Blurb:

Dear Dr. Howard,

The enclosed comprises the complete personal correspondence of Patient #137 prior to her admittance to Bethlem Royal Hospital.

It is my hope that these documents will provide valuable insight into the events immediately preceding her current episode and may, therefore, usefully inform your treatment of her.

Since arrival, her behaviour has been characterised by long periods of docility, punctuated by outbursts of hysteria, in the grip of which she has seduced into deviant behaviour a nurse, a Quaker, and two representatives of the Fallen Women’s Society.

She has also spoken in unknown, inhuman languages, inscribed the floor with malignant, ever-shifting runes, and revealed to the other inmates an infinite sky of alien constellations, much to the distress of the staff.

I trust you will have greater success with her than we have.

Yours sincerely,
Dr. L. Phillips

Stats:

Rating:        ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Review:

This is the third book/second prequel to the Prosperity series. It’s a hilarious companion piece written as a collection of letters to the unknown friend Miriam.

It shows, quite hysterically, Miss Jane Gray’s descent into laudanum-infused madness. Is it madness? I’m not so sure.

It’s not exactly romance in that there is no particular relationship culminating in an HEA. However, there are some interludes implied in an eloquent manner befitting a fallen lady of the Victorian era.

This had a profoundly Gothic feel and I appreciated the humorous allusions to the Sound of Music and (possibly) Hitchcock’s Rebecca. I say possibly because there were some similarities between the housekeeper Mrs. Smith and the creepy-as-fuck Ms. Danvers. There were very likely some other literary references to Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw and maybe a female Indiana Jones in the character Diana–Indiana/Diana! get it? of Raiders of the Lost Ark. There is the strong possibility of other references that’ve likely escaped my feeble mind but felt eerily familiar–just that I couldn’t quite pin them down. And of this writing quite late at night, I might’ve had a cocktail or three.

Alexis Hall. I swear, dude is a genius. I love him. I love his writing. I love his ability to spin such smart, colorful stories out of gorgeous words. I love that he writes queer fiction of all flavors.

This series has become an addiction I’m proud to claim.

This review also posted on GoodReads and Amazon.