Barbara’s rating: 5 out of 5
Series: Electra Poole Mysteries #1
Publication Date: 12/23/25
Period: Victorian London
Number of Pages: 269

I’ve long been a fan of this author’s historical romances, so I was delighted to find she has also leaped into historical mysteries. Now, I have become an even bigger fan of her historical mysteries than I am of her historical romances.

This new series features a unique young Victorian woman, Electra Poole, who is gifted (or cursed, she hasn’t decided yet) with psychometry. She has the ability to ‘see’ past events by touching an object or person. To me, her psychic gift seems to be going a bit beyond psychometry, but I don’t have a word for that. 😊 Electra has kept her gift hidden all of her life because her mother had the same gift and was placed into an asylum because of it. However, now that her father has died (he’s the one who committed her mother), she’s beginning to explore her gifts. She has no real control over them yet, but she’s learning.

In order to support herself, Electra has slowly begun to use London’s obsession with mediums, seances, and spiritualists by holding her own version of a séance. She doesn’t claim to be able to contact the dead, but curates the experience toward offering help to find lost things, etc.

Electra has no clue what the invitation to hold a reading for Lady Becknell will lead to, or she might have declined. The whole reading is a very strange encounter in the Becknell household – and it leads to her foreseeing the death of Lady Becknell.

Electra feels deeply regretful that she foresaw the death, but didn’t share it with Lady Becknell. Therefore, she feels driven to help solve the murder even though the Detective Inspector wants her to stay out of his case. DI Gideon Pierce shares a past with Electra, and though they’ve been estranged for several years, he is still drawn to her. Although he doesn’t necessarily believe in or trust her gift, he fully believes in her.

The investigation takes them through the higher echelons of British Aristocracy and leads Electra into danger. The inner workings of the Becknell household are a twisted abyss that will test Gideon and Electra to the end. There are plenty of red herrings, twists, turns, and more suspects than the law allows.

If you enjoy a well-plotted and excellently paced historical mystery, this is the book for you. I’m loving the mystery and the paranormal aspects, and cannot wait to read the second book.