Reviews

I received this eARC from NetGalley and the publisher in return for an honest review.

The concept--a mystery series centered around a young Irish immigrant woman in late 19th century Cheyenne-- sounds like a promising one. And although the historical details seem to be accurate and are interesting, the mystery is underwhelming and lacks suspense. The pacing is way off, with no development around the mystery (based on a real event), and stilted, formal writing.

This book was disappointing.

laurenabeth's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I love a historical fiction/mystery, but I was a bit let down by this one. I breezed through The Streel (which precedes Big Sugar), and I was excited to read more about Brigid Reardon. However, I found this book to be more predictable, the writing less deliberate, and the characters hardly developed. The climax doesn’t come until nearly the final pages, and while I understand that this is meant to be a series, the ending still felt sudden and unresolved.

Brigid and her “brother” Paddy are traveling from Deadwood to Cheyenne after the events of The Streel (I almost made the mistake of not reading that first! You don’t need to read it, but it certainly helps for context). Upon arriving, they establish themselves on a homestead when Brigid stumbles onto another murdered woman, hanged from a cottonwood tree. Despite being warned against looking into the crime further, our heroine can’t help herself. She spends her free time unraveling the mystery of the lynched woman while juggling life as a rancher, her shaky (and somewhat scandalous) relationship with her “brother”, and looking for her REAL brother, Seamus, who fled Deadwood in The Streel. Big Sugar is a fast-paced thriller that delivers on the Western genre, as well as provides a rare glimpse of life for women making their way on the frontier.

While the whodunnit aspect of the book is entertaining, it simply felt rushed and lacked the depth I enjoyed in the previous book. The characters motivations don’t seem especially nuanced or complex; everyone (even Brigid to some degree) appears to be acting on their primal instincts, and while that might be a commentary about the Wild West, it doesn’t land in an especially compelling way. I still look forward to more from Mary Logue and to see what Brigid will be getting into next, but Big Sugar disappointed me a tad compared to The Streel.

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