Welcome to Litsy!

I officially have a new favorite suspense/mystery author. This is a fast-paced read with engaging characters. This Victorian Era touches on true historical persons and weaves a solid mystery. Detective Inspector Charles Field is a character I look forward to reading again.

#20in4 #Readathon

Day 1: 6 chapters
Day 2: 9 chapters
Total: 15/20 chapters

@Andrew65

I received this ARC from a Goodreads Giveaway.

It's a historical fiction mystery set during Queen Victoria's time. Investigator Fields is thrown into a case where there is a conspiracy to kill someone in the Monarch. If you like Historical Fiction, or Mysteries give this book a go. I think you would enjoy it.

#ARCApril @Andrew65
#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

I only got 6 chapters read yesterday, which is a good.
Plan on reading this afternoon.

#20in4 #Readathon
@Andrew65

A mystery involving Queen Victoria & Prince Albert, Darwin, Dickens, & Charles Field (policeman). Field realizes there is a plot to kill the Prince & has to solve the case. You know who the killer is & follow his story, too, while he always seems to be ahead of police. Enjoyed the story but felt the characters were superficial, except maybe the killer. I also kept wanting Field to be smarter, but I think I‘ve read too much Sherlock & Christie.

Nice place to read this morning. Wish I remembered coffee.

If you enjoy historical mysteries, you‘ll enjoy The Darwin Affair. Tim Mason is a playwright, and it shows! He writes crafts wonderful scenes.

Following publication of The Origin of the Species, Prince Albert adds Charles Darwin‘s name to the 1860 Honours List. A wide-ranging, highly placed conspiracy is launched targeting both Darwin and the Prince. Charles Field, (named Bucket by Dickens) strives to stop them.

Cast of 1,000; good read.

#3books checked out from the library

All were kindle books! Hooray for the Libby app!

This is a Victorian thriller involving Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, Charles Darwin and Charles Dickens. It weaves real life events into a thrilling tale of murder and mayhem. I think I would have done better with this in print, many many parts were captivating, sometimes my attention wandered while I walking or cooking and by the time I got back I‘d be “what?” over some new twist.
If you liked Victoria ( tv series) this is 👌🏻

Interesting. But probably better not as an audiobook.

The big library read!! Very good!

I have become a bit notorious in my book club for not finishing the book. Something about a deadline gets me...I am trying to make this the one I finish but while I am interested, it is pretty dang slow! What‘s a girl to do?!?!

Not for me. I do hope others enjoyed this #biglibraryread

Thank you for all who helped make the #BigLibraryRead two weeks pass by in a blur!

Till next time, keep reading! 📚

#BigLibraryRead #BLR20

Question 10:

Another complex relationship is the love affair between Oxford undergraduates David Gates and Jack Callow. The term homosexuality didn‘t come into existence until about 40 years after this time period in the book, nor did the concept exist as we think of it today.

Can you speculate on how these two might have defined their relationship?

#BigLibraryRead #BLR20

Question 9:

The world‘s response to Darwin‘s work was echoed on an intimate scale by the relationship between Charles and his wife Emma. His masterwork became her sorrow, and yet they remained steadfast, loving couple, and devoted parents to their many children.

Are there clues in this book as to how they navigated these complexities?

#BigLibraryRead #BLR20

Question 8:

Decimus Cobb is a complex character. Many critics have compare him to Hannibal Lecter, Silence of the Lambs. In The Darwin Affair, the fiction Charles Darwin says to Field: “I disbelieve in monsters. But I have found ordinary nature to be insupportably cruel, often enough.”

Is he a monster?
What emotions does Decimus evoke?
Fear?
Revulsion?
Curiosity?

Just finished this one. It was an impulse read for me as it‘s available all month on Libby as part of the Big Library Read. What sucked me in was the premise that the detective was a character based on a Dickens character (see Bleak House) based on a real person. We also get to meet Albert & Victoria, Charles Darwin, and Charles Dickens makes a cameo. I recommend it for anyone interested in this time period or in a pretty decent mystery/thriller.

#BigLibraryRead #BLR20

Question 7:

In June 1860, Karl Marx was suffering from liver pains, as his character complains in the book. Mason learned this fact by reading Marx‘s letter, as research. He also read some of Queen Victoria‘s letters.

How else might a novelist seek to learn the day-to-day details from a historical subject‘s past?

#BigLibraryRead #BLR20

Question 6:

The author has included many historical persons in the novel. Sir Richard Owen was also a historical person, and although he did not really conspire to assassinate anyone, he was notorious for his malice and a propensity to claim the ideas of others as his own.

How do you feel about using reallife people from history in this manner? Is it fair for an author to do this? What liberties may, or may not, be taken?

This is the Global E book club read available without holds everywhere from August 3 to 17th. I started it on audio today and it has me remembering the binge watch my husband and I did of Victoria earlier this year. Nothing like a Victorian thriller ❤️

#BigLibraryRead #BLR20

Question 5:

On the opposite end of the social scale from the royal family is Tom Ginty, butcher‘s apprentice. He‘s snatched and put in a box.

How does this affect the chemistry of the story?
How does his mother deal with his disappearance?
How do you?

#BigLibraryRead #BLR20

Question 4:

There have been many recent film and TV depictions of Queen Victoria and Albert, the Prince Consort.

How do these square with the relationship as described in The Darwin Affair?

How would you describe the marriage of these two very different people?

#BigLibraryRead #BLR20

Question 3:

Inspector Charles Field and his wife, Jane Firld, often address each other in conversation as Mr. and Mrs.; this was a Victorian convention. But their relationship isn‘t defined by the seeming formality of their address.

How would you describe the relationship?

#BigLibraryRead #BLR20

Question 2:

The reaction to On the Origin of Species ranged from vehement condemnation to the highest praise; even acceptance among some prominent churchmen, back in 1859. We‘ve now lived with this theory for 160 years and is accepted by many scientists as fact.

Is it surprising that Darwin‘s findings still provoke outrage? Why might this be so?

#BigLibraryRead #BLR20

Question 1: in Charles Dickens‘ book Bleak House he created detective Inspector Bucket, who was thought to be based on Charles Field, a historical London policeman. The fictional Charles Field in TDA seems plagued by the fame thrust upon him by Dickens.

In what way might celebrity have become a burden for Field? For anyone?

#BigLibraryRead #BLR20

Listen to an interview with the author: https://dcs.megaphone.fm/FPMN8187409456.mp3?key=50d269fad30f2786f3a3254241be0baf

#BigLibraryRead #BLR20

Tim Mason is a playwright.

Awards he‘s received: Kennedy Center Award, the Hollywood Drama-Logue Award, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a Rockefeller Foundation grant.

In addition to his dramatic plays, he wrote the book for Dr. Seuss‘s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! the Musical.

He‘s the author of YA novel The Last Synapsid.

The Darwin Affair is his first adult novel.

#BigLibraryRead #BLR20

Here is what the story is about: an assassin attempt, a mystery, and it all stems from one book - Darwin‘s Origin of Species!

#BigLibraryRead #BLR20

Today starts the next book‘s Big Library Read!
August 3-17, 2020

This is the book on OverDrive that has unlimited downloads. Snag your copy today!

I will be your host, posting about the book and in a couple days the start of several discussion questions.

A suspenseful thriller set in 1860's London that gets bogged down by too many POVs and historical facts. Such a fun concept though! ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Full review at https://erinkonrad.com/

#Netgalley #arc

3.5⭐️

With news of murders starting to pop up around London with clear calling card of a surgically removed left ear, Detective Field is on the hunt for the killer. At the same time. Society is gripped in debate about Charles Darwin and his publication of The Origin of Species.

Super creepy villain and a great look into the conflicts between religion and science at the height of the introduction of evolution. I enjoyed this but didn‘t love it.

Following along with the audiobook and man oh man, this poor detective. He is getting screwed so hard in this. It better all work out for him. I‘m so ready for a big “I told you so” by the end of this.

#mystery #detective #victorian #audiobook #audible

FANTASTIC

I'm usually not a big fan of historical fiction outside of WWII stories, but this was a delicious literary thriller with a serial killer, a policeman in the vein of Sherlock Holmes, and appearances from Charles Dickens, Queen Victoria, Charles Darwin, and more! Darwin's ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES is cause for much disruption in this Victorian-era story. There are a ton of characters and a lot of scene switches, but the last half is electric.