The third (and it seems possibly the final) novel in the story of Tatiana Crowe, a female undertaker in 1870s Sydney, sees the return of a character from an earlier novel who has had quite the change in personality (interestingly - explained in the author's notes at the end of the novel).
Tatiana Crowe and Evan Hunter met in that earlier novel in which Hunter, obviously attracted to Crowe, also insisted that she attend his father's demise and embalm his body for his final journey home to England. There's a shortage of reliable and competent embalmers in New Zealand, and despite Crowe's reluctance / refusal, it's the arrival of a large sum of cash and the complications in returning it safely, that finally force her hand, and she and her assistant find themselves on a ship to Auckland upon receipt of the news that Hunter Senior's death is imminent.
Once they arrive, however, they find that the Hunter's are a very different kettle of fish with Evan's mother an awful woman who verbally attacks Crowe for her seeming designs on her son Evan (which Crowe most definitely does not entertain), especially as it turns out that Hunter is considerably more interested in the thriving funeral business than Crowe herself. Although his "method" of weaponised rape in order to convince her that marriage is the only alternative, is both vicious and lacking in awareness of just how determined Crowe can be when it comes to protecting her hard-won independence and the business on which many people she loves now rely.
This is one of those series that it really would be best to read right from the beginning. Partly because the story of how Tatiana (Tatty) Crowe got to this point in her very young life (she's only twenty-five after all), and who the supporting cast of characters are - those that followed her from England and those that joined her in Sydney. There's complicated family relationships, love affairs, and always the business of conducting funerals, along with the regular stints of morgue duty. There's also a court case that refers back to the second novel that plays out in this one. This time, once Crowe returns from New Zealand, and the consequences start to be revealed, odd things happen, with a body stolen from a funeral train, and strange goings on at the morgue. Somebody is obviously targeting Crowe's business, but that threat also gets closer to the people around her, and at that point, intervention comes from a most unexpected, and tragic direction.
This is one of those series of novels that grabbed attention right from the opening salvo. Written with an eye to historical detail, the author's notes at the end of each novel provide a fascinating glimpse into the motivation, knowledge and thinking of the author (the information on dialogue alone is worth the price of purchase). There is obviously some restraint been used as they don't read as information dumps, with a good balance between historical detail, plot and character development. A big part of the attraction is the characters that surround Crowe, as well as Crowe herself, who for such a young woman is clever, determined, kind and astute. The workers that help her on a day to day basis are really a family though, and the author is not afraid to put members of that family at risk, and ultimately to have some pay the ultimate price, reflecting the reality of life at the time - medical help was limited, and the sorts of things that killed women in particular get a well-deserved, and pointed, airing.
Setting the series within the world of funerals, death and morgues also gives a very different perspective. A business whose practitioners move through society at all levels, often times unseen, but with fingers and connections in a lot of places, gives Crowe, and her fellow travellers a way of seeing everything, and not necessarily drawing a lot of attention. Which made some of the concealment aspects of this story particularly interesting - again from the female perspective, the decisions that were forced on women because of society's pathetic and dangerous double standards play out here in vivid confrontation.
I've really enjoyed the three books so far in this series, and will be really sad if this is the end for Tatty Crowe, and the family and business she's built herself.
Black Velvet and Vengeance
Sometimes death is just the beginning ...
Late 1872. When twenty-five-year-old Sydney undertaker Tatiana Crowe travels to Auckland to embalm the body of Evan Hunter's father events go horribly wrong, leaving Tatty stricken.
Back at home, Tatty has some enormous decisions to make, but finds herself facing challenges both personal and professional. When bodies start to go missing, seemingly snatched from the funeral train en route to the cemetery, it looks like someone is targeting Tatty's business and everything she holds dear.
Who has a vendetta against Tatty, and why? With the aid of the family she has made for herself among the misfits of Sydney she must fend off extortion demands, an irate grieving mother, Darlinghurst Gaol tittle-tattlers and the threat of ruin.
Featuring a fiercely intrepid heroine, Black Velvet and Vengeance vividly and unforgettably shines a light on a fascinating period of Sydney's history - life, death and everything in between.
Add comment