SICK OF SHADOWS by M.C. BEATON

"Lady Rose Summer is engaged to Captain Harry Cathcart - a private investigator. But she is getting rather tired of him not attending social functions with her because he is busy on cases. She makes friends with Dolly Tremaine, a debutante only to find her murdered body when she goes to meet her in Hyde Park one morning. This puts Lady Rose and her companion Daisy Levine in personal danger and they are forced to take drastic action to avoid coming to a sticky end. Rose as ever gets herself into some sticky situations simply because she is bored and curious. At times it seems as though she and Harry are finally seeing eye to eye and then they are at daggers drawn again. Will their engagement ..." "Sick of Shadows is the first book I have read from this author and I have enjoyed it very much. It is the kind of easy murder mystery you want to read on holidays or at week end. But at times, Captain Harry annoys me as he should really make an effort to escort Lady Rose more often and maybe I am not so sure Lady Rose and the Captain would have been allowed to be engaged for so long without seeing each other, in the Edwardian times.. Even though I enjoyed the book, I felt something was missing and I could not find out what. But by reading the other reviews, I realised that this is the third installment of the Edwardian series..."

"暇つぶしにだらだらと読むには適した本です。英語は簡単だから初心者でも読めますよ。　内容的には、同じ作者のシリーズの中では少し退屈ですが、気楽に読めますから..." 

말이나 마차가 교통의 중심이 되던 시절, 전화가 귀족이나 소수의 전유물이던 시절 , 여성이 남성과 동등한 취급을 받지 못하던 시절이 배경이 되는 소설이다. 시대의 배경에 비해서 초반에는 전개가 빠른 거 같아서 기대를 했지만 중반에는 좀 지루한 편이어서 읽는 재미가 떨어졌다. 후반에 가서야 별로 놀랍지 않은 결과지만... 나름의 결과를 내놓고 있다. 여성이 중심인물이지만 주변 인물들에 대한 묘사의 양이나 글의 전개에서 차지하는 그들의 비중은 무시 못할 정도다. 독자에 따라서 주인공보다는 주변 인물에 대한 애정이 더 클 수 있을 거 같다. 문장이 그다지 어렿지는 않지만 이런 장르에 대해서 흥미가 없는 독자들은 지루할 것이다.