** spoiler alert ** I seriously wanted to like this book. I love a good gothic mystery, nothing beats one for creating that dark "brooding" atmosphere. So maybe I'm just feeling a bit cranky because of this pandemic that won't go away?? Who knows? Was it me?? Or did the book (despite its creative, magical, perversion-laden leanings) drop the ball?? Eeny, meeny, miny moe...
The story contained a multitude of unusual, colorful and just a touch shady characters but the one character that intrigued me the MOST and I wanted to know more about was Christabel. Sadly, the parts involving her were minor and the explanations about events surrounding her, even more deficient. So she's a merrow. Okay... Was the reader supposed to innately understand the surrealness of such a legend/creature? Like why the walls were wet everywhere she physically resided? Or what the consequences were if she were to bite a person? There was a man (involved in stealing her from Sir Edmund Berwicks estate) that got just such a bite and seemingly had to be "put out of his misery" because of it. Yet, little Myrtle had an armful of bites and was skipping around perfectly fine?? Ummmm??? Also, Christabel ate a diet of snails and newts and said diet just arrived "en masse" (no less) of their own accord & offered themselves up banquet-style to be devoured?? Where in the world does that happen? The fear of her capabilities meant she had to be locked down like a hardened criminal but at the end of the book, she was physically handled by several people (Bridie included) without any repercussions?? Because she was such a curiosity, maybe I was TOO curious about her and less involved in the mystery of who stole her (like the author intended us to be.)
Bridie was obviously the main character and the detective investigating Christabels disappearance. She was suitably eccentric for a Victorian era woman. She also came laden with her own mysteries including a hot boxer who happened to be dead but was amorously attached to her. Ummm yeah. Way to get street cred talking to a ghost while walking around pursuing leads. Best way to get a wide berth in the seamy underbelly of Victorian London! I always thought I liked this era but after traipsing thru the muck, squalor and stench of the places Bridie haunted, I think I'll pass. The book was that good at developing atmosphere. I should bump up my rating based on that aspect alone.
The dual storylines (of Bridies past & Christabels disappearance) were wrapped neatly by books end. Some more violently and grotesquely than others. As I type this, I think if a pandemic weren't going on, I'd feel more up to the "strangeness" of the story than I do now. I mean ya'll know I normally like folklore, magic, and otherworldness. Maybe this review should be another "thing in a jar??" Sealed tight, never to be opened ~ a la 'The Winter Mermaid.'
2.5 stars.
