Thank you to Bethany House for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.
Murder at the Mikado is book number 3 in the Drew Farthering Mystery series and is just as good as the others! I am never let down by Julianna's writing - though this time I sort of figured out who was killing people where as the other two I was stumped completely. Perhaps with the next one (as long as she continues the series) I will be able to finally be correct on all fronts.
This cover is my favorite out of the series so far and I think it fits the storyline perfectly. The characters still haven't changed - which is a good thing in my opinion because that means Julianna knows her characters well. There were two things that bugged me about the characters, one is Madeline's mood swings. While warranted at the beginning I grew rather tiresome of the constant up and down, happy and sad, angry and not angry - it got to the point that I was starting to dislike her! Thankfully Julianna set her back on the path and she once again became the Madeline I grew to like a lot in the other two books.
The other thing was Nick and Aunt Ruth. There was simply not enough of them in this one! They are easily my favorite characters and I was rather upset to note they didn't appear enough. I hope as the series continues they will make more frequent visits to the pages.
Peter - I adored! Julianna did so wonderful capturing the spirit of a young boy and it made not only me smile, but my sister as well (even my mother who overheard me reading it out loud to my sister). His attachment to Mr. Chambers was super adorable. Mr. Landis - I really liked the way he talked about Peter and seemed to really care for him. Mrs. Landis - For her role in the book and her character, she was very well written though I can understand why they were rather taken back when she came around.
The plot was fast-paced and intriguing with just the right touch of humor, mystery, drama, and romance. I really can not say anything real bad about this series because Julianna is an excellent writer! 4 1/2 stars out of 5 only due to Madeline's mood swings growing a bit tiresome.
By the way, I would love to see Aunt Ruth fall in love with someone - just saying for a possible future plot?
