Wait Until Midnight by Amanda Quick
Genres: Historical, Mystery, Romance
Intended Age Group: Adult
Publisher: Jove/Berkly/Penguin Group (USA)
Edition: Paperback
ISBN: 0-515-13862-2
Rating: 3/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble ThriftBooks
Description from the Book
Gentle Reader,
It could have been a scene from one of my novels. As a rule, respectable ladies do not accept calls from Mysterious Gentlemen on business of the most grave importance – but I confess that I was possessed of a lively curiosity. The past three years had been so determinedly dull, I hoped Mr. Adam Hardesty would offer a tiny respite from it. Indeed, upon first glance, Mr. Hardesty had such a formidable, thrilling presence, he quickly became the model for the villain in the sensation novel I was currently writing.
Imagine my shock and distress then, when Mr. Hardesty accused me of being party to a plot of murder, blackmail, and general villainy! I knew nothing of such occurrences, and proclaimed my innocence. Unfortunately, Mr. Hardesty left unconvinced, and I had an uneasy feeling over what his search would uncover. You see, Gentle Reader, though I live a most uneventful life now, my past contained a Great Scandal that would be ruinous if resurrected. To protect my secrets from Mr. Hardesty’s investigation, I concluded that I would need to conduct an inquiry of my own, and if that meant sharing my findings with Mr. Hardesty, so be it. And my course of action had nothing whatsoever to do with the illicit, passionate feelings that he aroused in me – feelings that propriety would definitely frown upon…
Yours most sincerely,
Caroline Fordyce
Personal & Info
While I only gave this three stars, it’s a good three stars. I consider books from this author to be comfort reads.
This stand alone book has psychical themes, but there are no real psychics in it. It simply takes place during a time when seances and psychic demonstrations were popular. They are all parlor tricks, so if you’re not into paranormal, it should still be fine for you to read this book.
The character list for this book is very long. I did my best to list all of the ones I feel are important, and the ones I recall making any kind of appearance that might be significant. There are more named characters than the ones I listed here. If I forgot to put them down, they likely were not important. Whether or not the murderer’s name is on the list, I will not say.
Characters
Caroline Fordyce is the leading lady. She’s a sensation novelist whose stories are published weekly in the Flying Intelligencer.
Adam Hardesty is the leading man. He comes from a poor background, which gives him a unique set of skills. Julia, Jessica, and Nathan are his adopted siblings.
Wilson Grendon is a wealthy, elderly widower. He took in Adam and his siblings and passes them off as his own distant relatives.
Emma is Caroline’s aunt and only living blood relative. She dresses plainly and presents a tall and severe appearance, with a matching personality.
Milly is Caroline’s aunt, but not a blood relative. She is short and wears brightly colored clothing, which matches her optimistic and cheerful personality.
Julia is Adam’s adoptive sister. She is married to Robert, the Earl of Sourthwood, with two children.
Robert is the Earl of Southwood. He is married to Julia, and they have two children. Robert is essentially a quiet and thoughtful man.
Mrs. Plummer is Caroline’s housekeeper.
Morton is Adam’s butler.
Elizebeth Delmont is the initial murder victim. She is spiritualist who hosts seances and spends time at the Society for Psychical Investigations.
Julian Elsworth is a fashionable practitioner of psychical powers. People consider him to be very attractive. He conducts his business in private homes in only the most exclusive circles.
Durward Reed is the President of the Society for Psychical Investigations and publisher of the newspaper New Dawn. He owns the mansion, Wintersett House, that the society uses as its headquarters.
Harold Filby is Adam’s fashionable and bespectacled man of business. He runs all kinds of errands and gathers information.
Ned is Adam’s coachmen. He’s worked for Adam for a long time.
Irene Toller is another spiritualist. She is Elizebeth Delmont’s rival in business.
Bess Whaley is Irene’s housekeeper and assistant.
Mr. Spraggett is Caroline’s publisher, described as a nervous, wiry, and balding man.
Gilbert Otford is a correspondent for the Flying Intelligencer. He wrote an article about Caroline claiming she has psychical powers.
Story & Thoughts
This book took way longer than I intended to read. No fault to the quality, I’ve just had a lot going on. As with most books by this author, this is a murder mystery. The murder is introduced at the beginning and the whole book is a romance based around the investigation.
It’s actually pretty interesting, because the majority of books I read by this author are about psychics. Psychics with actual talents, I mean. This book is only about frauds, psychics who use tricks and mechanisms to make people think they have powers. It’s an interesting flip from the usual content.
The book also follows the author’s standard storytelling formula. There’s both a murder and a backstory issue. Both get resolved by the end of the book. Some people don’t like writers who have a consistent formula for their stories. If that’s you, then consider this your warning so you know this author, and all her other pseudonyms, uses a consistent formula. I think that’s one of the things that makes them feel like comfort reads, but I understand not everyone relates to that.
The whole of the story is pretty straight forward, so I don’t have much to say about it. I do think it’s important to note that I had no idea who the villain of the story was until the story pointed them out. While it’s not always a bad thing to know who the villain is early, it’s nice to be surprised at the end. It really had me going, thinking I knew who the culprit was, then threw a curveball. Although, the more I think about it, the more I realize there were clues that pointed to them that I didn’t connect until after. So, there is the possibility to figure things out earlier than I did.
I think the most amusing thing in the story is how fixated Adam gets on the fact Caroline finds him inspirational for the villain of her novel. He doesn’t read her novel, but he can’t help thinking of the villain as literally himself whenever someone talks about it. It offends him to no end, and he can’t help interjecting possible hopes for the character or disgust for any unjust actions. The whole situation had me giggling whenever it came up, and during the first half of the book, it’s quite frequent.