Title: Constantine Capers: The Pennington perplexity
Author: Natalie Brianne
Expected publication: March 16th 2021
Genre: historical fiction, crime, romance, steampunk.
Trigger warning: death, memory loss, kidnapping, violence, blood.
Add on: Goodreads
Goodreads rating: 4.33/5
My rating: 5/5
Summary:
You wouldn’t expect a detective with Sherlockian deductive skills to have amnesia, but Byron Constantine is hardly the detective you’d expect.
London 1888
Aspiring artist Mira Blayse isn’t concerned with upper-tier society or conforming to Victorian expectations—she has a murder to solve. At least, she thinks it was murder. Her parents’ deaths in 1870 couldn’t have been by accident, but the more she investigates, the less she seems to find. Sitting at a café, she sketches a mysterious stranger, not realizing that she’s penciling in the features of the man who will help her solve the case once and for all.
Byron Constantine lives day-to-day, desperately trying to hold onto his memories, only for them to slip through his fingers. Some days, he doesn’t even know that he’s lost four years of his life. As he manages to continue his work as a private detective, he realizes that maybe he doesn’t need his memory after all. That is until he wants to remember Mira Blayse.
With her keen eye for detail and his remarkable deductive skills, the two become entangled in a criminal investigation. As they uncover the secrets of the past, they must work together to stop history from repeating itself again.
Review:
I absolutely adored this book! I usually like historical crime fiction, so I was expecting to enjoy it, but in the end I was totally in love with the characters, in particular with Byron Constantine, the male MC. It’s unusual for me to fell in love with a character like this, but believe me, even if he has memory loss, Byron is a gentleman, kind and honest soul. He is protective and attentive to Mira, and he worries for her cat, Nero, all alone at home without food.
As an owner of a black cat too (Hello Kiki!) I found lovely and admirable to integrate so much Nero in the plot. So basically, everytime Nero or Byron where on the scene I was like this:
Even if I’m not good at drawing, I instantly feel a connection with Mira too, the female MC, with her personality, her strenght and her independence!
The mystery is well developed, captivating and intense, but the strong part of this book, for me, is about the characters.
All of them are well described, with a unique voice. You can tell the difference between them even from the dialogues, as it will always be, as it is in the real world.
The historical part, and even the fantasy/steampunk one is well researched. It’s set in 1888, so my weird part obsessed with Jack The Ripper is satisfied too.
I totally recommend this book to all the historical fiction lovers! And I can’t wait for a new installment!
Thanks a lot to Natalie for writing such an amazing book, definitely will be one of my fave reads of 2021! And thanks to Booksirens for another amazing ARC.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Fortunately, the book 