Had to read this for a summer class while studying abroad in London, and am disappointed in the amount of time I gave up while on this trip to read it.
Bad Penny Blues tries to write a historical fiction narrative about the Jack the Stripper murders in London in the late 1950s and 60s, but pays no care to the actual victims — rather, they act as pawns to advance the stories of literally everyone else.
There’s a million characters and you won’t care about any of them but Jenny, who is killed off at the end for no real reason other than shock value I guess? Really could not tell you why.
The Pete chapters are so boring they made me fall asleep, and Stella’s, while enjoyable, seem to have no real purpose in connection to the murders — it seems like the author wanted to write a story about 60s fashion and threw it in here to accomplish that with the murders in one book. Her powers have no actual consequence and don’t help her or the police to solve the murder.
Overall, seems very exploitative of the lives of the murdered women and does not pay them any care or respect. It felt gross reading this, with these women resting on my conscience, and I wish that we had focused on them and the worth of their lives rather than their horrific deaths and that being all.