Things in Jars by Jess Kidd - 3 stars

[Jen K]

Bridie Devine is a private investigator in Victorian England. Due to an unusual upbringing of scientific foster fathers after the death of her own family, Bridie is quite familiar with the biology of the body and the forensics involved to detect an unnatural death. When hired to investigate stolen property which turns out to be the kidnapping of a secret and unusual child, Bridie finds an object from her past and brings her back into a world of naturalists and collectors who seek the unusual in nature.

Bridie is a fun character with red hair and quite a background. Her friends involve a large group of those who needed to be saved and those who continue to save including a 7 foot tall housemaid. A lovely but sad and odd side story is that Bridie is haunted by a tattooed pugilist ghost who claims to have known her before he was killed. He is her constant companion as she tries to save one more child.

The story has parallel story lines of Bridie's childhood and the present day case. Each supports the others. The story has lots of interesting oddities but maybe too much so in that I wasn't as engaged and fairly easy to guess the outcome.

[Amy]

I dnf'd this one in February. And I almost never do that. But I just couldn't get into it. Seems you saw it through.

[Booknblues]

I read her book Himself and really enjoyed it. It was definitely quirky but much fun to read. Sorry to hear that this one was a disappointment.

[Joy D]

I do not tend to enjoy supernatural, and was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed Himself. I had put this one on my TBR but perhaps I will rethink it.