Reviewed by Chris

TITLE:  The Mystery of the Moving Image

SERIES:  Snow & Winter #3

AUTHOR:  C.S. Poe

PUBLISHER:  DSP Publications

LENGTH:  214 pages

RELEASE DATE:  September 11, 2018

BLURB:  

It’s summer in New York City, and antique shop owner Sebastian Snow is taking the next big step in his relationship with NYPD homicide detective, Calvin Winter: they’re moving in together. What should have been a wonderful week of playing house and celebrating Calvin’s birthday comes to an abrupt end when a mysterious package arrives at the Emporium.

Inside is a Thomas Edison Kinetoscope, a movie viewer from the nineteenth century, invented by the grandfather of modern cinema, W. K. L. Dickson. And along with it, footage of a murder that took place over a hundred years ago.

Sebastian resists the urge to start sleuthing, even if the culprit is long dead and there’s no apparent danger. But break-ins at the Emporium, a robbery, and dead bodies aren’t as easy to ignore, and Sebastian soon realizes that the century-old murder will lead him to a modern-day killer.

However, even with Sebastian’s vast knowledge of Victorian America and his unrelenting perseverance in the face of danger, this may be the one mystery he won’t survive.

REVIEW:  

When a package arrives at his shop with no note or information as to its owner, Sebastian can’t help but feel a bit wary. Luckily for him, when the box is pried open there are no dead bodies in sight. Not even so much as a heart. Instead he and his assistant find a Kinetoscope–one of the earliest forms of cinema viewing made for a single person’s use. Unsure what to do with this mysterious gift he decides to keep it in the shop till he can hunt down the owner. He can’t resist giving the film sent along with the Kinetoscope a look, though. After all, how often are you going to be able to view a film over a century old? And what harm could be done, anyways.

Well…he really should have known better. Now he has people breaking into his shop, leaving dead bodies in their wake, and some very persistent stalkers doing their best to get their hands on a film depicting a century old murder. What they could possible want with it, Sebastian hasn’t a clue…he only knows they are more than happy to kill to get their hands on it.

*happy sigh*…I just adore a good mystery novel.

Not much to say about this book, other than that. It was just so damn good. Which makes for an incredibly short review. So…

Well, I guess I can talk about how I have greatly enjoyed how this series has handled Sebastian’s color blindness. The fact that it plays into the story, and actually affects him as a person, as well as the plot, makes for great storytelling. On a really basic level I like seeing characters who are different, because it spices up tropes that I love–but which might have become a bit stale after the 800th rendition. Outside of that though, there is something to love about taking that character trait and weaving it into a story in a way that feels needed to the plot. Sebastian would not be Sebastian without his disability. It informs his personality and life in such a way that seems essential to the story and the character. And C.S. Poe has been very good at letting it sink into the background of the story when needed, but also having it move the plot in a way that doesn’t seem even the little bit forced.

A lot of the praise I have for this book are things that I have said about the two previous stories in the series. I continue to love the way Sebastian and Calvin interact. They are not without their problems, but they act like adults. They talk shit out. They take the time to consider each other. And at the end of the day I feel a genuine connection between the two of them.

Without giving anything away, I also really liked how this mystery kept me guessing the whole way thru. It is one of the things I need in a mystery story. And so far C.S. Poe has shown themselves to be very good at crafting mystery plots that link together seamlessly. I know I–and many other reviewers–have commented on it before, but Poe is very reminiscent of Josh Lanyon in this regard. They clearly have stylistic differences, but the way I can so easily slip into these mysteries is very much the same.

There was also never really a point where it felt like the characters were acting the way they were simply because the plot dictated it. Their actions help dictate the plot, not the other way around. I know with stories the two thing kinda have this weird relationship, especially in mystery stories where the plot needs to happen in a certain way or else the whole mystery aspect can fall completely flat, but I think the standard should always be that it feels natural, even if there is a lot of complicated goings on behind the scenes.

The way this series has built itself up, I can’t but be excited to see where it goes. These kinds of mystery stories, with well crafted plots and interesting characters, are probably my favorite type of books. I find them both relaxing and compelling; a way to sink into a story and forget the world, but also engage my brain in a little game of whodunit. And Poe has certainly managed to do both with this story. The series on the whole has my recommendation, and one can only hope that Poe has many more stories like this one waiting for us in the future.

RATING: 

BUY LINKS:

DSP Publications

Amazon