The Carnelian Crow by Colleen Gleason

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS:
Print: COPYRIGHT: 4/8/2022; ISBN: 978- 1944665869; PUBLISHER: Avid Press; PAGES: 262; UNABRIDGED (Reading age ‏ : ‎ 12 - 18 years; Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 920L; Grade level ‏ : ‎ 7 – 12)

Digital: Available

* (This version) Audio: COPYRIGHT: 1/23/2018; ISBN: ‎ 9781509476015; PUBLISHER: Avid Press; DURATION: 9:37:19; Unabridged; (Overdrive LAPL)

Feature Film or tv: No

SERIES: Stoker & Homes, Book 4

MAIN CHARACTERS: (spelling could be wrong—I was listening, not reading—not comprehensive list)
Miss Alvemina (Mina) Holmes – Niece of Sherlock
Miss Evaline Stoker – Sister of Bram Stoker
Ambrose Greyling – an Inspector
Angus – Greyling’s dog described as a Basset Hound but referred to as a Beagle
Irene Adler
Dylan Eckhert
Pix

SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
How I picked it. It was the next book in the series.
What it was about: Sherlock Holmes’ niece and Graham Stoker’s sister, both aged 17, team up to assist Irene Adler solve another mystery, this one involving a secret club.
What I thought: As with the previous two books: Well done. I enjoy the steampunk genre and the descriptions of costumes and events and I’m attached to the characters. As mentioned before, I also enjoy the vocabulary and the humor the author employs.

AUTHOR:
Colleen Gleason
From Wikipedia:
“Colleen Gleason lives near Ann Arbor, Michigan[1] with her husband and children.[2][3] She has a degree in English and a MBA from the University of Michigan.[1] She started writing in primary school and wrote nine complete stories before selling the first book of her The Gardella Vampire Chronicles[3] series to a division of Penguin Books, which published it in January 2007:[3] the series arrives at a conclusion on March 2009. In 2008 she wrote a short story, a prequel to the series, titled In Which a Masquerade Ball Unmasks an Undead, published first in the Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance, then as Victoria Gardella: Vampire Slayer. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked in sales and marketing and started her own business[3] in the insurance field.[4]

In 2010, she started the six-novel series The Envy Chronicles, written using the pen name Joss Ware. In 2011, she wrote The Regency Draculia trilogy.”

She has also written short stories. In 2010, she collaborated with Mary Balogh, Susan Krinard and Janet Mullany in a paranormal tribute to Jane Austen, writing "Northanger Castle" for the book Bespelling Jane Austen, published on October 1, 2010.[5]”

NARRATOR:
Jayne Entwistle
From “thejayneshow” .com:
“Jayne was born in the North of England and lived in a myriad of places (Vancouver, San Francisco, Tucson, Sequim, Seattle) before landing in Los Angeles. She is an avid improviser who hitched her space-work wagon to Patrick Bristow’s company, Improvatorium, where she studied, taught, directed and performed improv.

She is an award-winning audiobook narrator best known for her narration of the Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley. She also received the 2015 Odyssey Honour Award for The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry and the 2016 Odyssey Award for, The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.

When not inhaling books for work or pleasure, Jayne works in film, television and commercials. The biggest star she has ever worked with is Shaquille O’Neal. He is quite literally THE biggest star she has ever worked with. Ever. He’s really big!”
As always, I thoroughly enjoyed Jayne’s narration!

LOCATION(S)
London

TIME(S)
1889

GENRE
Fantasy; Mystery; Historical Fiction; Young Adult Fiction; Steampunk

SUBJECTS:
Time travel; vampires; vampire slayers; Sherlock Holmes characters; Great Britain; Girls and Women’s issues

DEDICATION:
Not found

SAMPLE QUOTATION:
From Chapter 1, “Miss Holmes ~In Which Miss Holmes Is Outsmarted by a Corvus~”
" There was a soft tapping at my window.
Normally it wouldn't have disturbed me, as I am blessed with the ability to slumber deeply, but tonight I was wide awake. Unfortunately, that had been the case for many weeks now. The dark circles beneath my eyes ahd become large and puffy enough that even Mrs. Raskill had seen fit to make comment.
Declining to rise unless I ascertained that someone or something needed entrance to my bedchamber--the most likely candidate being Miss Stoker, of course, considering the mode of entrance--I peered at the window from the warm comfort of my bed.
In the distance, I could hear the constant hum of the mechanized world in which I reside: the dull click of cogs and wheels, a rhythmic clunk of clockworks and pulleys, and the hiss of steam emitting from the very corner of London.
Tap, tap, tap.
I sat up. It was a raven--or perhaps a crow; I couldn't see the shape of its tail, and the difference between the two jet-black specimens in the Corvus genus are hardly discernible otherwise.
And this particular raven (or crow) was using its beak to tap at my window.
How extraordinary.
"Go away," I suggested flatly, certain the creature could not only hear me, but comprehend. They are amazingly intelligent birds. "I'm sleeping."

RATING:.
4

STARTED READING – FINISHED READING
1-28-2023 to 2-17-2023 ( )

Another great read featuring my favorite steampunk, mystery-solving duo! The romantic interests become more apparent (and complicated) in this novel as Evaline Stoker faces a need to marry for financial security and Mina Holmes wrestles with her feelings for two different men. And, of course, there is the matter of a crow depositing a strange object in Mina's bedroom, which leads to a mysterious underground establishment known as the Carnelian Crow. I enjoy experiencing the world of these novels, the adventures of Mina and Evaline, and twists in the mysteries they uncover. Overall, this book was really enjoyable reading and I hope to read the next book soon! ( )

Highly amusing installment of the series, even if I wasn't as fond of a few of the subplots as usual. (Namely, I really don't like Ned. I'm not very fond of Florence and Bram either. And I'm mad at Miss Adler.) On the other hand, there are now many more questions to be answered in book five. ( )