The Diabolical Bones by Bella Ellis

First Line: Charlotte could not conceive of a place more beautiful than Haworth and the surrounding countryside in spring.

 

Haworth Parsonage, February 1846: While the Brontë sisters wait for word from publishers about their poetry and try to formulate plots for the novels they intend to write, it's high time for their detecting enterprise, Bell Brothers & Company, Solicitors, to have a new case. Then their housekeeper Tabby tells them of a grim discovery at an old farmhouse belonging to the Bradshaw family-- a set of bones has been found bricked up in a chimney breast inside the old building. Despite Tabby's dire warnings, the sisters decide to investigate, and they soon learn that they've been lured right into a trap.

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I fell under the spell of the first Brontë Sisters mystery, The Vanished Bride, and it didn't take long for a repeat performance with this second book, The Diabolical Bones. I am very well acquainted with the Brontës, their writings, and the Haworth area, and author Bella Ellis does a phenomenal job of bringing both the times, the physical setting, and the characters to life. If you love being immersed in an historical mystery, this is the one for you-- and you don't even have to be a Brontë fan to enjoy yourself.

The book begins with one of Emily's poems, a perfect choice for the weather in The Diabolical Bones, then moves swiftly to sole survivor Charlotte thinking back on this particular investigation, which gives it a bittersweet start. You might want to wrap up for an Arctic expedition when you read this book, because the sisters walk for miles and miles and miles in bitter cold, biting winds, and deep snows. You're also going to be picking up interesting little nuggets of information about why yew trees are usually found in English graveyards, the Pendle witches, and villagers' attitudes towards Christianity and the "old stories" and superstitions.

Do you know why so many people in the small towns and villages were both so religious and so superstitious? Seems like a contradiction, doesn't it? Well, they thought of it as wearing your "belts and braces (suspenders)": Christianity was your belt, and the old stories and superstitions were your braces. You needed both to survive a world that often seemed to be dead set against you.

One oddly worded sentence in The Diabolical Bones told me who the villain was, but that did not take away any of my enjoyment of this book, and it's not all serious business. The loving relationship the sisters have. Their camaraderie. Their stealing lines from each other for their writing. It's all pitch-perfect enjoyment that I highly recommend.

One note on the cover used. This is the UK cover, and today is the UK release date of this book. Publishers have been playing musical chairs with release dates the past few months, and this second Brontë Sisters mystery is now set to be released in February 2021 here in the US. I decided to review it now because who doesn't need to be told about good books to read? But don't worry-- I'll remind you again in February! 

The Diabolical Bones by Bella Ellis

eISBN: 9780593099162

Penguin Publishing Group © 2021

eBook, 336 pages

 

Historical Mystery, #2 Brontë Sisters mystery

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley

The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis

First Line: Drawing her shawl a little closer around her, Charlotte adjusted her writing slope once more and dipped the nib of her pen back into the ink, her head bent low, nose just above the paper.

When sisters Anne, Charlotte, and Emily Brontë learn of the disappearance of a young wife and mother just a few miles from their home in Haworth, they are shocked. Not only is the disappearance sensationalistic with nothing left of her but large pools of blood, but the Brontës know her.

Intrigued, it doesn't take the three long to realize that they have all the skills required to be excellent "lady detectors." They have well-honed imaginations and are expert readers. As Charlotte remarks, "...detecting is reading between the lines-- it's seeing what is not there."

As they investigate, they confront a society that would much rather they all stay home with their embroidery; they absolutely should not be roaming the countryside looking for clues. But nothing will stop these three, even if it means their own lives are in danger as a result.

When I first learned of The Vanished Bride and the fact that it was the first in the Brontë Sisters historical mystery series, I thought that it was a concept that would require careful tending to keep it from dying on the shallow-rooted vine of cuteness. I am very happy to say that author Bella Ellis is a master gardener. With a writing style that is vaguely reminiscent of the Brontës, she has crafted an excellent mystery that brings the three sisters to life.

The major reason why I chose to read this book is that I've read all the books the three sisters wrote. I've been to the parsonage at Haworth, wandered through the graveyard, listened to the rooks' depressing calls from the trees shading the house, and I've walked the moors. I've read about the sisters' lives as well. So I suppose you could call me a Brontë fan. As I read The Vanished Bride, I also discovered that the characters got around a lot more than I expected-- and that I'd been to their destinations, too. Bella Ellis was making me feel right at home.

As the pages turned, I saw seeds of the future books they would write, and I found the depictions of the three sisters and their occasional squabbles enchanting. (And that's a word that I seldom use.) All three long to be the captains of their fate in a society where they're considered nothing but property. When their brother Branwell wasn't at the local pub, he got underfoot, and it certainly wasn't easy to keep their father in the dark.

There are wonderful characterizations and humor in this book, and-- what all mystery lovers crave-- an excellent mystery to solve. I'd fit one piece into its proper place, then another, but I was nowhere close to completing the entire puzzle. In fact, the misdirection with regard to one certain character threw me for the proverbial loop.

Brontë fans should really enjoy The Vanished Bride-- and so should historical mystery lovers who don't know (or don't care) about the family who lived in Haworth Parsonage in the mid-nineteenth century. I now find myself looking forward to the Brontë sisters' next investigation.

The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis

eISBN: 9780593099063

Berkley © 2019

eBook, 304 pages

Historical Mystery, #1 Brontë Sisters mystery

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley