All reviews I had read said read the first book but not the second. I did not listen, but I should have. I enjoyed the first book immensely, but really did not like the second book. The second book changed the main character far to much, as if she was a different person. I also hated the ending, it was tragic for all involved, beyond what could be considered enjoyable. So I gave it 2.5 stars, I would rate the first book a solid 4.5 stars but a 1 star for the second book.

I have to admit that this book is brilliant, but the ending is absolutely horrifying - not in the sense that it's poorly done, but in that it made me feel ill and unsettled. A number of characters make appalling choices, motivated by malice, greed, ignorance or some combination thereof, and the results are devastating.

Garish colours, cartoonish drawings on glossy paper. Juvenile misogynist story. Too long.

I was enjoying this quite a bit. Then, without seemingly any narrative reason, the artist undressed a character who I thought of as trans. Literally nothing seemed to happening in the story that required or was furthered by this full reveal of her body. There was very little similar treatment of other characters that we're supposed to like, despite most of the book taking place in a bordello. It just took me right out of the story.

I don't know my trans history well enough to understand how Miss Josephine would have labeled herself at the time when this takes place - or if she would have labeled herself at all. And this wasn't done as the usual "aha" trope where a storyteller reveals a trans person's trans-ness by having them show up naked. (This trope was discussed very well in an early episode of the excellent podcast The Hopeless Romantic about writing trans romance.) So I don't know if my WTF moment was grounded in anything but my own personal exhaustion with the disrespect of trans people in our media and culture. Or, since I'm not always the smartest reader, I could have missed something here.

But, this is my honest experience with the book, so there you go. :(

A murder mystery and period piece; this is the story of a maid, Blanche, who works and lives with her sister, Agatha, in Paris at the turn of the twentieth century. When Blanche witnesses her sister’s murder, her world is destroyed. People think Agatha committed suicide, and nobody will believe Blanche. She goes on a mission to avenge Agatha’s death. Her fumbling investigations lead her to a high-class bordello called the Pompadour. Convinced that the murderer is somehow connected to the Pompadour, Blanche gets herself hired as virginal dominatrix and becomes a favorite of its jaded upper crust clientele. The time period details are accurately depicted and the characters are uniquely distinct. The setting is unmistakably a whore house: provocative and suggestive - nakedness and sexual activity are part of the story.