PRIVATE INVESTIGATION by Fleur T Reid

Publisher: Total-E-Bound
Date published: 11 June 2012
ISBN: 978-1-78184-013-9
Steampunk
E-book
Reviewed by Helen
Obtained via Publisher

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE!Miss Elizabeth James has just graduated from the Metropolitan School for Shorthand top of her class in typing, shorthand, filing and arithmetic, and is looking for a job that will allow her to eat better and bathe in hot water more often. When she sees a position advertised for the princely sum of six pounds per week, she’s determined to get it.

Inventor John Dermott needs a secretary to bring order to the total chaos that is the home he shares with private detective Lucien Doyle. Teetering piles of papers, and steam-powered inventions that hiss, bubble and explode don’t deter Lilly. She wants those six pounds a week.

This story is a mixture of steampunk inventions and Sherlock Holmes allusions with a dose of the paranormal. There are a couple of annoying typos such as Caine’s name spelled with and without the final e, and missed capital letters, but overall the book is quite clean.

I enjoyed the characters. Both Lilly and her landlady are women of their times, but with an underlying hint of steel when things get tough. Lilly adjusted to her situation with great flexibility and a sense of fun and curiosity that was very endearing. The two male leads have great chemistry and a sense of humor. Their relationship was hot and flexible, although there was one time their hygiene was rather icky to a modern-day reader.

I especially liked the running gag about marmalade and I defy anyone to have it on toast for breakfast with a straight face after reading the book.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.