I am not a particularly fast reader, yet I sped through The
Taxidermist’s Daughter by Kate Mosse in only two sittings. It’s a rather compelling and fun blending of
several British literary genres save one, it spares readers any lead characters
from the self-absorbed aristocracy. Oh, and it includes nursery rhymes.
The book is equal parts Sherlock Holmes, Oliver Twist, and
Macbeth; stirred into the cauldron with a sampling of British women mystery writers
from Agatha Christie forward, and then adding a bit of American Edgar Allan Poe
for spice.
The main character is named Connie, and as one can guess
from the title, she is the daughter of a taxidermist, a once respectable occupation
that has fallen out of fashion to the point that its mere mention frightens people. She lives with her widowed father
in Blackthorn House near the coast of England, an area heavily impacted by
tidewaters and summer storms. Her aging father
is losing his faculties, and Connie, in her twenties, is still trying to piece
together her past, she had some kind of accident when she was young, resulting
in amnesia. Her father has not been
helpful in providing information about what happened, and she suspects that what
little she has been told has been fabricated.
Without a spoiler alert, I can go no further, but you
should.
Recommendation: great summer read.
umm. A new career move for me
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