I just finished reading The Midnight Queen by May Agnes Fleming. Fleming is known as Canada’s first best-selling novelist, and lived between 1840-1880. I had never heard of Fleming prior to reading this book. I had been downloading (free) classics onto my Kindle and liked the title of this one, so decided to give it a whirl.
I would give The Midnight Queen 3 stars out of 5. I enjoy historical novels set in England and Europe and this one was set in London during the plague. People are dying and much of London society has moved, but Sir Norman Kingsley remains. This book is full of mystery, nobility, killers, death, kidnapping and plenty of twists and turns.
The plot was good, but the book could have been better; the potential was there, but it fell just short. The whole story is set within a 24 hour period. This tens to draw things out and yet the ending was very abrupt. I found parts of the ending hard to believe, at least it was with the abrupt way it ended. There needed to be a little more explanation and/or conflict. There were also quite a few references to historical figures and events, some of which I was unfamiliar. This made the book a little less timeless and, at times, harder to understand.
All in all it was a good book and an easy read for something written over a hundred years ago. Pick this one up and you might just learn some new vocabulary!
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