The Mystery of Nevermore
Publisher: DSP Publications
Publication Date (August 2016)
ISBN 10 - 1634770692
ISBN 13 - 978-1634770699
197 Pages of Story
Three things sold me on this book before I even knew what it was about. First, the title. Being a huge fan of Nancy Drew and other children's mysteries from the '70s and beyond, I love titles that begin with "The Mystery of...." or "The Secret at..." or "The Clue in...." Second, the book clearly involved Edgar Allan Poe, based on the title. And third, it's a mystery series. Put all three of those together, and you've got a combination that I simply cannot pass up! Thankfully, the book was well worth the purchase, and it was so good, I'm going online to order and second and third books in the series, hoping there are more to come.
That being said, The Mystery of Nevermore begins the sleuthing adventures of one Sebastian Snow (love that name!), antique dealer and fan of mystery novels. He is having difficulties with his closeted partner, Neil, who is a detective with the NYPD. With his assistant, Max Ridley, Sebastian runs a pretty successful antique shop, and life trudges along as normal. Until he discovers a bloody heart under one of the stairs in his shop. And he stumbles across the body of a competing antique dealer with a black cat hung over the body. And discovers a previous murder of a woman, whose blood is used to write a message on the wall. All of which lead Sebastian to realize that someone is a fan of Edgar Allan Poe and is using Poe's stories to stage his or her murders!
The backstory of these murders stems from a little known book (pamphlet, really) of Poe's known as Tamerlane. This poem, with several others, was the first published work of Poe, and is, indeed, extremely rare, as so few copies were printed, and even fewer remain in existence today. So, C.S. Poe poses the question - what would happen is an unknown to exist copy surfaced today? And what if that copy were sold, unknown, in a group of books to an antique dealer in New York City? And what if someone were to want that copy so badly that he or she were willing to kill for it - literally?! Poor Sebastian has to find out, as he begins to put the pieces together and realizes that a collection of books he recently bought could very well contain that newly discovered copy, marking him as the next target for this Poe-inspired killer!
C.S. Poe (I hesitate to simply use the author's last name only, as her last name coincidentally is the same as good ol' Edgar Allan's) writes a beautifully woven mystery, perfectly paced to keep the reader engaged and wanting to know what happens next. The characters are far from cookie-cutter, and the tension, not only relating to the mystery, but also to the relationships between Sebastian and Neil, and then between Sebastian and investigating detective, Calvin Winter, are natural and all-too real and relatable. Plus, I have to admit, love the combination of Sebastian and Calvin's last names - Snow and Winter.
The only drawback I would say to the mystery are the couple of fairly explicit sex scenes. I just don't see the need for explicitness when it comes to the sexual encounters of the characters in a good mystery. I know the expression, "sex sells" - yet, for me, if the explicit description of the sex can be removed and the story continues unchanged, then it isn't really necessary. However, there are only a couple in this book, so they did not take away from my enjoyment of the characters and the mystery - I simply overlooked them and moved on with the mystery!
I think pretty much any mystery-lover will appreciate and enjoy this book!
RATING: 8 cardboard-tasting pizzas out of 10 for giving readers a new mystery series with truly interesting characters and a superbly-written mystery right off the bat!
No comments:
Post a Comment