Some monsters are still human.In a magical 1899 San Francisco, the new millennium is quickly approaching. Of course, new inventions happen every day, some wondrous, some mundane while the streets produce a new murder every night.Set against this backdrop a debutante goes missing, and socialite Helena Brandywine takes it upon herself, along with her trusted manservant, to discover what happened.… discover what happened.
Did the woman run afoul of the Tongs in Chinatown? What horrors might she have exposed? Discover this Gilded Age while Helena uncovers her family’s secrets. The good and evil, where danger lurks around every corner. Can Helena Brandywine be prepared for the monsters she will uncover? Come search for the, Pretty Waiter Girls.
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This was a fun setup with a perky heroine-protagonist that has the potential to become a very fun steampunkish mystery series. I am teetering between three and four stars though, and that teeter is what is keeping me from raving in my review… On one hand, it deserves four because I really liked the construct, the setup, and the characters. On the other, only three because frankly the book felt like it needed another serious edit to really maximize its potential. There were a number of places where things stopped and started up again in a slightly different direction or where a seemingly obvious but actually somewhat startling observation/connection/conclusion was made/reached/drawn. They didn’t so much detract from the story as slow me down, and that slowing became more difficult to adjust for over the course of the book. There’s a LOT going on here, and at times it felt like a plot dump, as though the author either had too many ideas for just one book OR was trying to set up things for future books. Both are great “problems” to have because they mean an abundance of possibilities, but they can also distract the reader from the main action and make things confusing and a little unfinished-feeling… Still, I really liked the odd match up of Helena and Doyle – their personalities played well off of each other and there’s just enough mystery behind each to keep me coming back for more.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing my review copy.
An excellent steampunk fantasy mystery novel, ‘Pretty Waiter Girls’ is a captivating story set in San Francisco, 1899, where mystery, magic, science, inventions, petty crime and serial murderers exist uneasily alongside one another.
Helena Brandywine is a charming heroine – young, feisty, smart, good-natured, and keen to rescue others from danger. While she aspires to become like Sherlock Holmes, Helena is more empathetic and less aloof than her hero. The detective, Doyle, and Helena’s companions and employees Sigmund and Lane are all effective foils for her youth and impulsiveness. As they investigate the disappearance of a young socialite and the death of another young woman from very different circumstances, each of the central characters tturn out to be as complex and challenging as the mysteries they seek to solve. This sets up a dynamic between them that is both enjoyable and fascinating.
The narrative is interesting and exciting, and very well constructed. The story is as full of action and adventure as it is of mystery and intrigue. The writing has a positive, adventurous tone that really suits the genre and style of the story and keeps the reader hooked on the action of the story as the mysteries and challenges that face Helena unfold. The mysteries are well constructed, made more fascinating by their relation to questions relating to Helena’s family, and by their apparent connections to the shadowy beings that frequent the city in the dark.
‘Pretty Waiter Girls’ is a most enjoyable read
I read a lot of books. This is one of the first I’ve reviewed.
I really enjoyed it.
Greg Alldredge is a new author for me, but based on his Pretty Waiter Girls: A Helena Brandywine Adventure, I’m promising myself that we will become well acquainted. As the book’s blurb notes, this is a steampunk thriller set in a magical version of 1899 San Francisco, where “new inventions happen every day, some wondrous, some mundane while the streets produce a new murder every night.” This novel truly is, quite simply, wonderful. This tale had just what I wanted and was well written and with a great plot and great cast of characters. Helena Brandywine, the lead here, is perfectly crafted and her supporting cast is also superb. But for the fact that I’m literally dictating this review to my husband from my hospital bed I could go on and on with praises – the book definitely deserves it. Since I can’t do that I will simply note that the book is most definitely one to read, it is easy to highly recommended.