A review by critterbee
The Curious Affair of the Witch at Wayside Cross by Lisa Tuttle

3.0

This is the second in The Curious Affair Of series, self-touted as "The paranormal answer to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson..." It can be read without having read the first, or at least I did so with no issues. I am still not sure whether it fully qualifies as 'paranormal,'

Spoiler

because there really was just one tiny little aspect of 'paranormalness' towards the end which, because of the singularity of it, really jarred

I found it to be similar to Sherlock Holmes in that the setting is Victorian London, and there are two main characters who are detectives. Jasper Jesperson has some power of deduction, I would assign him the roll of Sherlock. And Diana Lane is Dr. Watson, although she is not a doctor, she does have Dr. Watson's fierce loyalty. However, I found them both a bit boring and a tad unlikable. To be sure, Sherlock Holmes has many admirable and also many unlikable traits, but Watson has always been consistently sympathetic.

Perhaps because of her loyalty and willingness to do what Jesperson asks, she repeatedly did things that I thought were very rude. For example, after being invited to stay as a guest, she searches all the bedrooms in the house immediately.

The book started in high gear, with the appearance of a man late at night, who promptly dies. That gets your attention. After that, the story meandered around London and Norfolk, not really inciting any emotion. The mystery aspect was interesting, and the Victorian flavor was done well. Overall, it was a satisfactory read, but I am not sure that I would read another in the series.


*eARC Netgalley*