Category: Historical Mystery

The Secret of Bow Lane by Jennifer Ashley

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The Secret of Bow Lane (A Below Stairs Mystery #6)Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Series: Kat Holloway Mysteries #6
Publication Date: 8/2/22
Period: 1882 – Victorian London
Number of Pages: 304

I think this is my favorite book in the series so far. So, as I sit here tired and bleary-eyed from reading all night, I’ll try to do it justice in my review. Yes, I was up all night reading because I just couldn’t put it down. It was so interesting and exciting and poignant I couldn’t flip the pages fast enough. The characters are as wonderful as ever and the great thing about this book is that we learn more about both Kat and Daniel – but mostly Kat. I think we’ve learned most of Kat’s background now, but I think we have more to learn of Daniel – and I can hardly wait.

Just after breakfast on a lovely Wednesday morning, Elsie, the scullery maid, sticks her head into the kitchen to tell Mrs. Holloway that a woman wants to see her – and the woman is waiting up on the street. Kat considers and then decides to go speak with the woman. Kat was totally shocked when she determined who the woman was. It was Charlotte Bristow – the first wife of Kat’s deceased husband. (As we know from earlier books, Kat’s husband was a bigamist who left her with child when he died at sea.)

Charlotte has quite a tale to tell Kat and begrudgingly asks for her help. Charlotte has information that their bigamist husband did NOT die when his ship sank – he returned to London where he was murdered for a fortune he had accumulated. Charlotte offers to share the fortune with Kat if she will investigate and find the money. At first, Kat doesn’t want any part of anything to do with the man who made a fool of her and left her with a fatherless child. However, being Kat, she couldn’t let a mystery go unsolved.

All of Kat’s friends, above and below stairs, rally around her and start digging into the mystery of what really happened to Joe Bristow. How could a ne’er-do-well sailor come into a fortune? How did he die? Why did he die? Since this all took place twelve years ago, witnesses may have died, moved, or just not remember, so the investigation will be slow going.

Kat ends up revisiting the neighborhood in which she grew up and where she lived as Joe’s wife. She took her daughter, Grace, with her on several visits in order to share her past – at least to a degree. Someday, she’s going to have to share the whole story with Grace – but not today.

Things begin to pop with information coming in from all over and the results are mind-blowing. Could Joe have managed to master-mind that convoluted plot? Surely not? What happened to the fortune? Will Kat actually get any of it to make her life and Grace’s easier?

I can highly recommend this book – and this series. I honestly think you should read the entire series in order (no, you don’t have to) so you can see the growth in the relationships that are so evident in this book. The plot is excellent, the ends are cleaned up, the bad guys are properly dealt with, and maybe, just maybe, we see a bit of a step forward in the relationship between Kat and Daniel. WOW!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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The Pursuit of Mrs. Pennyworth by Callie Hutton

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The Pursuit of Mrs. PennyworthBarbara’s rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Series: A Victorian Romantic Suspense #1
Publication Date: Current 7/15/22 – First 3/28/18
Period: Victorian London
Number of Pages: 322

With the growing popularity of Romantic Suspense/Mysteries, Callie Hutton decided she’d try her hand at writing in that genre. Goodness, I am sure glad she did and I hope she continues with it as it is one of my favorites. Some intuition usually has me identifying the villain almost as soon as they grace the page – but it took me close to fifty percent of the book before the villain dawned on me this time. Even then I wasn’t sure. So – well done in the mystery department! Then, as for the romance side of the story – goodness – there was tension from the first of the story and it continued through the entire steamy story. But it was more than just the steam – we also got to see the characters come to know each other and care for each other, even though neither wanted a romance.

Mrs. Charlotte Pennyworth is just coming out of mourning for her husband, Gabriel. They were only married about a month before he was killed in a reckless racing accident. She has come to understand that men cannot be trusted or relied upon. The son of her former employer tried to coerce her into becoming his mistress by threatening her with bringing false charges of theft against her. He was powerful and devious enough to make those stick too. Rather than submit, she packed her belongings and stole away even though she knew he’d still go forward with his false accusations. Then, a few months after arriving in London she met and married Gabriel who promptly died because of his recklessness. No, men cannot be counted upon because the ones who should have protected her did not. Now, as a comfortably-off widow, she has the freedom and independence to live her life as she wants. Or she did until things, some of them horrible, began to be left upon her doorstep. Scotland Yard didn’t have time to deal with it because all of its manpower was focused on Jack-the-Ripper. They suggested she hire Elliot Baker as a private investigator to solve the mystery.

Elliot Baker, private investigator, solicitor, and former inspector at Scotland Yard absolutely does not trust women. He left his career at Scotland Yard under a cloud because of being played false by a woman. He fell for her whole scam hook-line-and-sinker and it caused the permanent injury of a young officer who had a wife and two children. No, he’ll never, ever, trust another woman. He’s shocked when a woman walks into his office without an appointment and asks him to take on a case for her – his clients are always men. He absolutely does not trust her or her story and is sure she has some scheme going. Reluctantly, he ends up taking the case. Still, he doesn’t trust her – and he never will – but maybe he can unearth her scheme and thwart it.

Elliot is surprised by the things that are left on Charlotte’s doorstep and is determined to ferret out the villain. Things get scarier and scarier and Elliot is nearly killed, but still, they have no proof. Suspects, but no proof. Will they identify the villain before it is too late for Charlotte? Excitement and shivers run down the spine.

I can definitely recommend this exciting, romantic book and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. I do think Charlotte was much too quick to forgive in the end. Groveling was required, but forgiveness happened pretty quickly.

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