The Music of the Spheres: a Novel

Reviewer's Bookwatch, Jan, 2005 by Pete Hodgins

Further about the series of grisly and at times gratuitous-seeming London murders, time after time after time the victims are redheaded prostitutes. With the likely exception of Jonathan's wife, whom I can't recollect "meeting" at all, not one woman in this story proves "virtuous", although the most prominent whorish example charges no money for her favours (and, quite incidentally, goes unmolested.)

The common factor of red hair is a part of the plot. Don't get fed up with that long sequence, then; the book makes a good read, despite it.

The dust-jacket is worth seeing for itself, but one wonders how much of a book's cost results from such elaborateness? Gold embossing of the title and the author's name just begins its description. It would make a fine display in a "show library", though, if that were your interest.

Rather few grammatical and no spelling errors are apparent to me, in this novel. I say "apparent" because some questions involve little more than personal opinions and usages. In other words, I must split hairs to find fault. (An example is, on page 377, "is ... different ... to". I'd certainly have written "differs from", for I happen to see "to differ from" in the same light as "to diverge from", not as "to contrast to".)

If a novel of this calibre--worth reading for its historical insights as well as other aspects--is no longer available on booksellers' shelves, its author's name should be kept in mind in case she is able to compile another such work in future. Indeed, if the rule of thumb of one book per year applies, she may have three more volumes out by now!

I wish her every success.