The London Séance Society: A Novel

Paris 1873. Vaudeline D’Allaire, a noted spiritualist who specializes in contacting those who met violent ends and bringing their murderers to light, is conducting a séance just outside of town. Besides the grieving family, her understudy, Lenna Wilkes, is also in attendance. Though truth be told, she is more of a skeptic than a believer and has apprenticed to D’Allaire to find the killer of her own sister, Evie, who was also a former understudy. Soon Lenna and Vaudeline are called back to London to help find the murderer of the president of the London Séance Society who, coincidently, like Evie, died on All Hallows Eve.

I was very excited to read The London Séance Society by Sarah Penner, having enjoyed her debut novel The Lost Apothecary immensely. However, I was disappointed. The concept seemed promising, but unfortunately, the author never quite managed to keep my interest. None of her characters were fleshed out enough to garner any real investment, the plot fizzled out midway through the book, and sadly, though Penner is wonderful with settings, that alone could not carry the novel. The author has a lot of talent, and I look forward to reading more from her, however, this is not a book for my “read again” shelf.