Snifter of Death

The Bloodstone Series, Book 2

By: Chris Karlsen

Narrated by: Nancy Bober

The summer of 1889 was proving to be a strange one for Detective Inspector Rudyard Bloodstone and his partner.

They had a sexual pervert loose. The man didn't actually harm women but threatened them at knife point, fondling them, and ultimately stealing their stockings.

Far more serious were the murders of influential men, which appeared random other than they were all killed by arsenic poison. Never had he and his partner had cases with so little workable evidence.

Also, the rivalry between him and his detective nemesis at London's other police department was intensifying. That nemesis was the boxing champion of their department and looking to challenge Rudyard, who never trained as a boxer.

Besides Rudyard's pride being at stake, and the pride of his station, his nemesis also had in his possession a scandalous photograph of the woman Rudyard cares very much for. The new lady in Rudyard's life had captured his heart and he'd fight the devil himself to save her reputation.

©2017 Chris Karlsen (P)2017 Chris Karlsen

Love Detective Bloodstone!

I really enjoyed this book, even more than the first one in the series. It is well written and experiencing another case (or two) with Detective Bloodstone is definitely entertaining. The story line is well developed and kept me wanting to keep listening to find out what all the characters were going to do next. There were several plots in the story and each one was as intriguing as the next. The author had my heart reaching out to Graciela, however how she handled what happened to her was, unfortunately, unforgivable as well as heart wrenching. Though much of the subject matter was serious there were some comical moments in the story that had me giggling. I am looking forward to more books in this series and can't wait to see what Ruddy is up to next. I can honestly recommend this one. Nancy Bober does an okay job of narrating. Her male voices took awhile to grow accustomed to as they sounded more female than male. Still worth a listen though.

From Victim to Vigilante - Who to root for??

During the Victorian era in England women held little power. And when one young girl is raped by a group of wealthy college men, she is devastated. A chance encounter years later enflames her anger and sets her on the path to revenge.

Detective Bloodstone is investigating the death of one prominent man with seemingly no enemies when another is murdered. The men don’t seem to have any ties other than wealth and the method of murder, arsenic.

Will the brilliant detective figure out what is happening before more men are killed or will our rape victim finish meting out her own form of justice?

Snifter of Death is an engaging read where I found myself in the uncomfortable position of rooting for the villain. Ms. Karlsen manages to weave questions into her novel about societies’ norms. This adds to the overall value. Further, the author creates believable nuanced characters and portrays Victorian England in all its charm and grime.

A really, really well done book. Also, I loved the speaker in the audio version. She did a great job.