The Amersham Rubies by Rhys Bowen

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This is a free selection from Barnes and Noble Nook shop. It contains a short story from Molly Murphy's youth in Ireland (13 pages long) and the remainder of the 37 pages are an except from Blessed is the Bride.

I read all the Molly Murphy books and I found them to be entertaining. These 13 pages read more like a synopsis of an uncompleted work than a short story which is supposed to be read in one sitting and remembered for a lifetime. It turned out to be a superficial introduction for readers to this interesting character, and the slapdash reveal of the resolution of the mystery is likely to be ineffective as a marketing tool to her books which are structured and plotted better.

Within the 37 pages, I found a chronological discrepancy that takes me out of the fictive dream: on page 5 we are told "her mother's death put an end to it when she was fourteen" and on page 15 we are told her mother died when Molly was ten years old.

I recommend it to readers who are already fans of the series and those who can get this for free.





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