An excellent and very different mystery. Although there is a complicated death as the impetus of the plot, the book is more about the main character, her dilemma, and the people and events that make her come to terms with the decisions she has made.

I enjoyed this book so much I read over half of it in one day, I couldn't put it down!

Traveling to New York to finally claim her portion of her inheritance, Julia Kydd is surprised to learn she might not be receiving that inheritance after all. In Relative Fortunes by Marlowe Benn, Julie's half brother Phillip has decided to challenge the inheritance, three weeks before her 25th birthday, the day she is to receive it. Then when her friend's sister dies, Julia glibly bets her brother that she can solve the case or give up her inheritance.

This is just the sort of thing I like: A bit of mystery, a bit of early feminism, and a couple of mindlessly wealthy socialites. Yet...though there was nothing unpleasant, it didn't sparkle in the way I would expect for something that checked all those boxes.

3.5 stars

I decided to read this book based purely on the cover art. The cover art suggests a fun historical mystery with a quirky and fashionable lady detective. Plus it was the first in a new series and I couldn’t help but get excited to be one of the first people to read Julia Kydd!

The 1920s aren’t really my favorite era to read, but I love the art and fashion and have read a few historical mysteries that have been set in that period and loved them so I am typically open to reading more from that time period.

I was excited to see that this was the authors first debut novel and she has already signed on to do 2 more books in this series, which speaks volumes for me! It must be good if the publisher already wants more, so I was excited to dive in and check out a new lady detective!

Summary

In 1920s New York, the price of a woman’s independence can be exorbitant—even fatal.

In 1924 Manhattan, women’s suffrage is old news. For sophisticated booklover Julia Kydd, life’s too short for politics. With her cropped hair and penchant for independent living, Julia wants only to launch her own new private press. But as a woman, Julia must fight for what’s hers—including the inheritance her estranged half brother, Philip, has challenged, putting her aspirations in jeopardy.

When her friend’s sister, Naomi Rankin, dies suddenly of an apparent suicide, Julia is shocked at the wealthy family’s indifference toward the ardent suffragist’s death. Naomi chose poverty and hardship over a submissive marriage and a husband’s control of her money. Now, her death suggests the struggle was more than she could bear.

Julia, however, is skeptical. Doubtful of her suspicions, Philip proposes a glib wager: if Julia can prove Naomi was in fact murdered, he’ll drop his claims to her wealth. Julia soon discovers Naomi’s life was as turbulent and enigmatic as her death. And as she gets closer to the truth, Julia sees there’s much more at stake than her inheritance (summary from Goodreads)

Review

This book started out a little on the slow side for me which was surprising. I wasn’t expecting it to be so slow but it didn’t really pick up for me until about a third of the way through. There was a lot of detail about the history of book publishing which at first was interesting but quickly became a little much for me.

Julia was a great character. I loved that she was independent minded, confident, and modern. I liked her immensely and was drawn to her character most of the book. I love how she interacted with her family and friends and it made the whole cast of characters memorable and engaging.

For me there was a lot going on in this book though. A lot of different issues were being touched on—women’s rights, financial security, family issues, and a murder mystery. It was a little on the busy side but not wholly unenjoyable, I just noted that there was a lot going on and at times I would get distracted from the overall plot.

I think this book shows a promising start to a new series especially for a new author. It was entertaining enough and I am eager to see how Julia grows and changes throughout the upcoming books.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and the author Ms. Marlowe Benn
for the opportunity to read this Advanced Readers Copy of "Relative Fortunes"

The first book in a new series, "Julia Kidd Novels", Ms. Benn plans to bring to life a crime solving twenty something "suffragette" living in New York and across the pond.

This is the story of "Julia Kidd", freshly arrived in New York and ready to conquer the world. She's single, an early feminist, and has come to claim her inheritance. She struggles to find her female voice as she navigates the Male dominated Victorian Society.

Except this is Victorian times, and women can't have access to their money, even when its legally theirs, without a male relative to allow it.

Julia's half brother, "Philip" has come to dispute the legitimacy of Julia's inheritance. He contends she is not entitled.

Tragedy strikes Julia's good friend. When Julia recounts the story to Philip, he makes her an offer she can't refuse.

And so begins the "sleuthing career" of Miss Julia Kidd amidst the 1920's enchanting age of jazzy New York, and fight for women's rights.

3.5 stars

Looking at the cover of this novel and hearing the description I knew I had to read it! Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this novel.

Relative Fortunes is about Julia Kydd, a young woman with half her father's fortune to look forward to when she becomes of age. Naomi; friend's sister, dies of an apparent suicide. Philip; her half-brother, is keeping her fortune from her and make a wager - he will allow her to have her fortune if Julia can figure out what happened to Naomi. Julia takes her chance and confronts the problems that had happened to Naomi with her family.

This novel has a slow start and takes time for you to get into. But overall, the plot was interesting and entertaining. Julia as a character is okay, she gets stronger and more likable through out the novel. I understand this is the first novel of a series which i would probably check out when the second book comes out.

I think as a first novel by Marlowe Benn, this is a solid novel. I think as the series continues Julia will get even stronger as a character and Benn won't need to do as many introductions of the characters. Benn gave a lot of research into the history of the 20s and how women were treated which was super interesting (if you enjoy that history).

The only part i didn't care for was the murder mystery, the mystery itself wasn't anything special when it came to murder mystery stories. But overall the history part of the story was interesting.

I gave this novel ⭐⭐⭐ review. I would probably read the next novel in the series when released, not my favourite first book to a series but still a good novel.


Relative Fortunes is the first novel by Marlowe Benn
Released August 1, 2019
Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley!

Julia Kydd is in America for one reason only: to get her half of her father's fortune. She hasn't ever really gotten to know her half-brother Philip, he's much older than she is, but she doesn't really like him. He seems to take great pleasure in making her crazy for absolutely no reason.
When her (sort of) friend's sister dies, the role of women in the 1920s comes into stark relief for Julia. Naomi Rankin's family seems to be more concerned about covering up her death than figuring out what was wrong. Her brother controlled the family finances and seemed to take great delight in making the sufragette's life as hard as possible.
Philip makes an off-the-cuff wager that Julia can't figure out what happened to Naomi. If so, he'll stop fighting their father's will and let her have her share of the Kydd money. In doing so, Julia is going to have to confront any number of inequities and a truly horrible family.
This book was so slow to begin with and then piled up so much information into the end that felt overdone. I also had hoped to have a little more history thrown in. For a book that is nearly 400 pages long, we could have gotten some more about that time period. And a little bit deeper character analysis. Everyone felt a bit shallow. It was an okay start to a series but not a barn burner.

Three stars
This book came out August 1st
ARC kindly provided by Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

3.5 stars

There was a lot to like in this series debut. Main character Julia Kydd is a strong and intelligent woman. The early 20s was a time of much social change, particularly in the rights of women since it was early days after women in the U.S. and England won the right to vote.

The characters are distinct and appealing (or despicable, in some cases). There is some great historical background about the early days of feminism and societal constraints against women. In particular, women's financial dependence on husband's or male family is examined closely and with tragic consequences. Julia is waiting for her inheritance from her father to come due, and is being blocked by her half brother Philip so she leaves her home in England to come to New York to straighten out the legal confusion. In the meantime, she becomes embroiled in her friend Glennis's troubles when Glennis's sister is found dead. Was it murder or suicide?

This was a very readable book and I will certainly read the next in line. I found the plot overly complex, especially toward the end, but some of the excesses were in aid of establishing characters and situations for the series, so hopefully the machinations will calm a bit in the next book. And Julia's very real deliberations about the implications of marriage and freedom were nicely phrased.

Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was looking forward to this book, but it was meandering and the characters unlikable, so I gave up. There is interest for this title at my library though, so we have purchased a copy.

Set in the mid 1920s in Manhatten, this historical mystery took some time to get into. I thought it was a slow, somewhat awkward start but once it hit it's stride, I feel it became a more enjoyable flowing read. Julia was a good character, in a 1920s kind of way where women had virtually no access to any material goods or decision making abilities without a man. I did think the murder mystery aspect was a bit weak but I did think the historical details were very well done and well researched. While it turned into a fairly good book, it was understandable to a point that getting through the first couple chapters was slow because it was the first book in a planned series so some background information had to be told. I'll most likely take a look at the second book when it comes out.

With Relative Fortunes, the first book in Marlowe Benn’s Julia Kydd series, I think it’s safe to say ‘it’s me, not the book’. Although I love a good historical crime, I am extremely picky about such reads, and in this case this one wasn’t quite for me.

Relative Fortunes is a book that takes a long time to start, much longer than I would have liked. With my mysteries, I like it when things start to come together much sooner than they did in this one, and there were plenty of points where I did consider putting this one down. It’s certainly an interesting book to continue reading, but it does require quite the commitment to get that payoff.

For the first book in a series, this one sets up things for later books. I’m sure the later books will be more interesting, more engrossing, but this one didn’t quite grab me in the way I had anticipated. For some, however, I’m sure this book will be perfect for them.

1924 and Julia Kidd has arrived in Manhatten to claim her inheritance which is due on her 25th birthday which is in a few weeks. But the death of her friend's sister Naomi Rankin changes events. Julia agrees to prove the death was murder and then she can keep her disputed inheritance.
For me there was not enough mystery in the story, but too much historical fiction. I also didn't like any of the characters, except the slight possibility of Julia's brother Philip Kidd, and then only near the end of the story
A NetGalley Book

I agreed to read Relative Fortunes by Marlowe Benn because it is set in the 1920s in the United States and frankly there just is not enough of this time period in my opinion. The fact that it was a mystery as well only added to the appeal.

I'm not going to lie, it took me longer than I would have liked to get into Relative Fortunes. It was a very slow start and there were a lot of small references that I just didn't understand. I feel like the reader would really need to know more about the 1920s to understand some of the references BUT it didn't effect my understanding of the story. I just didn't want to stop to look up references.

Then there was Philip. Man was that guy just downright annoying. I know that's how we're supposed to feel about him but I hate hating on any character in a book, even the love to hate characters. And boy did I hate Philip. I can't really get into much about him without giving away key points in the story.

I really did enjoy this book. I know up until that line it sounds like I didn't but the previous paragraphs are my only two complaints. Once I was in the story, I was in. I finished half of the book in two days when the first half took me over a week. Julia had grown on me during the first half and I found her to be a fantastic heroine throughout the course of the book.

The case Julia was trying to solve was pretty intricate and the timing of everything was perfect. I honestly did not have this one figured out at ALL. If you've read any of my other mystery reviews you know that I love nothing more than a mystery that I can't solve before the reveal. Relative Fortunes by Marlowe Benn did that for me. I hadn't figured out the motive or the culprit until Julia revealed all.

I saw that this was the first in what will now be a series and even though book two won't release until 2020, it is <b>definitely</b> on my list of books to look forward to!

I am typically a huge fan of mystery/thrillers and a huge fan of historical fiction, so when I was pitched this book where both are in one book I was very excited to read and review it. Unfortunately, putting both in this book didn't work and I think maybe the author was trying to accomplish too much between these covers.

For me the mystery didn't hold up, but I enjoyed the historical aspects of it much better. Every time the book took more of a focus on the mystery, I lost interest and had a hard time paying attention. I wish that there was more of a plot driver than the mystery in this book. I was glad to read I wasn't in the minority when I finished reading the book and went to go check out some reviews and many agreed with me.

The characters were great and they were what drove me through this book. They made me care enough to know what was going to happen and got me to finish the book. I loved learning about the lack of rights women had beyond just the vote but the ability to manage their own futures, especially when they didn't have a husband and were trying to just live and let live.

I hate to be a negative nancy about a book and try to avoid it in general, but this book just didn't cut it for me and even put me in a reading rut, which rarely happens to me!

This was a book I was so excited to get into - 1920s Manhattan, the suffrage movement, it all sounded right up my alley! Unfortunately, the execution was a little lacking for my tastes and I had to DNF this one. Thanks so much to Little Bird Publicity for sending me an eARC for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.

This book follows Julia Kydd, a young woman who returns to New York after the death of her estranged father and the contestation of his will by her half-brother, Phillip. While visiting, one of her friend's sisters, Naomi, is found dead. An outspoken activist of women's suffrage, Naomi had more than one target on her back. However, when the death is ruled a suicide, Julia isn't convinced. Apparently, part of the plot included Phillip suggesting that if Julia can prove Naomi was murdered, he will drop the contestation - however, I didn't make it that far into the book.

As previously mentioned, I didn't end up finishing this book. There was a lot that, in theory, I was really on board with. But my biggest problem was the writing style and pacing, which made it difficult for me to get my usual 100 pages in before making the decision to DNF a book. The language used felt a little ~clunky~ is the best way to describe it. There were a lot of big words, which, I don't have a problem with, in principle, but they just felt like they were thrown in to make the book seem more intellectual than it actually was.

I know a few other reviews have also mentioned the pacing, so I won't discuss it ad nauseam but I think that things took too long to get going to the point where I was invested and wanted to continue. I made it 111 pages in and was still waiting for the wager with Phillip to appear. I don't mind a slower-burn, but if it's in the synopsis, I feel like it should be a part of at least the first third of the book.

I truly am disappointed because the subject matter of this one seemed like it would be something I would really enjoy. However, the lack of any real plot development in the third of the book that I read signalled to me that this one wasn't going to go anywhere any time soon.

Overall, I know some readers who have been able to push past the slower parts did really enjoy this book, and perhaps, if I had the patience to do the same I would have ended up really enjoying it. Even though this one had some problems for me, I would still say pick it up if it sounds interesting to you, who knows, you might love it more than I did.

With her debut novel, Marlowe Benn gives us a pair of family stories intertwined with a twisting mystery garbed in stylish language. The setting is Jazz Age Manhattan; while socialites party their way across the city, and suffragists relish the victory of the 19th Amendment, progressive women know more work needs to be done.

Into this buzzing atmosphere arrives Julia Kydd, an independent young woman who has returned home from a five-year stay in London to receive her inheritance on her 25th birthday. However, her half-brother Philip has put up an unexpected challenge to their late father’s bequest, which sets them at odds. It’s an awkward situation at best. They barely know one another, and Julia’s obliged to lodge with him since he still controls her funds.

While crossing the Atlantic, Julia had gotten reacquainted with a boarding-school chum, Glennis Rankin, whose own family woes are deepening. Glennis’s much-older sister, Naomi, has been found dead in her basement apartment, an apparent suicide, but there’s much that’s suspicious about her untimely passing. Apart from Naomi and Glennis, the Rankins are a ghastly, judgmental bunch – their pompous brother Chester criticizes Naomi in his eulogy – which prompts Glennis, confused and furious, to lean on Julia for support. Thus Julia is drawn into her friend’s personal drama, and she has added motive for doing so after Philip makes her an offer she can’t refuse: if she can prove Naomi was murdered, he’ll stop contesting her inheritance.

This bargain sounds contrived, and some readers may not be convinced otherwise, but knowing more about the context makes it feel less so. Philip is an enigmatic fellow who isn’t the greedy villain one may expect. A literary, urbane sort who’s fascinated by psychology and has solved “puzzlers” for the police, he seems to be testing Julia.

Julia herself is another character whose personality deepens over time. A modern 1920s woman who has a British lover but values her independence too much to marry, she saves her greatest passion for her aspiring career as a literary publisher. (It’s an interest that Marlowe Benn shares, and aficionados of fine bindings, colophons, and fonts will soak up the details.) Julia also discovers one irony: the freedom she loves depends on money. Without it, her choices are marriage or poverty: the same restrictive options faced by so many of the era’s women.

The standout character, however, is Naomi, a woman with many layers. Would that we could meet her in person, but then there’d be no mystery. Naomi was a devoted suffragist, to her family's dismay, and she may have been in a “Boston marriage” with the colleague, Alice, who shared her dreary basement flat in the family mansion. Naomi had been forced to live there in the first place because of a terrible choice her rich brother forced her into. While it’s possible she killed herself in despair at her circumstances, it wouldn’t be like Naomi to give up. It’s not in Julia’s nature, either.

Benn has a sure hand with sizing up people in words: “Vivian Winterjay stood across the room in a spotlight of wary silence, mustering one of those small, composed smiles meant to carry one through any occasion—the bare-knuckle refuge of impeccable breeding,” she writes of Naomi’s married sister. And the era as well; Julia notes Glennis’s shock at Naomi’s passing as follows: “Six years since death’s long romp across Europe, and still young people everywhere were caught short by its caprice.” The ending offers plenty of revelations in character and plot, and leaves opportunity for the enterprising Julia to appear in future books (hopefully with company, too).

The title of this one is certainly a play on the words “relative” and “fortunes” and just how they relate to each other – with a heaping helping of the corruption of the old saying about where there’s a will, there’s a way – not that that doesn’t also apply.

But in the case of this story, the version of that cliche that I’m thinking of is the one that goes, “where there’s a will, there’s a relative” or even a bunch of relatives, all with their hands out for a piece of the estate – no matter how small.

The beginning of this story involves two different wills in two different families involving two very much alive female legatees. At least until things go completely pear-shaped.

And if you are reading this while female, the number of times that the males in this story control their female siblings’ money and their very lives, supposedly for their own good, will make you grit your teeth and want to scream.

Which doesn’t change the fact that there’s a dead body, an absolutely disgusting coverup, and a desperate need for Julia Kydd to solve the mystery – so she can protect her friend, so that she can wrest some of her own money from her half-brother’s oh-so-protective hands, and so that she can stake out her own claim on independence.

If she can just get past all the men trying to pat her on the head, tell her not to worry her pretty little self and just marry someone already so that she can become some other man’s burden. When all she really wants to do is determine her own life for her own self.

And who can blame her?

Escape Rating B-: This is a story with a lot to unpack in it. Some of which drove me absolutely bonkers.

I was expecting a historical mystery, with the emphasis on the mystery part of that equation. What I got instead was historical fiction, with the emphasis on the history, during which a murder happens to occur and get solved by the heroine.

This is also the first book in a series, and has to carry the weight of the set up of the series, the characters, and all of the worldbuilding to put it properly within its frame – the Roaring 20s in New York City – and mostly among the glitterati.

In the end, although the murder actually takes place before the story opens, the race to solve it doesn’t really kick into gear until ¾ of the way through the book. Discovering that solution is a race to the finish, but the setup is a very slow burn – and I certainly burned right along with Julia.

Julia’s reasons for being in New York, as well as the reason for Naomi Rankin’s death, are very much wrapped up in all of the ways that men can and often do subjugate women, and all the ways that the system of the patriarchy is set up to not merely allow them to do it, but actively encourages them to do so. For the women’s own good, of course.

And that particular theme is a drumbeat over that first ¾ of the book. That things really were that way isn’t up for debate. They were, it was awful, and things aren’t as much better now as we like to think they are. But I got tired of being beaten about the head with those facts over and over and over. As, no doubt, the women subject to them did.

There would have been plenty of other ways to make those same points while still getting on with the mystery, which was itself completely wrapped up in women’s rights and women’s issues. The situation was bad, and the death of Naomi Rankin and the reasons for it offered plenty of opportunities for highlighting just how bad it was without hitting the reader over the head with it at every turn in that long setup.

Particularly as there was so much setup and exposition that the identity of the murderer and at least some of their motives (although not all) became obviously fairly early on.

Your mileage may vary, particularly as the historical detail is excellent. As a reader, I would have been happier with a bit less setup and a bit more mystery. But what I did get was interesting enough that I’ll be back for the next book in the series, Passing Fancies.

Slow to start, but ultimately a compelling mystery! Relative Fortunes by Marlowe Benn is set in the 1920s in New York City. Our main heroine, Julia Kydd, is almost twenty-five, and is embroiled in an inheritance dispute with her half-brother, Philip. Julia and her friend, Glennis, enjoy life on the town, but then Glennis’s older sister, Naomi, is found dead. Was it suicide? Or was it murder? Glennis’s family tries to keep it all hush-hush, but Julia and Glennis search out the truth.
Julia is an interesting heroine. She lives in London and is in New York City for the inheritance issue, and wants to open up her own publishing business. She’s modern and free-spirited, and I mostly enjoyed reading her, as I couldn’t ever pinpoint exactly what she was going to do next. I appreciate this type of unpredictability in mysteries, as usually our heroines are fairly predictable. Not so here and I enjoyed it. However, one thing that did confuse me about Julia was that her interactions with many of the other characters were very flirty, almost sexual. Maybe this was just how I was reading her character, but it seemed like she was flirting with everyone around: married men, women, her friend’s boyfriend, even her brother, and I was so confused. Was it intentional, or did I turn what was meant to be cute and fun into something that felt awkward to read? ‘Cuz she has definite chemistry with her brother. And that was, well, weird to read.
So after we got past that awkward flirting with everyone around, which toned down once we got seriously into the mystery of how did Naomi die, I really got sucked into the mystery. I didn’t see the who/what/why coming at all, and thought it was chillingly disturbing, and also terribly unsatisfying in the conclusion. Unsatisfying in that so-angry-that-this-was-the-way-things-were way, and upset that women’s lives were just not valued at all in this time period.
There’s a lot of feminist thought here, with a big focus on independent women, as Naomi was a vocal supporter of women’s rights and had a secret plan to run for the Senate. With Naomi’s death and Julia’s inheritance dispute, there is a lot here that shows how far we women have come since the 1920s. And how far we still have to go.
I’ll be interested to see where this series takes Julia, as she really was quite intriguing, and the mystery was very well done once we got past all of the initial introductions and setup.

Bottom Line: A new mystery series with promise!

“Relative Fortunes” by Marlowe Benn is a murder mystery novel set in 1920s New York. The book follows Julia Kidd, a young woman in her mid-20s who has arrived in the city to sort out her father’s will and pursue her dreams of being a boutique publisher. In between dealing with her maddening half-brother, she spends her time socialising with her friend Glennis. However, when Glennis’ suffragette sister is found dead, Julia finds herself in the middle of a life-changing wager: prove Naomi’s death was a murder, or forfeit her inheritance.

There were a lot of things I enjoyed about this book. I really liked Benn’s research into some of the things an unmarried woman in her mid-20s would get up to in the Roaring Twenties and some of the barriers she would encounter. I felt that the tension between Julia and her brother Philip was very well done, and the repartee between them was particularly scintillating. I also liked how Julia’s own attitude to the suffragette movement changed throughout the course of the book as she found that her own independence was not something that could be taken for granted.

I think that probably the part about this book I enjoyed the least was the murder mystery. No spoilers of course, but I felt like some of the twists in the story, while exploring some real life issues, felt a little melodramatic. I wasn’t quite sure that the motive fitted the act.

Nevertheless, I understand that this is to be the first of a series, and I would be interested in reading another Julia Kidd novel – if only to find out what happens next.

3.5 Stars Relative Fortunes by Marlowe Benn may have started off slowly for me, but I soon found myself caught up in this cunning murder-mystery set against the roaring twenties in Manhattan.

Relative Fortunes by Marlowe Benn transports the reader to 1924 Manhattan as young, Julia Kydd is preparing to embark on a career in publishing once she inherits. However, all of her dreams are thwarted when her step-brother challenges the terms of their late father’s will. Can a challenge involving the recent death of outspoken suffragist, Naomi Rankin solve Julia’s problem?

A full review will post @ Caffeinated Reviewer on August 1st. I will share link on social media and a review will post on Amazon and Goodreads. Link provided.