A Murder in Time by Julie McElwain

I really wanted to adore Julie McElwain’s debut book, A Murder in Time, which I bought myself, but I’m now left wondering why there’s been so much excitement about it in the media, why its average Amazon and Goodreads ratings are so high, and why it was the most recent Big Library Read. One of the books released in April 2016 that drew my attention was this one, the first in a planned Kendra Donovan mysteries series. After some of the more intense fiction books I’ve lately been reading, this one sounded like a pleasant read: gorgeous cover art, badass female lead, murder, mystery, and time travel. I expected a literary challenge rather than entertainment, so I’m still left feeling let down.

I had trouble connecting with the main character, FBI agent Kendra Donovan, right away. Being a social outsider on purpose does not exempt one from the need for believable character growth in one’s “own time.” Although the section of the book that was set 200 hundred years ago was much more engaging (since McElwain introduced a cast of colourful characters, albeit still pretty one-dimensional), problems with realism and character consistency grew to a point where they could not be ignored. The idea behind A Murder in Time has definite promise, but the execution fell short.

The conclusion of A Murder in Time and the anticipatory series naming both suggest a continuation. I genuinely hope that the next instalment of the Kendra Donovan Mysteries will receive more editorial attention and that the publishing agreement will enable time for adjustments that could result in a more complex and potent book. Time travel novels can need readers to suspend disbelief in some ways, but good writing and character development don’t have to suffer as a result. In addition to the well-known The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, I personally suggest Connie Willis’ To Say Nothing of the Dog and April White’s young adult novel Marking Time as excellent examples of the genre.

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About The Book

Kendra Donovan, a talented FBI agent, accidentally travels back in time and finds herself in a 19th-century English castle under attack from a brutal serial killer. Since this is 200 years before her own birth, she races to solve the case before it claims her life. Kendra Donovan is a rising star at the FBI who is also stunning and intelligent. But a tragic raid when half her team is killed, an FBI mole is discovered, and she herself is seriously hurt puts a speed bump in her career aspirations. As soon as she is healed, she goes rouge and heads to England to kill the person who killed her teammates.

Kendra runs away from an unexpected assassin while seeking refuge in a stairwell, but when she emerges, she is in the same location—Aldrich Castle—but in a different era—specifically, 1815. Kendra is forced to swiftly acclimate to the time period until she can figure out how she got there and, more crucially, how to return back home after being mistaken for a lady’s maid hired to help with weekend guests. However, she begins to believe there is a reason for her peculiar circumstances after a young girl’s death is discovered on the expansive grounds of the county house. Kendra is left without her equipment from the twenty-first century and must rely solely on her wits to identify a cunning maniac.