17th Century Crime: Murder @ Rosamund's Gate

A Murder at Rosamund's Gate

by Susanna Calkins

Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery

Pages: 352

Publisher: Minotaur Books
Source: local library

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1665, London: Lucy Campion works as a maid in the home of a local magistrate.  When Bessie, another maid from the household is found stabbed to death, the previous murders of two other local servant girls start to prey on Lucy's mind and she begins listening and questioning in an effort to find out what really happened to Bessie.
I find myself at odds reviewing this book. I really enjoyed it, finishing in one day, but there were things that bothered me, too. Let's break it down.

1665 London Plague Map from Wikipedia

Characters:  The main characters of Lucy, Master Hargrave, and his son Adam are well fleshed out and multidimensional. Adam obviously has romantic feelings toward Lucy, but is an honorable man who does not act on them. Other minor characters also demonstrated more faceted personalities than I sometimes see. I appreciated this because I really don't li
ke it when a character is constantly mean just to be mean, or is all sunshine.

http://www.londonlives.org/

Murder Mystery: Although Bessie is not murdered until well into the book, the mystery itself is compelling, yet  the investigation, or lack thereof, is frustrating to a reader 350 years in the future. I was surprised when the killer was revealed, which means it was not obvious, since I read a lot of mysteries.

Historical Setting: In her daily habits, we see Lucy's environment in the Hargrave's household and surroundings, visiting the market, church, and other homes and the descriptions of the countryside, the roads and the people she encounters are vivid. There are also visits to historical places like St. Paul's Cathedral courtyard, inside Newgate Prison to visit the person arrested for Bessie's murder, and the Old Bailey courthouse for the trial.

So far this is all very positive, so it must be the final element bothering me.

http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/newgate.html

Historical Mannerisms & Behaviors:  I can suspend disbelief when reading sci/fi or fantasy, but the anachronistic behaviors and attitudes of the majority of the characters bothered me in the end. When I first started reading about Master Hargrave lending books to Lucy, I was fine, but the servants and family gathering after dinner was a little much. Master Hargrave also had friends whom were just as forward-thinking. What put me over the edge was all the people who could read, from all strata of society. I told myself to ignore these things while reading, and I did enjoy the book. If it didn't have these historical anachronisms, there couldn't have been a story of a serving girl investigating a murder, and I fully intend to read the next book in the series.

For the crime alone, I recommend A Murder at Rosamund's Gate, but there is much more than the murder. The major historical events, description of feelings while going through a major life event, and watching Lucy grow as a person, are all worth the read.