Escaping from Houdini (Stalking Jack the Ripper #3)

Synopsis

"Beware of midnight bargains. . . if you're not careful, you might lose your life, your very soul, to this magical traveling show. . . "

Audrey Rose Wadsworth and her ever-vexing companion, Thomas Cresswell, set sail on the luxurious RMS Etruria en route to their next investigation in America. On board, the ship's seven nights of carnival entertainment- starring a promising young escape artist- prove to be the perfect distraction from the grim task that awaits. But the voyage quickly descends into a horror show when young women begin turning up dead.

For Audrey Rose, the Moonlight Carnival- with its disturbing acts and bizarre characters- becomes a nightmarish backdrop to her search for answers. With clues to the next victim's identity pointing to someone she loves, can Audrey Rose unravel the mystery before the killer's horrifying finale?

Loved

• The carnival feels. This takes place with a traveling carnival, and I just loved the carnival vibes- acts, magic, illusion, and backstage practice were all really fun. I liked the quirky and mysterious characters who travel with the show and added a  new dynamic to the series. This gave me major Caraval and The Greatest Showman vibes, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

• The mystery. I love the mysteries themselves in these books. This one was fascinating and very intense, since everyone was on board together. This mystery had added suspense because the murderer could be lurking around any corner of the ship and there was no escape. I totally didn't guess the murderer either, which is always fun when all your suspicions turn out wrong.

• Thomas. I've talked about him in other reviews, but I just adore Thomas Cresswell. His comments just always have me laughing because he's so quick-witted and sharp. I love how true and loyal he is to Audrey Rose during everything- even though she doesn't always treat him as he deserves in this book. Thomas is truly what makes this series so fun and he gets the credit for drawing me into all these freaky creepfests of mysteries :)

• The writing. I haven't talked about this with the other two, but I love Kerri Maniscalco's writing. It's just so easy. It's entrancing and fast-paced, yet elegant in its own right- perfect for Victorian murder mysteries.

Didn't Love

• This was my least favorite out of the series. I really enjoyed the mystery and the carnival setting, but I really hated all the drama with Mephistopheles. I liked his character and found him mysterious and interesting, but I hate the drama that he causes. I won't spoil, but I really didn't like how Audrey Rose acts in this book. I do feel like she learns from her experiences and she realizes her mistakes, but I was really bothered by how she acts with Mephistopheles. That's all I'll say without spoiling. But this book would've been so much better without that drama, and my respect for Audrey Rose would be a lot higher had she acted better.

Content

• Language: 
• Occasional use of "hell."

• Sexual content: 
• Some shorter, mellow kisses with arms around each other.
• Two characters share a heated kissing scene. She pulls off his jacket and pulls him on to the bed with her and imagines what it would be like to share a bed with him. He kisses her down the neck and "draws idle circles on her bodice." Descriptions of "exploring" with their hands and loving the feeling of being touched. They stop in order to keep their reputations in tact. She chastises herself afterward for being "wonton."
• Two characters share a mysterious kiss in the dark. The kiss itself is not described in detail- the focus is more about the mysteriousness of the person.
• Talk of characters showing off their décolletage.

• Violence:
• Again, we have a lot of murders, because this is a murder mystery after all . . . These murders are disturbing because they're so violent, but I would say they are not as disturbing as the Jack the Ripper murders in the first book.
• Bodies are analyzed from a forensic, anatomical perspective, so we get descriptions of every wound on the bodies from an analytical view. With every body, they study whether or not there is hemorrhaging in the eyes to suggest the person was strangled.
• A woman is found facedown in a pool of blood with a dozen knives coming from her back.
• A woman is found hanging with multiple swords going through her body and blood dripping from each wound.
• A body is found hanging and burning.
• A dismembered arm is found in a lion's cage.
• A body is found in a trunk. The woman had been suffocated.
• A body is found in a tank of water with anatomical hearts strung on rods through her limbs.
• A character is shot in the hip.


• Other themes:
• Audrey Rose becomes intoxicated in one scene and dances all night. 

 Overall Thoughts

Wow, this book was a ride. All of these books are- just when you're processing one murder, another one happens! I love these mysteries though, especially studying them from the forensic/anatomical perspective. This book was my least favorite out of the series, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. As I said before, Audrey Rose made some really frustrating decisions in this book, which created unneeded drama. Aside from that drama, the carnival-mystery feel really hit the spot and I loved guessing whether the events were illusions or magic tricks, or truly people dying. And of course, Thomas is just the best. I blame him for falling head over heels for this series.