38. 
Title: Broadmoor Revealed
Author: Mark Stevens
Pages: 107 pages
Genre: Nonfiction
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition: Free Amazon Download
Date Completed: May 3, 2012
Rating: ***

As one could deduce from the page count, Mark Stevens' Broadmoor Revealed: Victorian Crime and the Lunatic Asylum is only a brief glimpse into one of England's Victorian-era asylums.  Idyllic in setting and home to as many sane criminals as deranged artists, Broadmoor is an interesting subject for study, but by no means unique.  Although a number of crimes are discussed in relation to the patients, what I found most interesting were the details of the escapes attempts, and how the Board responded - or failed to, as was frequently the case.  Although I would have preferred greater depth, Broadmoor Revealed is a nice snack for those interested in Victorian crime or mental institutions. 

39. 
Title: Death Comes to Pemberley
Author: P. D. James
Pages: 220 pages
Genre: Mystery
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition: Library Ebook
Date Completed: May 4, 2012
Rating: *

Death Comes to Pemberley is trite and wooden.  The plot itself is lost in the pedantic text, which lectures as opposed to narrates. James uses dialog to introduce every detail, which leads to cumbersome and often ridiculous conversations, in which Character A reminds Character B that they met the good Doctor five years ago at that dinner party, and that the Doctor now suffers from gout and enjoys a comfortable estate, but went on that dreadful trip last year and is now nursing a sore hip and oh yes is not married and has no intention of seeking matrimony; he'll be here within the hour.  Oh yes, and candlelight merely enhances the darkness and gloom, and Darcy wonders, generally speaking.

Anyone with any knowledge - even passing - of Austen and/or the long nineteenth century will be better off avoid this cumbersome narrative.