Tannat

It started off well, but I didn't like this one that much. It rescued itself from a single star with a plot twist that I was hoping for the identity of the murderer (not much of a twist, but the first "suspect" would have been a really lame culprit).

Peeves and comments:
I know now that it's supposed to reflect on Karen's grammatical skills, but the "could of" and "would of" thing fair drove me up the wall. Especially since she uses the full "have" on occasion. Of course, she also managed to use "knew" once too. As I noted above, the narrative voice started off fairly strong, but it wasn't maintained consistently, in my opinion. Part of that may have been a lack of imaginative engagement on my part.

Aside from that, I'm not sure why some people are saying that this book is light on steampunk elements. The plot itself relies heavily on steampunk elements like the mech sewing suit (still not sure how that thing helps with sewing) and the octopus-tentacled submersible.

I was also annoyed at Reeves for being completely illiterate since, as it turns out, it's just too much trouble for him to get his wife to teach him the basics. Apparently he's managed so far and although he concedes that literacy would be useful, he'll manage to his grave. Seriously?