Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I didn't have to read far into Edinburgh Twilight to determine that Carole Lawrence is a gifted practitioner of prose writing, capable of producing atmospheric, evocative descriptive passages. Reading a little farther revealed that this novel would feature a fairly standard cast of characters--a brilliant investigator with a tortured personal background, a superior whose grudging admiration he has earned, a loyal subordinate, and a creepy serial killer for an adversary--and a fairly standard police procedural/thriller plot which unfortunately developed too slowly to be really gripping. More unfortunate, though, were the anachronisms and inaccuracies in terminology that kept making me stop and say to myself, "Wait, that can't be right." A few examples: A woman in 1881, when the novel is set, couldn't have been working as a typist since typewriters didn't become standard office equipment till a few years later. A bruise would likely have been treated with an application of arnica or other liniment, not an icepack. A nearsighted person wouldn't have trouble threading a needle; close work is difficult for people who are farsighted. Whip stitch is used to close seams, not sew on buttons. A character couldn't have said he was "allergic" to dogs; the word didn't even enter the English language till the 20th century. The cumulative effect of these and other mistakes made it impossible for me to really enjoy this book. Assuming that, like me, other fans of period mysteries demand a reasonable degree of historical accuracy in their reading, the mistakes also make the book impossible for me to recommend.