I wanted more historical mysteries after reading The Lady Chapel, so I checked out Death at St. Vedast, a book that has been on my TBR list for a while!
Death at St. Vedast starts with a suspicious suicide – a woman, who seems impervious to the cold, throws herself from a great height. Bianca, an alchemist who just moved to the area, sees the body on her first day in the neighbourhood. She would like to investigate but more pressing things call for her attention, namely the wedding of her husband’s master and friend, Boisvert the silversmith. However, Boisvert’s wife Odile dies immediately after the wedding and Boisvert is arrested. Bianca spots parallels between Odile’s death and what she hears about the suicide – can she uncover the truth and clear Boisvert’s name?
To be honest, Death at St. Vedast started out a little slower than expected. Apart from the suicide, there was also a chapter on Bianca’s alchemy and someone who may have been her mentor (I suspect this is related to the overall series, which I don’t know about because this is the first book I read), and then quite a bit about her and John (her husband’s) move to the area. To be honest, for me the plot only picked up after Odile’s death. But I’m glad I carried on reading because I found the mystery to be quite ingenious and I really enjoyed following Bianca and her investigation.
Given that Bianca is the main character, it’s no surprise that I found her to be likeable and sympathetic. She’s headstrong and very smart, two traits that I admire, and I am super curious about her past. Apparently, her father was a notorious alchemist and he passed his love of alchemy to her, making her a very unusual woman for her time.
Bianca and John’s relationship was also pretty interesting. It was definitely very tense in the beginning, but as they started investigating, I started to see the affection that they had for each other. I really wonder what happened before and it made me interested in going back and reading the first book.
Overall, I enjoyed Death at St. Vedast. The book did feel a little long, but I was hooked once the second death occurred and I am probably going to go back and read the first book in the series sometime in the future. I think this is a book that fans of historical mysteries are going to enjoy.
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I also like headstrong smart heroines. Sad this started slow but sounds interesting. Great review!
It was a good book overall, I would definitely read more (:
This one sounds interesting, but not quite interesting enough to go on the neverending tbr haha
Honestly, with the neverending TBR, I find it helps to be selective :p (though I probably am NOT when it comes to adding books)
I don’t like to give up on slow starters for that very reason–often times they do pick up the more I read. I like the sound of this. Bianca sounds like a great character.
Bianca is great! I love how she takes things into her own hands