Beauty and the Clockwork Beast

Starred review from March 14, 2016
Allen (My Fair Gentleman) jumps gracefully on to the supernatural Victorian bandwagon, keeping both the romance and the gore PG-rated in a steampunk setting. Her tale seamlessly combines family politics, ballroom dancing, and romantic swooning with airships, ray guns, and automatons, as well as scientifically verified vampires and werewolves. Lucy Pickett, whose research on ways to counter vampires is a priority for the Botanical Aid Society of London, visits Blackwell Manor to find a remedy for her cousin Kate, who’s usually “healthy as an ox” but has been taken ill since moving there with her new husband, the brother of the Earl of Blackwell. When the ghost of Marie, the late sister of the secretive earl, tries to communicate with Lucy, the earl takes her under his protection and his scrutiny. She’s terrified by the scar across his face and the rumors that he killed both Marie and his young wife, and yet Lucy finds him to be a kind confidant and an appealing suitor. Allen’s imagining of “Beauty and the Beast” as a supernatural period murder mystery is delightful at every turn. Agent: Pam Howell, D4EO.

June 15, 2016
An updated fairy tale in steampunk England mixes old-school gothic and new-school paranormal.This new genre-blending offering by Allen (My Fair Gentleman, 2016, etc.) has a promising start, with heroine Lucy Pickett arriving at suitably menacing Blackwell Manor to figure out what ails her cousin Kate. The latter is newly married to the younger brother of the hero, Lord Miles Blackwell--he of the clockwork heart. During Lucy's arrival, however, the lord of the manor is elsewhere, trying to conceal a secret that a blackmailer has already discovered. Is it proof that suspicions of Miles' Bluebeard tendencies are valid? Are his wife's death and his sister's murder the fault of his beastly self? His return to the manor, along with Lucy's investigation into her cousin's illness, escalates the ongoing mysterious happenings in the gloomy house. While the beast struggles to resist his desire for the beauty, she has to confront ghosts, automatons gone rogue, obnoxious relatives, surly staff, vampires, and Miles' faulty ticker--actual and metaphorical. This roster of problems would tax the hardiest of heroines, but when she starts to wander into darkened spaces and confront all manner of humans, machines, and creatures of the night, the most stalwart reader may develop steampunk-gothic-fairy-tale-paranormal fatigue. The urge to yell "Don't go there!" may also be hard to resist.There is a standard traumatic back story for the titular beast, a soap opera-worthy exhumation scene, and, finally, a dramatic unmasking of the obvious villain, but the story has already run out of steam by then.

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June 1, 2016
Readers new to steampunk as well as fans of the inventive genre will enjoy Allen's (My Fair Gentleman, 2016) tale of gothic steampunk romantic suspense. Lucy travels to Blackwell Manor to learn why her newly married cousin, Kate, is sick, and learns about the surprising deaths of two young women. One was the wife of Lord Miles, and the other his sister. Kate's husband is his brother. Yet Miles is not a murderer but, rather, a werewolf who tries to remain securely within his house or at his hunting lodge. Neatly rendered steampunk details, from the characters' attire to airships and robot servants, add enticing atmosphere to the growing mystery. Lucy is skilled in botany and not only tends to Kate's condition but also to vampire bites acquired during the urgent investigation. Kate then gets worse, and Lucy is visited by the ghost of Miles' dead sister. Lucy and Miles become allies as the danger increases. Allen's keen and enjoyable romance has the smart banter and appeal of Marion Chesney's capers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)