The Club Dumas

A bibliophile mystery sounded to me like a great read. Between my love of reading, the theme surrounding classic serials and a good old fashioned whodunit I had visions of atmospheric academia oozing old book smell with rainy streets and quaint bookstores. But I don't think The Dumas Club quite lived up to my expectations. Although I did mostly enjoy the story and it did manage that atmosphere in spades, I wasn't quite as taken with it as I had expected.
It was not a bad book and was enjoyable enough, but I don't think it really captured me enough to garner higher praise. Part of it may have been the over abundance of female characters reduced to long passages of physical traits rather than personalities. While I don't mind a bit of physical attraction references, it felt sometimes almost derogatory in this book. Not a single female character was more than a pair of legs, thighs, breasts or open lips and all of them apparently were attractive and knew it. I got tired of the constant descriptions in this manor. Also, the love interest just appears mysteriously and just as mysteriously is in love with the protagonist Corso and is never really resolved why or matures beyond a single sexual encounter and her following him around like a lost puppy.
The mystery itself was also just okay. I don't think it blew my mind or really had me chomping at the bit to know what was going to happen next. It is tied up at the end, but will probably depend on the reader whether they think it is satisfactory or not. I wasn't blown away. Other than Corso, we don't get a chance to get to know many of the other characters, so they remain aloof for most of the story, which is perhaps intended, but I would have rather known more about them and their motivations as it could have fleshed out the mystery a lot more.
Overall, I felt it was an okay read, but nothing super special. It has a lot of potential, but just doesn't manage to make a huge impression.