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Slaves of obsession
482 pages
A tense historical mystery where drawing-room politics shatter into a transatlantic pursuit fueled by obsession and divided loyalties.
What it feels like
This historical mystery pulls the reader from the lush, deceptive calm of polite society into a tense, transatlantic pursuit. The atmosphere is thick with the shadows of impending war, as political tensions and arms dealing bleed into personal obsessions and romantic entanglements. As the narrative shifts from a contained domestic setting to an urgent chase across the ocean, the mood grows increasingly urgent and shadowed by shifting suspicions. The prose balances period-appropriate elegance with the gritty reality of a murder investigation, keeping the reader guessing alongside the detectives. It is a deeply atmospheric experience designed for readers who delight in classic sleuthing, where divided loyalties and hidden motives ensure that the obvious suspect is rarely the right one.
- Mood
- tense
- atmospheric
- shadowed
- urgent
- Tone
- suspenseful
- dramatic
- investigative
- serious
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- divided loyalties · deception and betrayal · romantic obsession · the shadow of war · pursuit of justice
- The writing
- Atmospheric and period-appropriate, capturing both the lushness of high-society drawing rooms and the gritty tension of a murder investigation.
- The arc
- Begins in the deceptive calm of polite society before accelerating into an urgent, transatlantic pursuit fraught with shifting suspicions.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love historical detective fiction that weaves political tensions and romantic entanglements into a globe-trotting mystery.
Content notes
- murder
- arms dealing
- war themes
About the book
Monk agrees to attend a dinner party at the lush home of arms dealer Daniel Alberton, whose daughter is madly in love with the American Lyman Breeland, who wants to buy munitions for the Union Army. But then the handsome Confederate Philo Trace appears on the scene and he just happened to have secured a deal with Alberton beforehand. When Alberton is found murdered and his daughter has run off to America with Breeland, Monk and Hester follow only to find that they may be chasing the wrong suspect. -
Description from Open Library.
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