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The Carmichael Casebook #1
Sleeping Beauties: The Case of the Worn-Out Dancing Shoes
In this retelling of "The Worn-Out Dancing Shoes," Agatha Christie meets the Brothers Grimm when young detective Daniel Carmichael and his wife Lorelei investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding a college for young ladies. As they try to discover how a group of students go out dancing every night, the Carmichaels find themselves entangled in a mystery reeking of dark magic.
167 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 25, 2016
Ever found $10 in your coat pocket from last winter? And you're ridiculously surprised and pleased. Such were my feelings on reading Sarah Wallace's debut novella, Sleeping Beauties: The Case of the Worn-Out Dancing Shoes. I enjoyed it immensely.
Wallace's retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, set in a 1920s London where magic is a commonplace academic subject, has a wonderful Nick-and-Nora feel to it; and that is part of its charm for me, since we have very few fairy tale retellings in the mystery genre. Daniel Carmichael wants a job and to get one, he agrees to investigate an ongoing mystery at a women's college: Eleven women who share a dorm room are dancing their shoes to bits each night, but no one knows where they go or how they get out. Worse, no one can stop them, including the three magical detectives who preceded Daniel, all of whom have vanished. But Daniel has an edge his colleagues lacked: His wife Lorelei, who volunteers to pose as a college student in order to become the twelfth "princess."
The author had to strain to make her setting and characters fit the canonical fairy tale, and including "sleeping beauties" in the title rather muddied the waters, as I kept expecting the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale to figure in the story somehow. Also, it did cross my mind that a couple of the supporting players--a professor of magic and the school's headmistress--proved so capable at the story's climax that they probably could have handled the situation themselves, had Wallace's plot not called for them to give way to the Carmichaels. But these quibbles in no way detracted from my huge enjoyment of the story.
Wallace's writing is capable and assured; one of her phrases, describing a grand exit by an officious character, was so perfectly crafted that it stuck with me after I finished the book: "...he marched out of the building in a billow of self-importance." Delicious. But what I loved most about the book was how Daniel and Lorelei worked separately, but equally. Lorelei, though inexperienced in both magic and detection, proves to be as brave and capable as her husband, and the romance between them is just sweet. I hope we hear more of their backstory in future books.
I can't find much information online about Sarah Wallace, as this is her first book--but she does state in an afterword that she has two more books in progress. I do hope she's a fast writer, as I'm longing to solve another mystery with Daniel and Lorelei.
Wallace's retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, set in a 1920s London where magic is a commonplace academic subject, has a wonderful Nick-and-Nora feel to it; and that is part of its charm for me, since we have very few fairy tale retellings in the mystery genre. Daniel Carmichael wants a job and to get one, he agrees to investigate an ongoing mystery at a women's college: Eleven women who share a dorm room are dancing their shoes to bits each night, but no one knows where they go or how they get out. Worse, no one can stop them, including the three magical detectives who preceded Daniel, all of whom have vanished. But Daniel has an edge his colleagues lacked: His wife Lorelei, who volunteers to pose as a college student in order to become the twelfth "princess."
The author had to strain to make her setting and characters fit the canonical fairy tale, and including "sleeping beauties" in the title rather muddied the waters, as I kept expecting the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale to figure in the story somehow. Also, it did cross my mind that a couple of the supporting players--a professor of magic and the school's headmistress--proved so capable at the story's climax that they probably could have handled the situation themselves, had Wallace's plot not called for them to give way to the Carmichaels. But these quibbles in no way detracted from my huge enjoyment of the story.
Wallace's writing is capable and assured; one of her phrases, describing a grand exit by an officious character, was so perfectly crafted that it stuck with me after I finished the book: "...he marched out of the building in a billow of self-importance." Delicious. But what I loved most about the book was how Daniel and Lorelei worked separately, but equally. Lorelei, though inexperienced in both magic and detection, proves to be as brave and capable as her husband, and the romance between them is just sweet. I hope we hear more of their backstory in future books.
I can't find much information online about Sarah Wallace, as this is her first book--but she does state in an afterword that she has two more books in progress. I do hope she's a fast writer, as I'm longing to solve another mystery with Daniel and Lorelei.
November 21, 2013
Beautiful! Incredibly compelling and wonderfully easy to read... great for teenagers & adults! Wallace mixes fairytale & drawing-room mystery incredibly well, her characters are believable, and she handles the plot twists with ease. Highly recommended!
August 15, 2022
Mystery, magic, lovely characters and a great plot!
I bought Sleeping Beauties after I read Letters to Half Moon Street (and LOVED it) and I am so glad I did. I usually like detectives and fairy tale retellings, so the two combined made it even more perfect. The writing style was great and so was the plot, but the best of it all (yes, even better than the magic) were the characters. Whenever I read about m/f relationships, it often annoys me that either the woman is a helpless damsel in distress and the man is a perfect knight (or worse, horrible to her), or the woman is a total badass but the man is… well, not that. I want to read about two people who have an equal relationship and want to be together instead of needing to be together (because ‘they couldn’t possibly survive on their own’). The Carmichaels absolutely have that kind of relationship, and I love it.
If you love that as well and are into detectives, magic and fairy tale retellings, you should 100% check it out! Highly recommended!
I bought Sleeping Beauties after I read Letters to Half Moon Street (and LOVED it) and I am so glad I did. I usually like detectives and fairy tale retellings, so the two combined made it even more perfect. The writing style was great and so was the plot, but the best of it all (yes, even better than the magic) were the characters. Whenever I read about m/f relationships, it often annoys me that either the woman is a helpless damsel in distress and the man is a perfect knight (or worse, horrible to her), or the woman is a total badass but the man is… well, not that. I want to read about two people who have an equal relationship and want to be together instead of needing to be together (because ‘they couldn’t possibly survive on their own’). The Carmichaels absolutely have that kind of relationship, and I love it.
If you love that as well and are into detectives, magic and fairy tale retellings, you should 100% check it out! Highly recommended!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews