Sausages, Steam, And The Bad Thing: A Penny Dreadful Review
The queen
of intriguing titles has done it again. Rachael Acks, author of the delightful
Marta Ramos mysteries, released a collected compendium of her novellas with
Musa Publishing. But Miss Merriweather, you say, I already have all her books.
Why should I buy them again? For the extras, my readers, the extras. This is so
much more than a simple collection.
Sausages, Steam, and the Bad Thing features
bonus material to accompany each of the novellas, in addition to brand new stories. Fans will get an exclusive look into the world of Captain Ramos and
Colonel Douglas through newspaper clippings, recipes, and
more. Much of the bonus material focuses on secondary characters and What
Happened Next after Captain Ramos waltzed out of their lives, mysteries solved.
I especially adore the brief interlude from the point of view of Chippy the
Exceedingly Tiny Dog entitled “Sniff, Sniff. Adventure!”
A new
story, “The Jade Tiger,” involves a daring train robbery and the liberation of
a young girl. It offers a quick glimpse into Captain Ramos’s past, a subject on
which she is all but mute. It also introduces us to a new
character, the fierce, clever mother Madam Xing, who I hope we will see again.
I give this
compilation five gears out of five, and highly recommend it to any fan of
intrigue and swashbuckling. I am madly in love with Captain Ramos and her
strange world, and I delight in her quirky adventures.
Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,
Penny J. Merriweather
