Relative Fortunes
A Julia Kydd Novel
Marlowe Benn
Lake Union Pub, Aug 2019
Cozy mystery- historical
Purchased for Kindle app
⭐⭐⭐⭐
The cover is attractive and appropriate for the story. The cover was what attracted me to the book initially, too. I really like its sleek graphic design. It is likely to attract readers in the bookstore as well.
The story is pretty good, too. This is the first in a series about Julia Kydd.
Julia is trying to save her inheritance so that she can start her own press. She is all about books. She sails from England to New York to attend to the paperwork and legal matters regarding her future fortune. On the boat over, she runs into a gal she was at school with and ends up entangled in her family’s affairs and a murder, of course. Between her friend’s problems and her own legal hassles, Julia stays busy from start to finish and only has to borrow money a couple of times. The inheritance can’t come through soon enough for Julia, but her stepbrother has other ideas.
The mystery unwound along with the story, so I wasn’t too surprised at the reveal. The pace was fairly brisk and the tension stayed high throughout the story. The characters were fairly well developed for this story, but I suspect there is a lot more to know about them in the next book to bring them to life. If you are a book and printing press fan, this is certainly the one for you as Julia talks books and paper and printing a lot.
a thoughtful reveal 