An Inquiry into Love and Death by Simone St. James

from goodreads

4.5 stars

Here we are. The last post of summer vacation. I can't believe the summer has already gone by but... I am ready for the kids to be back to school. I found last year's summer went super fast and I was not ready for school to start. This year, though it did go by quickly, I felt we accomplished and did so much that it will be nice for school to start so I can have a bit of a break!

This weekend we don't have any plans but I am sure we will be up to something. I am excited with what we are going to do. We might have a pyjama day, we might go hiking, we might do a thorough deep clean! Who knows. I am kind of excited about all the possibilities.
Synopsis

Jillian Leigh, is a a twenty something year old at Oxford, one of the first women at Oxford. She is called to meet with a lawyer and is informed that her Uncle Toby is dead (due to mysterious circumstances), and, as her parents are away, she has to go and identify his body and collect his belongings. Jillian reluctantly obliges. While at the small seaside village where her uncle was last residing she ends up with more questions than answers. And, with the arrival of a handsome detective from Scotland Yard her whole world is turned upside down.

My Thoughts

This book had a bit of everything. There was a ghost story, a history lesson, a romance, and, really, a coming of age story. And despite having so many genre's in it it was a really great story. It had me hooked from the beginning and I was thinking about the story for a few days afterwards. And that doesn't happen to me very often.

The book is told in the first person from the perspective of Jillian. She is an interesting character. She is one of the first women to be educated at Oxford and doesn't feel that she has to be searching for a husband to get fulfillment from life, yet she still feels conflicted about this as the rest of society has yet to catch up to this form of thinking. This conflict gives her much depth and allowed me to explore what I think about the conflicts we as women sometimes face in our lives.

All the characters were well fleshed out and believable. Even if their part in the story took less than a page we knew what type of person they were and could picture them easily.

Some of the romance stuff seemed a bit rushed. Jillian and Drew, the dective, just met and then they became attached at the hip. It just seemed a bit forced. But then other romance scenes seemed to drag on a bit too much. Maybe I am just too hard to please.

I liked how the plot threw in some twists and you really weren't sure what was going to happen at the end. Everything gets wrapped up nicely at the end. There are no loose ends and everything that happens seems believable. It is not all too convenient. I also liked that even though it was a ghost story, it wasn't creepy or scary. My imagination can get quite carried away so I was a bit nervous when I started the book. But, I could handle it so that's good.

The one thing that I didn't like about the book was the big "F" bomb that was dropped in the middle. I understand that sometimes swearing is appropriate with the character. It wouldn't be believable otherwise. In this case, I didn't think it was necessary. It was the only swear word in the book and I don't know how it enhanced the understanding of the character. I know that he is a veteran of WWI and he was rough around the edges, but still. I found the use of it to take the book down a couple of notches. It was really good up to that point, and good after that point. Maybe to other readers it wouldn't matter and they wouldn't notice. I don't know.

I think you will really enjoy this book. It has something that everyone can enjoy.