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The Ivory City
Emily Bain Murray
352 pages
Union Square & Co.
I have to admit that in this case, I was seduced into reading this book by its cover. There is nothing like a bright red book cover with an illustration that resembles something you would see in a museum to attract readers. Well, at least this reader. That, and the setting of the book, the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904. I would like to say that the experience of reading this novel matched up to my expectations but it didn’t. What I was hoping for and expecting was for the setting to feature prominently in the book. It was certainly mentioned but it seemed more peripheral. This is first and foremost a mystery in which the wrong person is arrested and his sister tries to exonerate him by finding the actual murderer, putting her own life at risk. This was a plot in which the setting of the World’s Fair could have been used more effectively than it was. The plot was stellar; I just wanted more atmosphere.
I liked the protagonist, Grace, the sister who is trying to solve the murder. I would have liked even more character development, although for a mystery where I expect less of that, it was not bad. I think the pacing improved as the book went, making the second half better than the first and I did find myself reading faster later on, wanting to find out if my suspicions about who did it were right. Finally, a weakness in the book was the dialogue, which was ordinary and perhaps a little “young.” At times, it felt like a young adult novel, which is not necessarily a bad thing but I don’t think it was what the author was going after.
All of the opinions here are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and Union Square & Co. for giving me the opportunity to read this book.
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