Sudden Clanging Noises From the String Section

 Ohio Jake pushed open the doors of the Deadwood saloon and stepped inside.  The buzz of conversation ceased at once and all eyes turned to face the stranger.  He'd never been in Deadwood before, but they knew him all the same.  His face graced - if that was the word - a dozen posters advertising a reward for his capture.   No one spoke as he walked toward the bar, the pianist stopped playing.   The poker players forgot their games and, significantly, made no move toward their revolvers which lay atop the gaming table.

They knew his reputation.  The toughest gunman Ohio had ever produced.   His reputation spoke of train-robberies, bank-robberies, the gunning down of helpless bystanders.   And now he was here, in Deadwood.

"Earl grey if you please," he snarled at the barman who hastened to obey, jingling the china cup and saucer together in his nervous haste.

"Ohio Jake?" came a challenging voice from behind the stranger, "What the deuce are you doing in my town, you absolute cad, you?"

Jake turned to face the speaker, a hard-faced old veteran with a sheriff's star pinned to his kimono.

"You must be Sheriff Booblywibblyblobs," he sneered

"That's me," said the lawman, "And I want you on the next ship out of my town.   There's a liner for Austria leaving at dawn.  Be on it."

*

All of which is my long-winded way of saying I am really trying to love "Soulless" by Gail Carriger.  It came highly recommended by a couple of friends and I ordered it with glee.   There are things I like a lot about it, and in the spirit of not being negative I will save the good points till last so that I can end this interim-review on a positive note.

The book is a rather splendid fantasy set in Victorian London, but with the addition of a cast of interesting supernatural characters.   I love the setting, the characters are amusingly written and interesting, and the concept is engaging...

But the all too frequent anachronistic Americanisms jar me out of the setting on a regular basis.   And that annoys me because I love the rest of it.

My thoughts after the first three chapters.

We eat jam on toast, not jelly.

We do not hit people "upside the head" (I can't even parse the grammar of that one, but I know it's a common American phrase)

English peers of the realm, werewolf or not, do not say "Gee.."   Ever.

Dukes tend to be named after their Estates.   Hematol sounds like a pile medicine not a place.

And... astonishingly... sending someone to investigate Canterbury because it is a port city, on the coast, with "blood whores" down by the docks... It made me doubt my sanity and I actually went to Google to check my recollections (an act, Miss Carriger, which took less than 30 seconds).    Canterbury is not on the coast.   At all.   Never has been.

There are others but these are the ones that made me wince.   And I honestly did not want to wince.   There is so much to love about the book, the setting and the characters.  I love the concept of a mixed human/supernatural society that avoids the usual cliches.   I love the "gaslight" setting, and the prim drawing room conversations.   The heroine Alexia is tremendous and she has a deadly parasol, appropriate curves, and a fondness for desserts that is refreshing in a heroine.    Which just makes it more annoying because if it wasn't for the imbecile dwarf clanging iron bars together while the violin section is playing I'd really be enjoying the music.