Why I can’t write a Book Review for “Murder in the City of Liberty” by Rachel McMillan.
Summary: “Hamish DeLuca and Regina “Reggie” Van Buren have a new case—and this one could demand a price they’re not willing to pay. Determined to make a life for herself, Reggie Van Buren bid goodbye to fine china and the man her parents expected her to marry and escaped to Boston. What she never expected to discover was that an unknown talent for sleuthing would develop into a business partnership with the handsome, yet shy, Hamish DeLuca. Their latest case arrives when Errol Parker, the leading base stealer in the Boston farm leagues, hires Hamish and Reggie to investigate what the Boston police shove off as a series of harmless pranks. Errol believes these are hate crimes linked to the outbreak of war in Europe, and he’s afraid for his life. Hamish and Reggie quickly find themselves in the midst of an escalating series of crimes.When Hamish has his carefully constructed life disrupted by a figure from his past, he is driven to a decision that may sever him from Reggie forever . . . even more than her engagement to wealthy architect Vaughan Vanderlaan.”
Age: Adult; Genres: Murder Mystery, Fiction; Settings: Historical; US – Boston MA (plus Chicago in the opening scene); Other Categories: Novel, Sequel (Van Buren and DeLuca #2).
Maybe I should have read the first book in this series before asking for this via NetGalley. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can finish reading this.
For example, I was terribly confused by the scene which has DeLuca saving Van Buren from almost drowning. The whole episode just wasn’t described so that I could visualize what was going on, who was where, how she got into the water, and how he was able to find her to save her. I’m hoping that this is fixed in the final version.
By the way, I don’t think that this author knows Chicago that well. She describes a warehouse there near the lake, but by her description, it sounds like it is only yards from the lakefront. However, as far as I know (and I grew up in Chicago) there never were any shipping warehouses on the lakefront, only on the river. That means the characters in that scene couldn’t have been looking out on Lake Michigan, but only onto the Chicago River.
Another thing that confused me was why the author gave DeLuca – who is so Italian that he translates from that language into English – a very Scottish first name like Hamish. If that’s explained in the first novel, I really wish the author had added a line about it in this one.
Finally, the “romance” bit here – or should I call it angst – was too overpowering for me. DeLuca goes on and on about every aspect of this woman and why he adores her and how he feels when he’s around her, and blah, blah, blah. When she started in on her feelings towards him, which apparently were exactly the same, but seemingly she doesn’t know how she feels for him, well… that’s when I gave up on this book. (I only read about 15%.) I now see that no third book in the series is in the offing, and I’m wondering if maybe others felt the same as I did about these books. This is really a shame because I’m always trying to find good cozy mystery series where I can fall in love with the protagonist/s and enjoy some harmless sleuthing on a historical backdrop. I’m afraid this one didn’t deliver for me. Oh well… better luck next time, right?
My apologies to the author and the publishers for my inability to finish reading this novel, but thanks anyway for the ARC via NetGalley. If I haven’t convinced you not to read this book (and/or the first one), you can still purchase it on Amazon or from The Book Depository.
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