Setting this aside for now. It's just not capturing my attention. The author is clearly from the school of "tell, don't show" method of writing.

This is the first in McCleary’s series featuring the real-life reporter Nellie Bly, who was famous in the early part of 20th century for her expose of conditions in Bellevue Asylum for the Insane in NYC, and for her round-the-world trip, a la Jules Verne, made in 72 days.

I wanted very much to like this series since seeing the one woman play by a local author Gary Blackwood “Two Hours in a Madhouse”. But there is just too much fiction, too much suspension of belief asked (that Nellie would be involved in a murder investigation in Paris, okay; but that she would meet and have a relationship with Jules Verne was the breaking point for me).

You might enjoy the mystery in this but don’t count on it to learn anything about the real Nellie Bly.

3 stars ( )

a must read and is interesting ( )

Nellie Bly, history's first investigative reporter, had to prove herself better than her male peers to be accepted by Joseph Pulitzer in late 19th century. She accomplished this when she had herself committed to an insane asylum so she could report on its condition. While there she befriends a prostitute who hopes to be released through the assistance of foreign physician Dr. Blum. However, the physician's lab is shortly burned, the physician is found missing and human organs are found in glass jars. Assuming that organs were harvested from her friend, the reader soon finds Nellie on Dr. Blum's trail, which eventually leads to Paris where a number of prostitutes have recently succumbed to a virulent plague. Assisted by historical luminaries, Jules Verne, Louis Pasteur and Oscar Wilde, Nellie Bly must find this infamous physician before others die.

It was enjoyable to read a historical mystery/thriller with these historical luminaries. However, occasionally historical figures were add that did little to advance the plot. My edition of the book included illustrations of some of these scenes, which helped transport me to 19th Paris. This was the first in the Nellie Bly series and won't be my last. ( )

more reviews on my blog

Ooof. This is gonna be... tricky.


McCleary uses the real life figures of Nellie Bly and Jules Verne in her Victorian Murder Mystery. There can be problems with using real people in this way. The main one is this: These were real people. They are inspirations to many, and many readers won't agree with your interpretation of their character, actions and history. Nellie Bly was a fascinating woman, who got herself incaracerated in a mental asylum in order to better report on the abuses suffered by the women trapped there. She was one of the first female journalists to report on 'serious' subjects. And I simply do not believe that she would behave in the way she does in this book. Of course, I don't know (any more than McCleary does) what her character was like, how she thought and what she would do in a situation like the one in The Alchemy of Murder, but that is the problem. When you write using characters you make up, you as the author can reasonably expect your readers to think you know the charcters better than they do. When you write using a real person, you can't.

Right. Ok. Done.

So, this is actually a pretty bad book. It's not written very well - there are constant, ham-fisted interjections of historical context, which would have been better had the author used some subtlety. It is clumsy, the prose is all over the place. The characters are interchangeable, they constantly use anachronisms and there is this irritating, nod-and-wink knowingness that keeps pointing out 'look these are famous people you know what's going to happen!'. I found the plot confusing and unbelievable.

But, oh. I consumed it. I ripped through it. I read it and then I read it again. I don't know why. It's so bad, but because it is bloody addictive I have to give it 3 out of 5 even if it doesn't deserve it.

Oh god I'm part of the problem. ( )