HOL

We'll be discussing chapters 13 through 19 of The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow in this thread.

It's been alluded to throughout the book that the story is set in Edwardian London, and Sinclair's along with the fascination around it is reminiscent of the early days when Selfridges first opened its doors. When reading historical fiction, what do you tend to look for: learning specifics about the period or do you like just enough detail to make for an interesting setting?

In more recent history, it is good practice to avoid spoiling elements of a story for others, so please use spoiler tags where needed.

This was a fun part of the book, when the clues started coming in fast and furious, with some more character development happening. Who is this McDermott person? I was starting to suspect a couple of people of being more (or less) than they appear to be?

It's sort of fun to read of the London of that time. It's an oddly relaxed period, before the madness of instant communications. I'm very happy that the fashions in place then stayed then! There are some gaps, things I wondered about, which could have used more information, but then I realize that there is a certain pace the writer is maintaining and no, I don't have to know about that in order to enjoy the story.