I quite enjoyed the book, found the Dickens story quite interesting, but the author's style is annoying.. It's very conversational, there are references in the story to things that havent actually been mentioned in the book (but obviously have in conversation by the character). It was also a bit confusing in places.... It's definitely not a murder mystery.. Or really a love story.. But I'm glad i read it. ( )

I picked this up at random in the library, I hadn't heard of it before. The tagline on the cover about it being a "genuinely puzzling historical murder mystery" pulled me in. Though it's not actually an historical murder mystery. In the afterword the author admits to having been inspired by Josephine Tey's book The Daughter of Time in which Inspector Grant investigates Richard III from his hospital bed. This isn't quite the same but I can see where the idea comes in.

Oxford doctoral student Kit is drawn into investigating, in the course of her literature research, a real life murder that mirrors the death of Nancy in Oliver Twist. Mostly than just seems like a little part of the plot of the book though and it takes a while to turn up in the book. There's a more interesting not-quite-romance story here about Kit who goes dancing and meets Joe and about families.

Not having known quite what to expect I enjoyed the book, despite the fact that I don't agree that it's a "genuinely puzzling historical murder mystery". ( )

A very tall woman with no sense of self-worth studies Dickens while falling for an irritable Mathematics professor who has a troublesome brother. There isn't really a murder mystery in this book and there isn't really a love story. Some turns of phrase are interesting, but most of the story is trampled by split infinitives and literal dialogue. If you enjoy the author's style you'll probably enjoy the book despite its lack of plot, but for me that style drowned any possible enjoyment.

This review sounds extremely harsh, but I mean it that some people *will* adore this book. Just not me. ( )