. With this one we have no killer's POV, we have a real case that developed pretty fast with the help of many.

A plethora of characters move this plto forward.

Of course if you're keen on things you will notice some of those early on and have your answer.

I will repeat myself but I love this idea of connecting reality and fiction. Some of events are real, as well as participants, some simply inspired this book.

Although it is indeed sad, but this book at least was not without some positive sides.

I just don't want to spoil it too much, because at least some of it came as a surprise for me and in mysteris it's essential to keep the main secret.

Also Julia and Richard may have some progress, but again it's very subtle, fitting their era.

And it's not as dramatic as the synopsis showed. Julia had no idea about the real connection between Richard and Louisa Allingham. All she knew that they knew each other and Louisa relied on Richard a lot when they met again. Indeed, she had her own thoughts on this, which again were subtle and not straight to the point. (e.g. she would never look at Louisa hanging on Richard's arm and say - bitch, get away from my man, I was eyeing him first).

But both of them were kinda circling around undecided. You might find it annoying, I don't. This book is at least more opened on affection instead of subtlety of the first one, especially Richard who dreams of Julia, nothing dirty, just him thinking how it would look like if she was by his side in a daily life. Yet I will repeat myself that I'm really not mad at their lack of "progress". Their progress is also a progress. They need time, even if they feel connection.

The third book will be the final ("Murder by Moonrise" I believe), planned release next year in February (at least that's in acknowledgements that Patrice signed for three books, if this series will get a continuation after that who knows).

RATE: 5/5.