Welcome to Mystery Books Podcast, where you'll discover new mystery books and authors. I'm USA Today bestselling mystery author Sarah Rosette. I'm also a bookworm who specializes in the mystery genre. I love sharing my favorite mystery discoveries, from classic Golden Age novels to contemporary cozies. This is Season two, Episode three, and it's all about A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver. A Peculiar Combination was published in 2021, and it's book one of the Electra McDonnell series.
Here's the blurb. Electra McDonnell has always known that the way she and her family earn their living is slightly outside of the law. Breaking into the homes of the rich and picking the locks on their safes may not be condoned by British law enforcement, but World War II is in full swing and Uncle Mick's more honorable business as a locksmith can't pay the bills any more.
So when Uncle Mick receives a tip about a safe full of jewels in the empty house of a wealthy family, he and Ellie can’t resist. All goes as planned—until the pair are caught redhanded.
Ellie expects them to be taken straight to prison, but instead they are delivered to a large townhouse, where government official Major Ramsey is waiting with an offer:
And I'm going to stop there. There's more to this blurb, but I figure that is already giving you a taste of the book, and I don't want to give away too much. What happens in the first chapter is basically what we talked about. So I don't think I've spoiled any major thing for you here, because everything that's covered in this blurb, it happens very early in the book.
The first line is, "We were going to get caught." So Ellie has some premonitions that the night may not go well.
All right, so the themes of A Peculiar Combination: This is a very interesting book. It's got a lot of themes about Duty and Service and Loyalty to Country.
And in the middle of World War II, things are not looking great for the Allies and for England at this point. And there is a need for everyone to do their part to defeat the enemy. But that is in conflict with Ellie's desire to thumb her nose at authority, at the very least. At the very most, she has a desire for revenge, and that's part of her backstory. And I won't say anything else about that. Just to let you know that her name Electra from Greek mythology gives you a hint of what's going on. We'll just leave it at this. We'll say she has some very deep issues with the British government and what her obligation is to that government after the way it has treated her family. So I can't say much more there. So we will move on to tropes.
This book is a new spin on one of my favorite tropes, which is The Gentleman Thief. And there's a long tradition of books with the gentleman thieves who get involved in mysteries. And this is the new spin on it. You have a woman in the role of the thief, so you have a gentle woman instead of a gentleman. And this is one type of book that I always enjoy. So I was happy to see this book and came out fairly recently, just a couple of months ago, and I thoroughly enjoyed all of the thief/heist aspects of it.
That's another trope in this book. It's a Heist Story. And heist books are tricky, especially for mysteries. You have to have some reason for your protagonist to be doing what they're doing, or I should say, some redeeming reason. It shouldn't be just for their own material gain. If you really want the audience to root for them, there has to be some other reason. So in this book, the reason for the heist is for the defense of the country. And that's quite a good reason to be breaking and entering and picking locks. That's a new one too. I haven't seen that one either. So there's some new elements in this book, and I think that's why I enjoyed it so much. It takes some familiar things and puts a new twist on them.
Another trope in this book is Forced Companionship. Ellie works with Major Ramsey to complete these heists, and that's a fun trope because you've got them working together to do the breaking entering, and then you've also got them working together to go to a party.
And that is another trope that readers enjoy. It's Cinderella Going to the Ball. And the fun part about that is that Major Ramsey is cast in the role both of fairy Godmother and Prince Charming, because he provides the ball gown for Ellie to wear to this fancy party, and then he's also her date. So that is a fun and entertaining aspect of this book.
Another trope in this is the trope of Opposites Attract. And so you've got Ellie who is extremely hot tempered and very determined in what she's going to do, and her emotions are very near the surface. Major Ramsey is almost cold; he's described as cold many times and very controlled and very restrained. So that's an interesting dynamic there. And then you've got Ellie who resents authority and Ramsey who is authority. And Ellie's a law breaker, and Ramsey is one upholding the law. So there's a lot of extremes, and it's interesting to see them interact together. And I think readers enjoy the clashing of the opposites.
And then we have one other trope that I'll mention here. There's others, but I'll just stop with this one: a potential Love Triangle. Because no one becomes involved in a romantic relationship in this book. But there's potential for Ellie to become involved with Major Ramsey and also with a childhood friend of the family named Felix who is back from the war; he's injured. And they've always had a very close relationship, friendship, and it may transition into a romantic relationship. But we only get hints of both of those things in this book.
So I would recommend this book for anyone who likes Gentlemen Sleuth type stories or Renegade Sleuths about protagonists who operate kind of in the gray areas. There's some moral questions that Ellie is wrestling with. And so if you enjoy that, this would be your type of book. And of course, if you enjoy a World War II setting, which is very popular right now. So if you like any of those things, you'll probably enjoy A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver.
All right. So here's the quote to end with. And this is Ellie; we're inside her head when she says: "There are a lot of things that go through a girl's mind when she's arrested."
So my question for you is, do you like thief heist stories or subplots that have this type of storyline? It's one of my favorite subgenres. It's most popular to some other genres of mystery. So I'm always looking for recommendations. If you have any, I'd love to hear them.
You can find me on Instagram at @SaraRosett. That's no H on Sara and no E on Rosett. Or you can leave a comment on the show notes for this episode, which will be at sararosett.com/combination. I hope this podcast has let you revisit a favorite book or perhaps helped you discover a new author to try. If you’ve enjoyed the podcast, I hope you'll tell a fellow mystery reader. Thanks for listening and see you next time!
