Murder at the Serpentine Bridge

A solid mystery that keeps the status quo for this series


After the last Wrexford & Sloane book, Murder at the Royal Botanic Gardens, ended up being my least favorite in this series, I was a little hesitant to pick up the next one. I still feel conflicted about it. I did end up liking this one better, but the same frustration remains: I want more character development from this series.

Admittedly, I do like the characters a lot. They are an endearing bunch. I’m invested in what happens to them. And most of them have interesting backstories. But after six damn books, I expect a lot more depth to the characters. Just because these are Cozy Mysteries, doesn’t mean they can’t have more complex characters. Now that I’m thinking about it, maybe part of the reason is to make it easier to readers to pick up any book in the series and not have to read them in order. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting more character depth.

Adding to the frustration about the light character development is the fact that all of the good characters are just so damn good. By that I mean that they all seem to be paragons of virtue. Sure, that isn’t uncommon for lighter books set in this time period tend to romanticize chivalry. But these characters are so benevolent and sweet that it makes my teeth hurt. Even Wrexford with his allegedly terrible temper seems to – at most – be sarcastic and glare people.

“None of us can sail a ship alone. We need friends aboard to help us steady the keel and keep a firm hand on the tiller when the weather turns rough.”

Some of the previous books dealt with the misogyny and classism of the time period. Murder at the Serpentine Bridge brings up those issues again as well as dealing with racism. But of course, these characters are all enlightened and extremely accepting of everyone. And not just the main characters but their whole circle of friends and family. And while part of me appreciates characters that rise above prejudices, the other part of me found it too anachronistic to have that many characters that seem to have absolutely zero prejudice. Only the bad guys in this book display prejudice.

Nevertheless, the plots in this series continue to be good. I enjoy the way they have some sort of STEM angle and incorporate bits of actual history. This installment centers on the Peace Celebrations of Napoleon’s defeat and does have cameos by historical figures. The stakes are also higher in this book with the elements of international intrigue woven in. Although it did stretch the credibility how much they lucked out with stumbling upon secret conversations and suspects being so willing to discuss things with them.

Despite my whining, I’ll still continue with the series. I’m just going to have to resign myself to the fact that the characters will remain hollow goody-two-shoes.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 3 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 4 Stars
Level of Captivation: 4 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars