Review Detail

‘The Carlswick Deception’ is a series of mystery/detective. Each novel can stand alone as back story is given about what happened previously in the series.

Stephanie is an art history student at Oxford. In the past she had an internship with the arts and antiques unit at Scotland Yard. In ‘The Carlswick Deception’, Stephanie is called by Scotland Yard to show a detective around Oxford in relation to a case. Of course soon Stephanie becomes involved in said case.

I love mystery/detective stories. However, sometimes I find the main character detectives to be somewhat dull and boring. This was not the case in the ‘The Carlswick Deception’. I found the character of Stephanie interesting and very charismatic. I also love the character of Luke, the detective Stephanie is working with. I, however, am not a fan or her boyfriend James. He seemed rather dull and kind of wishy-washy. I also find it as a stretch with the police letting a college student help investigate such high stakes crimes (including interviewing witness, and following felons etc) .This seems to be a trend of British detective stories involving a lay person as detective (Agatha Raisin, Grantchester, Father Brown etc.) They also rely less on forensic science and more of old-fashioned detective work.

I loved the settings of ‘The Carlswick’. The story sent the characters from Oxford, to London, to Paris, to Venice. I thought the descriptions of historical sites in each city were a wonderful aspect of the story. I particularly love the inclusion of the Sainte-Genevieve Library. I have never heard of it before and the descriptions were absolutely beautiful. My favorite aspect of the ‘Carlswick Deception’ is that it centers around rare pieces of literature. The story included all sorts of back story on rare pieces . (For example I had never heard the story of Earnest Hemingway’s stolen manuscripts).

I really enjoyed, ‘The Carlswick Deception’. I plan to read the rest of the ‘Carlswick’ novels. ‘The Carlswick’ series is definitely a great series for readers that love english detective stories.