The Black Midnight is the latest in the True Colors series which features true crimes in history. By using two timelines that follow two similar murder sprees, Y’Barbo explores the possibility that the unsolved cases may be connected, even if they’re a continent apart.
Book Blurb
Three years before Jack the Ripper began his murderous spree on the streets of London, women were dying in their beds as The Midnight Assassin terrorized the citizens of Austin, Texas. Now, with suspicion falling on Her Majesty’s family and Scotland Yard at a loss as to who the Ripper might be, Queen Victoria summons her great-granddaughter, Alice Anne von Wettin, a former Pinkerton agent who worked the unsolved Austin case, and orders her to discreetly form a team to look into the London matter.
The prospect of a second chance to work with Annie just might entice Isaiah Joplin out of his comfortable life as an Austin lawyer. If his theories are right, they’ll find the The Midnight Assassin and, by default, the Ripper. If they’re wrong, he and Annie are in a bigger mess than the one the feisty female left behind when she departed Austin under cover of darkness three years ago.
Can the unlikely pair find the truth of who is behind the murders before they are drawn into the killer’s deadly game? From Texas to London, the story navigates the fine line between truth and fiction as Annie and Isaiah ultimately find the hunters have become the hunted.
My Thoughts
The story begins in 1889, then goes back four years in the third chapter. At first, this jump backward confused me. But when the time jumped forward again, I began to realize why Y’Barbo chose this. She drops hints about the main characters in the first two chapters, and by taking you back in time, you see what actually happened between them. This isn’t just smart from a romance perspective but a mystery perspective as well.
While I wasn’t completely sold on the dialogue, I was sold on the characters. Stories about female Pinkerton agents are not new. But English ones? That’s an idea that’s fresh and intriguing. I enjoyed watching Annie and Isaiah work together. They’re a wonderfully matched couple on the page, and their relationship shined from the beginning.
As I mentioned before, though, the dialogue lost me at times. While Annie had the ability to be witty, and Isaiah could equally counter her, that didn’t always come through.
My only other complaint was that the ending felt a bit rushed. Not that it doesn’t wrap up the romance and the mystery. But I think more time could have been spent on the resolution.
Overall, The Black Midnight is a good novel that romance lovers and suspense readers alike will enjoy. To grab your own copy, click the book image to buy it from bookshop.org. Or you can go to your favorite book retailer.
If you’re interested in the True Colors series, you can check out my reviews for The Blue Cloak, The Gray Chamber, and The Green Dress. You can also check out the True Colors website to see all the books in the series.
(Note: I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.)
