This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Reviewed by Jennifer Joyce
Violet Matcham is a dedicated lady-companion to Lady Halstead. Fearing she doesn’t have long left to live, Lady Halstead decides to put her affairs in order while she can and is confused when she discovers a substantial sum in her bank balance, much more than should be there. With Violet’s help, Lady Halstead is determined to get to the bottom of the matter, but when she is murdered, it is up to Violet to track down her killer. With the help of Mr Montague, Violet races to find the killer and bring them to justice.
I found it quite difficult to get into The Masterful Mr Montague and didn’t really connect with any of the characters, which made the book quite hard going. Even though it is a murder mystery, I was never compelled to pick the book up to find out who the killer was. I found the book quite slow and was hoping the pace would pick up once the plot got going but, unfortunately for me, it didn’t and I was left feeling frustrated.
I thought the quality of the writing was ok, as well as the regency time period, but I think the characters lacked any real spark and the pacing issues were too much for me to really enjoy the book.
5/10