jacey | Book Log 39/2016 - Lisa Tuttle: The Somnambulist and the Psychic Thief (Reply)

This is a detective story with a supernatural theme. Miss Lane, having left her previous job as companion to a psychic investigator (who turns out to be a fraud) ends up falling into the job of assisting Jasper Jesperson, a Sherlock Holmsian type of consulting detective. It’s all very proper as the household is managed by Mrs Jesperson, Jasper’s formidable mother. Clients are not exactly falling over themselves to employ Jesperson and Lane and the rent is due, but they take on a seemingly simple job to discover where a somnambulist goes when he sleepwalks. Things get complicated when this crosses over with a mystery which brings Miss Lane back into contact with her previous partner. Someone is kidnapping psychics and the police don’t seem very interested in finding out who. Naturally it’s a job for Jesperson and Lane.

I found myself liking the characters. Miss Lane (she hates her name Aphrodite) is intelligent and proactive without ever stepping out of the character of a Victorian lady while Mr Jesperson is hugely talented, though has an enormously high opinion of himself which takes a while to justify. I’m not a natural reader of Victorian detective fiction, though the supernatural elements appealed. To be honest, though it’s extremely well written, I found this a little slow at times, especially in the first half. Ms Tuttle tries for the Victorian voice, and succeeds, but that does mean that everything is very polite and steady; slightly stiff, in fact. It does, however, warm up in the second half as the mystery deepens. I would guess, that this is setting up a series for Jesperson and Lane. Recommended for lovers of detective fiction and the Victorian era.

I received this as a review copy via Netgalley