Andrea Penrose - Murder at the Merton Library

Responding to an urgent plea from a troubled family friend, the Earl of Wrexford journeys to Oxford only to find the reclusive university librarian has been murdered and a rare manuscript has gone missing. The only clue is that someone overheard an argument in which Wrexford’s name was mentioned.

At the same time, Charlotte—working under her pen name, A. J. Quill—must determine whether a laboratory fire was arson and if it’s connected to the race between competing consortiums to build a new type of ship—one that can cross the ocean powered by steam rather than sails—with the potential to revolutionize military power and world commerce. That the race involves new innovations in finance and entrepreneurship only adds to the high stakes—especially as their good friend Kit Sheffield may be an investor in one of the competitors.
As they delve deeper into the baffling clues, Wrexford and Charlotte begin to realize that things are not what they seem. An evil conspiracy is lurking in the shadows and threatens all they hold dear—unless they can tie the loose threads together before it’s too late . . .

Comment: This is the most recent installment in the Wrexford and Sloane series by author Andrea Penrose, which follows the adventures and investigations of the earl of Wrexford and Charlotte Sloane, now Wrexford's countess.

In this 7th book, life has been pretty stable and happy for Wrex and Charlotte, as well for their close family and friends. They still go on about their respective responsibilities but domestically all seems to go well. Suddenly, though, Wrex receives a note from a friend of his late brother, who now works at Merton library, but before he can travel, the man is murdered. Since he had a solitary life and his last known words were asking for Wrexford to visit him, it seems logical he must have wanted to tell Wrex something important. At the same time, a sibling duo is in town doing presentations of a fantastic project to invest in, and it all seems amazing but something about the family isn't socially flawless, which makes some people have doubts. Is there a connection between these events or Wrex and everyone is just wanting to see things where they might not exist?

This is, by now, one of those series that feels extremely competent and in which familiarity and sequence help a lot in appreciating reading about the same characters doing pretty much repetitive actions. I say this because while each book has a different plot and investigation, the characters are the same and the formula behind how things progress is very predictable. This said, for new readers it might not be very fulfilling, and I advise reading this series in order.

I've been reading and enjoying the series but I must confess that sometimes, certain details just feel too repetitive and predictable and while I don't mind this as it is, I do wish something new would come with it, mostly more domestic scenes or a stronger hint at romance. The main couple meets in the first book and they are now married. We are told and we do have a few scenes where thy express their feelings but... it's all so automated, so very much like a patterned expectation that I feel like the author is just going through the motions with these scenes. I wish we actually could be part of the lives of the characters.

As for the plot, this is where the author really shines. She is known for her research into inventions and novelties in the 1800s, which she can use for the same time period of her stories, and often her notes at the end of the books are as interesting as the novel. She goes through a lot of effort to include and even use the result of that research into each novel, into a way that the plot would be realistic to include something in a close scenario to real life possibilities.

I do like this sense of competence and efficiency in her novels, which in turn make the character feel clever and competent in their skills. Then, of course, when Wrexford and Charlotte and the others seem themselves in the middle of things, all these new details and information make the story feel richer and I read with this notion things are progressing in a realistic way. All this is great, but it does get to such a point that all this amazing network of details seems a bit too much, more fitting to other types of novel, not as much an historical mystery. I guess what I mean to say is that there seems to exist more elements of one thing (technical stuff) than a balanced mix of everything.

The series has been very appealing and some books, namely the first, seemed very well done and there was tension and and the suggestion of what could happen. I think it was encouraging to want to read what came next, but now it seems the books are only a way to keep adding new proof of the author's research abilities... even the title, there wasn't much about the library actually, and I would have loved more scenes set in there instead... 

I guess that as soon as some threads - mostly the ones related to the characters' personal lives - were kind of solved, why bother with that, et s just focus on investigating technical stuff. I can understand this choice by the author, but I think it's not making the stories as spellbinding as they could be.

Grade: 7/10