"Why should I continue in the world?"

Not me. Matilda. She spent her whole life thinking she was being cared for by an uncle and therefore had parents of a certain society and it turns out she's an orphan and no one knows who her parents are. Clearly suicide is in order.

Instead she is insisting on leaving the protection of the Marquis for a convent. Honestly, I'm relieved. Maybe it was the forced lack of reading so I need to get into the story again but Matilda has been safe and under protection for long enough.

She has been surrounded by friends, the Marquis staved off the uncle, and she cried a lot because she can't support being a burden or inflicting her society on them when she isn't worthy of it.

But whatever her stupid reasons for doing it, getting out of the safety and protection of the Marquis is a good thing for the story. Not enough evil and screaming. Though there has been some fainting due to the mortification of being an orphan with no known family among the gentry.

Fainting fit count: 3

"I laid my hand upon her heart. It was pulseless as a stone."

Hi. As usual, weekends are the most busy for me.

But I'm back and reading. And....

Ohmygod! Ohmygod! Ohmygod!

The one witness, the girl who has been missing for weeks, just as they find her, is now dead. And she burned all the papers that would be useful! Everything has hinged on this girl and now....

At least Gryce is back from his rheumatism. I can't come up with any more amusing ways to tell you how stupid I find this narrator.

"that is because you are a gentleman. Well, it has its disadvantages"

I like Gryce. He's devious and practical. I don't like the narrator, Mr. Raymond. He needs to be hit over the head many times.

 He refuses to do "ungentlemanly" things that will actually solve the case, like looking at addresses on personal letters or listening to private conversations. Gentleman seems to be synonymous with Willfully Stupid.

Like this conversation (partly paraphrased and edited for space)
Gryce--The murderer may be one of the women.
Raymond-- I cannot listen to it; it is too horrible.
Gryce-- Women murder people too. Read the criminal records.
Raymond--I do not care for the criminal records. All the criminal records in the world would not make me believe.

I'm waiting for later in the book where he says global warming has nothing to do with the carbon dioxide we are dumping into the atmosphere and that the world was created by intelligent design. Because reality is ungentlemanly.

"'For the most unselfish of reasons,' I urged. She slowly shook her head. 'You think so.'"

And Bam! Eleanor just told it to the guy trying to be the knight in shining armor! Woo!

Of course he doesn't listen, which is good, since then we wouldn't have a story. Also, she is being REALLY STUPID. Yeah. So the girl has secrets. And at the inquest and to the detectives she seems to purposely act weird. Then she is surprised when she is accused of murder. Not just surprised, but offended that her acting suspiciously would then make people suspicious of her.

So to prove to the narrator that she is innocent without having to divulge the Terrible Secrets, she takes him up to the room where the corpse has been laid out for the past 2 days and climbs all over it and kisses it, because how could she do that if she had killed him?

My question is: HOW COULD SHE DO THAT AT ALL?!?
He's been dead for 2 days! Do you know what that looks like?
Me neither. So I looked it up.

• After 24 hours:
• 15} The body is now the temperature of the surrounding environment
  16} In males, the semen dies
  17} The head and neck are now a greenish-blue color
  18} The greenish-blue color continues to spread to the rest of the body
  19} There is the strong smell of rotting meat
  20} The face of the person is essentially no longer recognizable

• After 3 days:
• 21} The gases in the body tissues form large blisters on the skin
  22} The whole body begins to bloat and swell grotesquely. This process is speeded up if victim is in a hot environment, or in water
  23} Fluids leak from the mouth, nose, eyes, ears and rectum and urinary opening

SHE KISSES THIS? EW! EW! EW!

I don't know if she is or is not the murderer, but I know she is really sick. And stupid.

                        And I'm going to go be ill now.

                                                  And keep reading.

"where her last interview with Valencourt, before her departure from Tholouse, had taken place"

Which is interesting because on exactly another spot they said goodbye too. She's back at her late aunt's mansion and is mooning around thinking of Valencourt.

The book has gotten really exciting in volume 4 and I'm reading as fast as I can and then we come to full stop as she wanders gardens and weeps over the many places she saw him. I just want to yell, 'Shut up and get back to the cool shit!' Like where Ludovico disappeared to when he spent the night in the haunted chamber! Or what sainted St. Aubert had to do with the mysteriously dead marchioness! Or wtf is up with the crazy nun! Pleeeeeeeeease!

"the successful villainy of Montoni"

He made her sign away her property!!! Oh no!!

Montoni promised if she signed she could leave the castle. Of course he lied and keeps her a prisoner. Not surprising since he promised her to one of the bandits to settle his gambling debts.

Fainting fit count: 10

"was the corpse of a man..."

.....that Emily mistook to be her aunt.

Yeah. Somehow young man and middle-aged woman are easy to mix up. (Didn't the clothing give it away?)

Ghosts, vampires, convenient inheritances, all these I can suspend disbelief for. But a heroine who can't figure out male from female?!