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The Masterful Mr Montague A Casebook of Barnaby Adair Novel Stephanie Laurens 9780062068668 Books

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The Masterful Mr Montague A Casebook of Barnaby Adair Novel Stephanie Laurens 9780062068668 Books

A little bit romance (3 separate couples), a little bit mystery, a great deal of chatting with friends. I applaud the author's attempt at an unusual treatment of a mystery/romance but this fell flat. I enjoyed Where the Heart Leads (Barnaby and Penelope's story), I loved the novella The Peculiar Case of the Ginsburg Diamonds (Stokes' and Griselda's story) but this takes the concept too far. It appears that the author's main reason to write this book is to set up an ongoing series using the 6 main characters from these first 3 stories. What happens is that neither the mystery, nor the romances, nor the series works. It's a jumble. The author tries to do too much.

One small disappointment among many is that the very interesting character, Penelope, changes dramatically from the first story to this one (the third). Originally she was deeply committed and involved in an orphanage for the underclass which is both interesting and commendable. In this book, she states she is searching for meaning in her life as a stay at home mother who is a language expert. She became a different person. No mention of the orphanage at all! When I read something like that in a book by an author of many years, I become highly suspicious that there is ghost writing occurring to keep the franchise going. I know it happens often but it is always a disappointment. I am not deeply familiar with Laurens' writing but I have enjoyed a few. This is a poor, sloppy job of setting up a series. The series concept is a good one but it requires a good storyteller to make it a good series. That's what is missing.

As an aside; it is generally accepted that a historical novel at least approximates the time period. This seemed quite modern in attitude, language, and behavior. I'm not a purist in that regard if the story is entertaining. But the lack of historical appropriateness was jarring here.


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The Masterful Mr Montague A Casebook of Barnaby Adair Novel Stephanie Laurens 9780062068668 Books Reviews

Lady Halstead, a wealthy elderly widow, decides it is time to makes sure her affairs are in order and instructs her companion Violet to summon Mr. Runcorn, her man of business, to attend her. During their meeting, they discover that her bank account has too much cash in it. Since Mr. Runcorn has only recently taken over his father's business, Lady Halstead decides to hire the most trusted and experienced man of business in the country to act as a consultant and help Mr. Runcorn with his investigation. Mr. Montague, who acts as man of businesses for many of the upper class, has discovered that while he has achieved his financial and business goals, he has no personal life. When he meets Violet he is intrigued enough to meet with Lady Halstead and agree to look over her finances with Mr. Runcorn. Within days of that first meeting, Lady Halstead is murdered, Violet sends to Mr. Montague for help and he calls in Inspector Stokes and Barnaby Adair to make sure that the murder is not declared a natural death. The case takes twists and turns as additional murders follow.
I enjoyed seeing the Adairs and Stokes as new parents working on their marriages, trying to fit their new responsibilities in with their determination to find the murderer and learning to compromise between their families' needs and the investigation. Heathcote Montague has been brilliant and supportive in prior novels but he has always stayed in his role as financial advisor. In this book, he wants Violet to see him as a man, so we get to see some of his character and his dreams.
The investigation is very much in the fore front in this novel. Violet and Heathcote are direct, honest and mature individuals who recognize their attraction to each other so there is no conflict in their relationship. Their romance is slow and sweet and the heat is turned down in this book compared to many of Ms. Laurens previous books. I enjoyed both the focus on the mystery and the three romances.
I'm a great fan of all of the Stephanie Laurens books- especially the Cynster novels. I was pleased to see the Barnaby Adair spin off since Barnaby's and Penelope's story is one of my favorites in the series. That being said, their story is complete. According to the book's description, this new novel is suppose to focus on the new romance between Montague and Violet. Yet there are very few instances when they are alone more or less interact romantically. I realize it's a mystery. But it's romance too. There are many long drawn out love scenes between Barnaby and Penelope. In fact there are too many. At the end of every day, the reader gets another over blown account of them having sex which uses every flowery sweet description of the act except any words actually relating to sex because that would debase their love and commitment. I get it. Once is okay. Twice is pushing it, especially if you re-use the same descriptions. But Laurens wastes many pages that could have been dedicated to the new romance. For example, you have to wait over 3/4 of the book before Montague and Violet even kiss for the 1st time. We wait all that time for the 1st romantic encounter between them and it's up-staged with gratuitous love scene # 4? (lost count by this time) between Barnaby and Penelope. Finally Laurens remembers that you can't have a romance without spending some time together. So Montague's and Violet's courtship gets crammed into the last few pages of the book. Don't get me wrong. I really like the Barnaby and Penelope characters. But I already know they love each other. Their passion for each other was apparent in their story and the last Barnaby novel. But this was suppose to be Montague's and Violet's tale. I think they got cheated.
A little bit romance (3 separate couples), a little bit mystery, a great deal of chatting with friends. I applaud the author's attempt at an unusual treatment of a mystery/romance but this fell flat. I enjoyed Where the Heart Leads (Barnaby and Penelope's story), I loved the novella The Peculiar Case of the Ginsburg Diamonds (Stokes' and Griselda's story) but this takes the concept too far. It appears that the author's main reason to write this book is to set up an ongoing series using the 6 main characters from these first 3 stories. What happens is that neither the mystery, nor the romances, nor the series works. It's a jumble. The author tries to do too much.

One small disappointment among many is that the very interesting character, Penelope, changes dramatically from the first story to this one (the third). Originally she was deeply committed and involved in an orphanage for the underclass which is both interesting and commendable. In this book, she states she is searching for meaning in her life as a stay at home mother who is a language expert. She became a different person. No mention of the orphanage at all! When I read something like that in a book by an author of many years, I become highly suspicious that there is ghost writing occurring to keep the franchise going. I know it happens often but it is always a disappointment. I am not deeply familiar with Laurens' writing but I have enjoyed a few. This is a poor, sloppy job of setting up a series. The series concept is a good one but it requires a good storyteller to make it a good series. That's what is missing.

As an aside; it is generally accepted that a historical novel at least approximates the time period. This seemed quite modern in attitude, language, and behavior. I'm not a purist in that regard if the story is entertaining. But the lack of historical appropriateness was jarring here.