Karen Odden
Author of A Dangerous Duet
About the Author
Image credit: Photo credit: Tina Celle
Series
Works by Karen Odden
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
- Education
- New York University (Ph D ∙ English Literature)
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (M.A. English Literature)
Cornell University (B.A., English and Biology) - Occupations
- novelist
college lecturer
media buyer
assistant editor
bartender - Organizations
- Mystery Writers of America
Sisters in Crime (National) and Desert Sleuths (SinC Arizona chapter) - Agent
- HG Literary Agency
- Short biography
- After earning her PhD in English literature at New York University, Karen served as an Associate Lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and as an assistant editor at the academic journal Victorian Literature and Culture. Her essays and chapters have appeared in numerous journals, and she has written introductions for Barnes and Noble’s Classics Series editions of books by Dickens and Trollope. Prior to receiving her Ph.D. in English, she worked as an Editorial Assistant for several publishing companies, as a Media Buyer for Christie’s auction house in New York, and as a bartender at the airport in Rochester. She is a member of Sisters in Crime (National and AZ chapters) and Mystery Writers of America. Her first book, A LADY IN THE SMOKE (Random House, 2015), was a USA Today bestseller, and her second, A DANGEROUS DUET (Harper Collins, 2018) won for best historical fiction at the New Mexico-Arizona book awards. Her third, A TRACE OF DECEIT (Harper Collins, 2019) takes place in the 1870s London art world. Karen currently resides in Scottsdale, Arizona with her husband, her two children, and her ridiculously cute beagle, Rosy.
from http://www.karenodden.com/about-karen...
Members
Reviews
A Dangerous Duet: A Novel by Karen Odden
I really enjoyed this story! Nell moonlights as a "male" piano player at a popular music hall to make money for her hopeful musical education. She soon realizes the hall is connected to an underground crime syndicate. The Big question is, is her boyfriend also a criminal?
This book has all the familiar characters and situations of a Victorian mystery, but it feels completely fresh. Partly this is because the details of the train crash, and its aftermath, and the family relationships, are so compelling. I very much liked the character of Paul, his dedication to his profession of medicine and his reticence in other areas. As a writer of Victorian mysteries (with an emphasis on technology) myself, I admire greatly the craft with which the story played out within the context of an accurate historical setting. I'm very glad to have read it.… (more)
This was such a great historical mystery and police procedural. Taking place in 1878, the story took bits from real events in mid Victorian England and added a cast of rich and compelling characters. I loved all the sides to Inspector Corravan. After a tough start and life with a good family in White Chapel, he has risen to the role of Inspector with England's finest, even as the population at large distrusts many of the Irish. The collision between a pleasure boat that runs up and down the Thames with a collier hauling its' load causes certain disaster, death and gossip as to who is at fault almost immediately. Corravan has to rely on both his team at the Wapping police office and Scotland Yard, along with the rough and tough men from his old neighborhood to draw the case to a close. This is the second book in the series and I hope the catch up with the first before the next one comes out.… (more)
A dedicated and compassionate police inspector unravels a deadly politically-motivated case of historical terrorism.
Under A Veiled Moon is the second book in author Karen Odden's Inspector Corravan Mystery series, and it is a complex and compelling tale. Incorporating fascinating actual incidents from the time period, it is historical mystery fiction at its best and eerily reflects similarities in our current time and society.
The story unfolds from the viewpoint of Michael Corravan, now the acting superintendent of the Wapping River Police. Corravan, an Irishman, diligently sets aside his biases for his culture and people yet still must suffer through society's prejudices, including those of his own supervisors and others working the same case. Thankfully, he has the support of his love interest, novelist Belinda Gale, and his former partner at Scotland Yard, Gorgon Stiles. He and Stiles remain a formidable pair working in tandem on the complicated case. While Belinda doesn't feature heavily in this book, she still has a significant role, with her outsider's perspective, in helping Corravan view his investigation through a different pair of eyes.
The author breathes life into the time period and the London setting, so much so that I could almost smell the odors wafting off the river. I got a fascinatingly distinct impression of what life must have been like for someone like Corravan and his adopted family, the Doyles, and some of it was downright horrifying. Brief glimpses into Belinda's life accentuate the discrepancies in living conditions, treatment, and prospects for the future between the classes, especially for the immigrants.
The plot is complex and absorbing, especially when it appears to be headed in one direction only to veer off into another. Some surprising twists and turns really upped the tension and the feeling of urgency to solve the case. Besides the eye-opening political machinations that Corravan must untangle, there is an utterly personal aspect to this case for him that was heartbreaking and absolutely riveting.
With its dedicated and conflicted police investigator, vivid historical setting, and complex plot, I recommend UNDER A VEILED MOON to mystery readers who enjoy historical mystery fiction with a political basis and tense terroristic threats and readers who enjoyed the first book in the series.
I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author through Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours.… (more)
Under A Veiled Moon is the second book in author Karen Odden's Inspector Corravan Mystery series, and it is a complex and compelling tale. Incorporating fascinating actual incidents from the time period, it is historical mystery fiction at its best and eerily reflects similarities in our current time and society.
The story unfolds from the viewpoint of Michael Corravan, now the acting superintendent of the Wapping River Police. Corravan, an Irishman, diligently sets aside his biases for his culture and people yet still must suffer through society's prejudices, including those of his own supervisors and others working the same case. Thankfully, he has the support of his love interest, novelist Belinda Gale, and his former partner at Scotland Yard, Gorgon Stiles. He and Stiles remain a formidable pair working in tandem on the complicated case. While Belinda doesn't feature heavily in this book, she still has a significant role, with her outsider's perspective, in helping Corravan view his investigation through a different pair of eyes.
The author breathes life into the time period and the London setting, so much so that I could almost smell the odors wafting off the river. I got a fascinatingly distinct impression of what life must have been like for someone like Corravan and his adopted family, the Doyles, and some of it was downright horrifying. Brief glimpses into Belinda's life accentuate the discrepancies in living conditions, treatment, and prospects for the future between the classes, especially for the immigrants.
The plot is complex and absorbing, especially when it appears to be headed in one direction only to veer off into another. Some surprising twists and turns really upped the tension and the feeling of urgency to solve the case. Besides the eye-opening political machinations that Corravan must untangle, there is an utterly personal aspect to this case for him that was heartbreaking and absolutely riveting.
With its dedicated and conflicted police investigator, vivid historical setting, and complex plot, I recommend UNDER A VEILED MOON to mystery readers who enjoy historical mystery fiction with a political basis and tense terroristic threats and readers who enjoyed the first book in the series.
I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author through Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours.… (more)
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- Works
- 5
- Also by
- 1
- Members
- 417
- Popularity
- #58,443
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 64
- ISBNs
- 22
- Languages
- 1
