Rules of Murder

Rules of Murder, Drew Farthering Mystery Series #1 - By: Julianna Deering

Rules of Murder
Julianna Deering
Bethany House Publishers

I was so excited when I discovered this book: it sounded just like a combination of Jeeves and Wooster and an Agatha Christie mystery! Rules of Murder intentionally breaks all the "rules" of mystery writing- a fact its own characters seem completely aware of.

This book was just, despite the murder theme, really fun. True, sometimes it seemed that the author was trying almost a little too hard to get into the 1930s British vernacular, but this was mostly near the beginning, and the book eventually won me over. The romance between Drew and Madeline developed fast; however, I did appreciate the fact that despite the flippant culture and time period, the were serious about their relationship. I do think that the setting did influence me on their relationship: most of the time I don't care for "whirlwind" type relationships, but with the rest of the book, it just seemed to fit. And of course, the fact that I really did like the characters- Drew especially- helped.

This book did have a little more objectionable content than most Christian fiction (at least in the genres I usually read)- there's plenty of murder, and talk of the "wild" side of the age (though nothing explicit.) That's why the rating is lowered a bit- although it is certainly much cleaner than secular fiction. I really can't wait for the next book in the series- I can only assume it will be just as fun a ride as Rules of Murder has been.

Rating: 9

I received this book for free from netgalley.com in exchange for my honest review.

Comments

  1. RissiAugust 14, 2013 at 10:56 PM

    Like you, this cover art was a great incentive to read 'Rules' and of course, the story inside equally charming - in its own way. I loved all the 30-era references and thought Julianna did an excellent job of bring that to life.

    CANNOT. WAIT for book 2 now. :)

    ReplyDelete

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