Deryn Lake - The Blind Beak series

Has anybody read any of these books ?  They're set in Georgian (1760s)
London and feature apothecary Jonathan Rawlings and the Blind Beak,
whose name escapes me for now. The two central characters are
authentic, as are a number of the other people in the books.
I've just finished the first I've read in the series - Murder at St
James Palace, and have to say I probably won't be reading any more. 
The period's interesting and the plot is good enough, but the writing
is just too sketchy somehow - lots of lists of (presumably real) inns,
but no convincing descriptions; an 'amazing' evening at a coffee club,
but no account of what was amazing about it, beyond a list of famous
London characters in attendance; sporadic efforts at period
conversation that lurches from exclamations of 'zounds' to modern
usage in the same sentence.
Hard to pin down why Flashman, Michael Pearce and Sharpe get me
involved but this book doesn't.  Be interested to hear any of your
views.

Mike Gooding
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