Author: William Ritter

Pages: 299

Published: September 16th 2014

This book claimed to mix Sherlock Holmes and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. So of course, I had to pick it up! I don’t read a lot of mysteries, but this made me want to read more. It was so fun to read and I recommend this to anyone who is in a book slump, it’s so hard to put down.

The novel follows Abigail Rook as she makes her way to New England in the late 1800s.  In need of a job, she inquires around until she happens upon an unusual job posting at the post office, which leads her to a very unusual young detective. Immediately she is thrown into a murder mystery, but not everything is as it seems. As the young detective, Jackaby, specializes in a particular type of crime, the supernatural.

I loved this book so much since it was something that I hadn’t read before. The characters were fantastic and seemed to jump off the page. Jackaby is a great character, very similar to Sherlock Holmes in that he is quirky and bit bad at people skills, but you fall in love with all the same.

Abigail is a great lead female character who is very independent for her time. She is stubborn and adventurous and a great companion for Jackaby. There are other great characters littered throughout, who all have their secrets or little quirks of their own. And the supernatural aspects of this book really meld together with everything else so it doesn’t seem over done or like it doesn’t fit into the setting or story.

The mystery begins early into the story and once it begins, it takes off quickly. It was hard to put this down because I wanted to know happened next so bad. If you have been having trouble getting into books lately, you should pick this one up. It will cure your book slump very quickly. It’s so much fun with something new and interesting around every page. I can’t wait to start the second book in the series!

You can find Jackaby here.

My Final Review: 5/5 stars

Guest post contributed by Brains and Beauty. This blogger emphasizes both on her website. It’s not all about one or the other; you can be brainy and into books, while also being into beauty and fashion. There’s no reason whatsoever to push yourself into a certain category. She also emphasizes that beauty has to do with both the inside and out.