📚’She paints a vivid picture – warts and all – of Victorian London.’ @SandraFirth3 Reviews #Mystery Murder & Mischief by Carol Hedges @riotgrandma72 for Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT #BookTwitter

Today’s team review is from Sandra.

Sandra blogs here https://www.firthproof.co.uk/index.php/book-reviews

Rosie’s Book Review Team

Sandra has been reading Murder & Mischief by Carol Hedges

I have been aware of this series for a while, but for some reason never got around to reading any. The first book, Diamonds and Dust, is buried somewhere deep in the depths of my kindle. I will certainly be catching up with all the others, as soon as I can fit them in, as I was very impressed with the writing style of Murder and Mischief. The story is told from several different perspectives in the present tense, so the reader has a bird’s-eye view of everything that is going on.

A dead body disguised as a snowman is discovered in the garden of property developer, James Barrowclough, but has a crime been committed or did he just succumb to the cold weather? Meanwhile, Liza and Flitch have run away from the workhouse following the death of their mother. Their father has returned from America to take his family back with him, and is devastated by what he finds. As he has to return right away, he hires a private detective, Lucy Landseer, to track down his missing children – no easy task in a city the size of London.

Carol Hedges skillfully weaves these two stories together into a tale with echoes of Dickens and Conan Doyle. The writer has done her research but displays it with a light touch. She paints a vivid picture – warts and all – of Victorian London. All our senses are in play here. The characters are well drawn, entirely believable and I had no trouble distinguishing them despite their large number. I particularly enjoyed the strand about the Transformative Brethren group of artists in Camden, and their connection with the runaway children. There’s even a cat called ‘sad ginge’. As this was the tenth novel in the series, and I had not met them before, the detectives did not really stand out for me, although the young DC Tom Williams shows a lot of promise. His visit to Birmingham was fascinating as it highlighted how different it was to London. I thoroughly enjoyed Murder and Mischief despite it being part of a well-developed series. It worked just fine as a standalone, but I’ve now got the added bonus of nine more to catch up with. Thanks to Carol for a digital copy that I review as a member of Rosie’s Book Review Team #RBRT

Book description

It is January, a time of year when not much crime usually happens. But when Inspector Greig is unexpectedly summoned to the opulent Hampstead residence of Mr. James William Malin Barrowclough, a rich businessman, he embarks upon one of the strangest and most bizarre investigations that he has ever been involved in.

Why has Barrowclough been targeted? What is inside the mysterious parcels that keep arriving at Hill House, and why won’t he cooperate with the police? The case will take the Scotland Yard detectives on a journey out of London and into the victim’s past, to uncover the secrets and lies that haunt his present.

Murder & Mischief is the tenth novel in the series, and in the great tradition of Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, it entices the reader once again along the teeming streets and dimly gas lit thoroughfares of Victorian London, where rich and poor, friend and foe alike mix and mingle.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS

📚 An investigation into a frozen corpse used as a snowman! @barbtaub reviews Victorian #Mystery Murder & Michief by Carol Hedges @riotgrandma72, for Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT

Today’s team review is from Barb.

Barb blogs here https://barbtaub.com/

Rosie’s Book Review Team

Barb has been reading Murder & Mischief by Carol Hedges

In her Victorian Detective series, author Carol Hedges offers both Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle the sincerest form of flattery as she imitates their signature tropes in Murder & Mischief, her tenth book in the series. But at the same time, she invites the reader to laugh with her as she undermines those tropes to create her signature subversive, funny, sometimes icky, and occasionally sweet police procedurals, Victorian style.

We have plucky orphans and their ghoulish keepers, straight out of Oliver Twist, as intrepid young siblings Liza and Flitch escape the workhouse to seek their fortune in London.  Their self-reliant optimism contrasts with the entitled behavior of the sons of a wealthy businessman who have spent “…three years at Eton, learning Latin, Greek and social superiority.”

Iconic detective Sherlock Holmes is translated into Miss Lucy Landseer, writer and self styled consulting detective whose latest client has hired her to track down Liza and Flitch. Instead of a celibate, borderline-sociopath, and very peculiarly-dressed amateur detective with a less intelligent Dr. Watson sidekick, brilliant sibling Mycroft, and university professor Moriarty as arch-enemy, Lucy is a self-reliant, decidedly non-celibate, fashionably dressed detective who solves crimes by asking questions and writing down clues in her notebook, all with only the occasional help from her compliant, supportive lover—a university professor who isn’t anybody’s nemesis. Instead of insisting the plot thickens, the game’s afoot, or even “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth,” the eminently practical Lucy shares her philosophy that “…the investigating mind works better when it can see the actual places in which events occurred.” 

But first and foremost, we have our old friends at Scotland Yard, who are investigating the mystery of a frozen corpse used as a snowman, with only a top hat as clue to his identity. When the hat’s former owner, wealthy businessman and all-round nasty piece of work Mr. James William Malin Barrowclough, is also murdered, the group’s recently promoted member, Tom Williams, is on the case. It was as much Tom’s mastery of punctuation as his ‘fine sense of injustice’ that first brought him to the attention of Detective Inspector Grieg.

“Grieg recalls the first time he encountered young Tom Williams, a lowly beat constable with more education and intelligence than was normally the case. He used words like ‘amiss’ in his reports; he could punctuate. And he didn’t begin every sentence with ‘I was proceeding’.”

That brings us to the final player, the city of London itself. All of their stories intersect and intertwine in the best Dickens tradition with London as the connecting thread. “And now, events that seem totally disparate and unconnected, are suddenly about to collide, as often happens in Babylondon, the greatest city on earth.” Victorian London is a living, breathing creature on a massive scale. “After sunset, when the lamplighter has run round the streets, and in the flickering yellow glow of the streetlamps, there is a moment when day stands on the threshold of night. The city seems to catch its breath.” Amusingly, an affluent French couple are appalled by the dirt and construction everywhere compared to the wide boulevards of Paris, while London native Tom Williams is equally horrified by the filth and noise of Birmingham.

As I’ve said about this series before, if you like your mysteries in multiples, your tropes both visible and upside down, your settings both historically exact and contemporaneously delightful, and your characters varied, funny, and heart-tugging, then Murder & Mischief is for you. If you haven’t seen this series before, I strongly urge you to start from the beginning. If the cast are old friends and new acquaintances, then sit back for a wild trip through Victorian London as only Carol Hedges can take you.  Either way, you’re the lucky one!

Book description

It is January, a time of year when not much crime usually happens. But when Inspector Greig is unexpectedly summoned to the opulent Hampstead residence of Mr. James William Malin Barrowclough, a rich businessman, he embarks upon one of the strangest and most bizarre investigations that he has ever been involved in.

Why has Barrowclough been targeted? What is inside the mysterious parcels that keep arriving at Hill House, and why won’t he cooperate with the police? The case will take the Scotland Yard detectives on a journey out of London and into the victim’s past, to uncover the secrets and lies that haunt his present.

Murder & Mischief is the tenth novel in the series, and in the great tradition of Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, it entices the reader once again along the teeming streets and dimly gas lit thoroughfares of Victorian London, where rich and poor, friend and foe alike mix and mingle.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS

📚’I thoroughly enjoyed my introduction to the Victorian Detectives series’. @SueBavey reviews Murder & Mischief by Carol Hedges @riotgrandma72 for Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT

Today’s team review is from Sue.

Sue blogs here https://suelbavey.wordpress.com/

Rosie’s Book Review Team

Sue has been reading Murder & Mischief by Carol Hedges.

Murder and Mischief is the tenth book in the popular Victorian Detectives series by Carol Hedges, a series which has been on my radar for a couple of years now and I am glad I have finally given it a try. It is written in the present tense, which adds immediacy and a feeling that you are watching the various tableaux unfold on a stage in front of you. A raft of expertly researched historical detail and well-described sights and sounds brings each of these scenes to life:

“And always the mechanical sounds of drilling, hammering, digging, and the crash of falling masonry as the underground railway bores its way through structures that have withstood the ravages of time, but cannot stand before the workmen’s tools. While, beneath the teeming and despoiled metropolis, dark tunnels wait the trainloads of passengers, who will experience the disorientation and dislocation of travelling underneath the chaotic city above their heads.”

Despite being book 10 in a series, this is a standalone murder mystery. A dead man shows up in the grounds of a businessman’s garden, found by his sons and disguised as a snowman, wearing the top hat belonging to the homeowner, Mr Barrowclough. As shocking as this discovery is, things soon escalate alarmingly with Barrowclough receiving dead birds in the mail and culminating with him being pushed in front of a train. Enter the Victorian Detectives who this series of books is named after. Some of them are more eager to pursue the case and get down to the nitty gritty of detective work than others.

As well as the murder of Barrowclough we have a side story of two runaway children, who have escaped the wretchedness of their workhouse and come to London. These children are the extremely resourceful Flitch and Liza. Their Father was forced to journey to the USA in order to obtain work and when he returns for them, he finds his home demolished and family disappeared to the workhouse. His wife is dead and children have absconded. He asks a female Private Investigator to look for them in London since he must return in haste to America. The children have luckily fallen on their feet and have been working as artist’s models for an artist who is a member of the Transformed Brethren – an art movement of the time about which the author expertly educates her readers. There follow a number of cat and mouse chases resulting in the children getting separated from one another and a few unlikely coincidences which make the reader want to shout out in order to aid them in their escape and reconnection.

Meanwhile the murder of Barrowclough takes the detective on the case to Birmingham and allows further detailed urban description, highlighting the differences between London and this city at the time.

I thoroughly enjoyed my introduction to the Victorian Detectives series and found it to be a real page turner. I will be revisiting the series soon!

Book description

It is January, a time of year when not much crime usually happens. But when Inspector Greig is unexpectedly summoned to the opulent Hampstead residence of Mr. James William Malin Barrowclough, a rich businessman, he embarks upon one of the strangest and most bizarre investigations that he has ever been involved in.

Why has Barrowclough been targeted? What is inside the mysterious parcels that keep arriving at Hill House, and why won’t he cooperate with the police? The case will take the Scotland Yard detectives on a journey out of London and into the victim’s past, to uncover the secrets and lies that haunt his present.

Murder & Mischief is the tenth novel in the series, and in the great tradition of Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, it entices the reader once again along the teeming streets and dimly gas lit thoroughfares of Victorian London, where rich and poor, friend and foe alike mix and mingle.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS

📚’Pacy, quirky, and highly enjoyable.’ Fiona reviews Victorian #Mystery Murder & Mischief by Carol Hedges @riotgrandma72 for Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT

Today’s team review is from Fiona.

Find out more about Fiona here https://fionaforsythauthor.co.uk/blog/

Rosie’s Book Review Team

Fiona has been reading Murder & Mischief by Carol Hedges.

This beautifully-written Victorian murder mystery is full of surprises and wit, while never neglecting the seedy side of the era and the plight of the masses. There are many nods to Dickens, Conan Doyle and the like, always fun to spot, but the author adds her own touches: the consulting detective is a woman, the affable urchins do not cloy, the villains are villainous without being caricatures. The author keeps a hold on her wide cast of characters with a clever use – again inspired by Dickens? – of memorable names, such the wonderful Armand Malpractis, and short, well-introduced scenes.

The scenery is stunningly well described but never overpowers. The research is worn lightly, just as historical novelists are always told – so easy to say, so difficult to achieve!

But the driving pace of the action, laced with humor and occasionally true pathos, is what keeps you reading, along with the sheer enjoyment of finely-honed and perfectly-balanced sentences.

Book description

It is January, a time of year when not much crime usually happens. But when Inspector Greig is unexpectedly summoned to the opulent Hampstead residence of Mr. James William Malin Barrowclough, a rich businessman, he embarks upon one of the strangest and most bizarre investigations that he has ever been involved in.

Why has Barrowclough been targeted? What is inside the mysterious parcels that keep arriving at Hill House, and why won’t he cooperate with the police? The case will take the Scotland Yard detectives on a journey out of London and into the victim’s past, to uncover the secrets and lies that haunt his present.

Murder & Mischief is the tenth novel in the series, and in the great tradition of Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, it entices the reader once again along the teeming streets and dimly gas lit thoroughfares of Victorian London, where rich and poor, friend and foe alike mix and mingle.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS

📚’I loved both the story and the author’s distinctive writing style.’ Judith reviews Victorian #Mystery Murder & Mischief by Carol Hedges @riotgrandma72 for Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT

Today’s team review is from Judith.

Judith blogs here https://judithbarrowblog.com/

Rosie’s Book Review Team

Judith has been reading Murder & Mischief by Carol Hedges.

I’ve heard a lot about Carol Hedges’ Victorian Detectives series over the years, and been promising myself I will read one of her books. How I wish I hadn’t waited so long! Murder and Mischief is a brilliant read; I loved both the story and the author’s distinctive writing style. I actually resented having to put the kindle down when other things needed doing.

Murder and Mischief is number ten of this author’s series, but I read it as a standalone book, and that was no problem at all. I’ve since checked some of the others in the series, and even though some of the characters are in the other books, and most of the settings are similar, this is a complete story in itself. There are no loose ends. In fact I should imagine that, for those readers who have followed the series, familiar characters and backgrounds must add to their enjoyment of each story.

The first thing I have to say is how much I enjoyed the voice of the omniscient narrator. Told from the various points of view, in the present tense, and in the first person, I could actually hear him (yes I do think it’s a “him”) in my head. The conversational tone, the way the reader is directly addressed, gives instant imagery to this shared observation. We are encouraged to view the disparate and unfair class divide, and actions of all the characters in the same way as the narrator does.

The dialogue is skilfully written and adds another layer to each character, their standing in society, and their role in Murder and Mischief. And here the narrator comes into his own again, revealing often that the direct speech doesn’t reflect their internal dialogue.

The descriptions of the settings that the characters move around in are flawless – extremely atmospheric, and adding much to the story. In fact, the sense of place is so redolent that the streets, the houses, the workhouse, the public houses, the Chinese mission house, all almost become characters in their own right.

There are two main plots that intertwine and coalesce, threaded throughout with various themes of honesty and crime, indifference and cruelty, love and hatred. Sometimes the plot leaps from one thread to another in startling speed, and yet it works, reflecting the change of circumstance the characters find themselves in, and, for me, kept me enthralled.

As I always say, I try not to give spoilers in my reviews, the book descriptions reveal enough of the story. I can only give a subjective appraisal. But, for anyone who likes the crime genre, a book with an utterly compelling plot, and an insight to Victorian London, this is for you. Murder and Mischief is a novel I can thoroughly recommend.

Book description

It is January, a time of year when not much crime usually happens. But when Inspector Greig is unexpectedly summoned to the opulent Hampstead residence of Mr. James William Malin Barrowclough, a rich businessman, he embarks upon one of the strangest and most bizarre investigations that he has ever been involved in.

Why has Barrowclough been targeted? What is inside the mysterious parcels that keep arriving at Hill House, and why won’t he cooperate with the police? The case will take the Scotland Yard detectives on a journey out of London and into the victim’s past, to uncover the secrets and lies that haunt his present.

Murder & Mischief is the tenth novel in the series, and in the great tradition of Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, it entices the reader once again along the teeming streets and dimly gas lit thoroughfares of Victorian London, where rich and poor, friend and foe alike mix and mingle.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS

📚Victorian #Mystery With A Dickensian Sub-Theme. Noelle Reviews Murder & Mischief by Carol Hedges @riotgrandma72 for Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT

Today’s team review is from Noelle.

Noelle blogs here https://saylingaway.wordpress.com

Rosie’s Book Review Team

Noelle has been reading Murder & Mischief by Carol Hedges

I’ve read and reviewed Murder and Mayhem, a previous book by this author, and liked it so much I jumped at the chance to review this one.

Ms. Hedges has cleverly entwined two stories in this, the tenth outing of her Victorian mystery series. The setting is London in 1868, and the city itself quickly becomes a main character because of the colorful, detailed descriptions the author creates for the reader.

In the plot, Detective Inspector Grieg of Scotland Yard is called to Hill House, the upper class residence of Mr. Barrowclough, a very wealthy real estate developer. A ‘snowman’ has been found in his garden by his two sons. The ‘snowman’ is a man’s frozen body, covered thickly from a recent snowfall. Mr. Barrowclough denies knowledge of the man, although one of his old hats is part of the snowman’s clothing. Grieg is convinced the dead man is linked to Barrowclough’s business, which entails buying land near where the London underground railway is planned to plough through, putting up cheap houses and selling them at a high price because of location. But he has to probe into Barrowclough’s history to get to the truth. The second story is pure Dickens – two children, Flitch and Liza, escape from the workhouse where they were forced to go with their mother after their father left them for work in America. The mother died there, and Flitch is determined to make a life for himself and his sister in London. They are trailed there by their father who returns to claim them and also by the managers of the workhouse, once the father offers a reward for finding them. Also on their trail is a female detective the father hires.

The reader is faced, along with the main characters, with some challenging questions? Can Flitch and Liza survive in London when they arrive with only the clothes on their backs? Who will ultimately find them – their father, the detective, the greedy workhouse managers? Why is Barrowclough receiving parcels containing dead birds, which frighten him? How are they linked to the dead man?

I loved this book. Ms. Hedges writes in the present tense and breaks the wall by talking directly to the reader at various times, usually to presage a jump from one plot to the other. Some readers may not like this technique but I found it pulled me directly into the action and setting. Her background descriptions of the rich and the poor sides of London are exceptional: public houses, the docks, the Chinese enclave, fashionable stores, mansions, apartments, and hovels. And all without excessive detail. The poverty, dirt, noise and smoke are very real. She also makes clear the role of women at the time, the consequences of poverty, the rapacious nature of real estate developers, and a host of other societal problems, but by inference and not preaching. Even the minor characters are well drawn with the nuances of life in London for the various strata in society.

The plots take the reader hither and yon and the resolution of each is unexpected and satisfying.

A resounding five stars for this book. If you like Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins, this is for you.

There are nine other books in this series, each of which is related by the characters but this is a stand-alone in terms of reading. I highly recommend reading all of them!

Book description

It is January, a time of year when not much crime usually happens. But when Inspector Greig is unexpectedly summoned to the opulent Hampstead residence of Mr. James William Malin Barrowclough, a rich businessman, he embarks upon one of the strangest and most bizarre investigations that he has ever been involved in.

Why has Barrowclough been targeted? What is inside the mysterious parcels that keep arriving at Hill House, and why won’t he cooperate with the police? The case will take the Scotland Yard detectives on a journey out of London and into the victim’s past, to uncover the secrets and lies that haunt his present.

Murder & Mischief is the tenth novel in the series, and in the great tradition of Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, it entices the reader once again along the teeming streets and dimly gas lit thoroughfares of Victorian London, where rich and poor, friend and foe alike mix and mingle.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS

The Final Case For Stride And Cully. @TerryTyler4 Reviews Victorian #Mystery Desire And Deceit By @carolJhedges

Today’s team review is from Terry. She blogs here https://terrytylerbookreviews.blogspot.com/

Terry has been reading Desire And Deceit by Carol Hedges

5 out of 5 stars

I’ve just finished the final outing in this series of stand-alone Victorian murder mysteries, and every one has been a winner.  Frankly I could carry on reading them ad infinitum, but I understand that a writer needs a change now and then!

We enter once more the world of Detectives Stride and Cully, in mid-nineteenth century London, and are introduced to a fine array of characters, many new faces and others whom we have met before.  Of the latter, I particularly like Miss Lucy Landseer, private detective (or ‘detector’ as the owner of a exclusive tobacconists calls Cully and his protegée Tom Williams), who is the star of one of the secondary storylines; the main one centres around a dead body without a name, the questions being who is he, who killed him, and why?

Ms Hedges’ excellent plotting and characterisation shines out on every page, with her familiar themes rippling through the story: the massive chasm of difference between the haves and the have-nots, the pretentiousness of the aspirational lower middle class, the lot of women of all classes, corrupt MPs with their ‘jobs for the boys’ (no change there then) and complete disinterest in and disregard for the scum of humanity that floats beneath them (i.e., everyone else apart from their families and peers).  Then there are the music hall artistes, the conmen, and those who think they can get away with murder.

I very much liked the parliamentary clerk known only as ‘the Replacement’ (the MP for which he works never does bother to find out his name), and Euphemia Harbinger, an elderly lady facing the end of her life, once celebrated in society, who is more wise and experienced than her grasping, inheritance-chasing family could ever imagine.  I also loved Harriet Harbinger, a young girl being constantly overlooked in favour of her twin brother, who has her sights set on the high seas and adventure.

As ever, the threads of the story were satisfactorily wrapped up, but this time I finished it with a certain sadness, knowing there will not be any more.  This book is an absolute treat, as are all of the other eight.  If you haven’t read any of them yet, I envy you!

It is 1868, and the body of a young man has gone missing from the police mortuary at Scotland Yard, an event that has never happened before. Who was the mysterious corpse, and why was he spirited away in the night? These are the questions baffling Detective Inspector Stride and Detective Sergeant Cully as they set out to uncover the truth.

Meanwhile, two greedy, unscrupulous, inheritance-seeking brothers, Arthur and Sherborne Harbinger, descend upon London and their very rich dying aunt, each determined to get whatever they can out of her, and prepared to use whatever methods they can to win her favour. And over in her newly rented rooms in Baker Street, Miss Lucy Landseer, consulting private detective, has been presented with her first ever proper case to investigate ~ and finds it is one that will defy even her imaginative and inventive mind.

Set against the hottest summer on record, Desire & Deceit, the ninth outing for this popular Victorian Detectives series, explores how the love of money really is the root of all evil. Once again, Victorian London is brought to life in all its sights, its sounds, its sordid and gas-lit splendour. Another must-read book, teeming with memorable Dickensian-style characters.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS

London 1868. Noelle Reviews Victorian #mystery Desire and Deceit by @carolJhedges for Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT

Today’s team review is from Noelle. She blogs here https://saylingaway.wordpress.com

Noelle has been reading Desire And Deceit by Carol J Hedges

It is 1868, and London is in the midst of a terrible heat wave.  A body of a young man has disappeared from the police mortuary at Scotland Yard, an unheard of event, before there was even an autopsy. Detective Inspector Leo Stride and Detective Sergeant Jack Cully are baffled, having only the report of young Constable Williams, who discovered the body, to go on. Williams has a very observant eye, however, and will help them with their investigation.

At the same time, the two greedy Harbinger brothers, Arthur and Sherborne, are vying for the favor of their very rich, dying aunt, Euphemia Harbinger. Both are thoroughly distasteful characters. Sherborne with his wife, baby Timothy, and ten year old twins, Hanover and Harriet, descends on London to stay in a hotel, priming Hanover to earn the aunt’s approbation with the gift of a talking parrot. The parrot is funny and pivotal to the story! At the same time, Sherborne psychologically bullies Harriet, considering her, as a girl, unworthy of any attention.

Arthur Harbinger, MP and senior manager of a large insurance company, tries to thwart his brother. He spends his time ignoring his duties as an MP, preferring to bilk the insurance company out of money with claims on life insurance created in the names of people who don’t exist. He intends to use the money he gets from Aunt Euphemia to replay a large loan he took out to purchase a very expensive race horse.

Miss Lucy Landseer has recently installed herself as a private detective at 122A Baker Street and greets her very first client, Rosalind Whitely, whose mother passed away six months before and who had married a man a short time before she died. As a widower, Mr. Brooke now claims all of her mother’s estate, and Miss Whitely asks Miss Landseer to investigate his background. She cannot anticipate what a twisted path she will follow.

The author ties all of these threads together in a skillful fashion, with a satisfying ending

Carol Hedges is a master of creating the London scene, the city becoming as much a character as the people. She brings Victorian London to life in all its sights, its sounds, its filth, and all of its sordid and gas-lit splendor, baking in the heat of an endless summer. Her characters are well-rounded, humorous, matter-of-fact, or deliciously evil. In previous books, she has focused on the plight of women in this time. She doesn’t miss a beat with this tale, but brings in family dynamics as well, especially that of DI Stride.

The book is written in the present tense, and the author speaks directly to the reader at various times in the developing plot. At first I found this a bit disconcerting, but I realized that coupled with the tense, the author had created something very similar to a screen play, setting the scene and introducing characters.

I’m definitely going to read more of this author and recommend this book to anyone interested in Victorian London and a good mystery/detective story.

It is 1868, and the body of a young man has gone missing from the police mortuary at Scotland Yard, an event that has never happened before. Who was the mysterious corpse, and why was he spirited away in the night? These are the questions baffling Detective Inspector Stride and Detective Sergeant Cully as they set out to uncover the truth.

Meanwhile, two greedy, unscrupulous, inheritance-seeking brothers, Arthur and Sherborne Harbinger, descend upon London and their very rich dying aunt, each determined to get whatever they can out of her, and prepared to use whatever methods they can to win her favour. And over in her newly rented rooms in Baker Street, Miss Lucy Landseer, consulting private detective, has been presented with her first ever proper case to investigate ~ and finds it is one that will defy even her imaginative and inventive mind.

Set against the hottest summer on record, Desire & Deceit, the ninth outing for this popular Victorian Detectives series, explores how the love of money really is the root of all evil. Once again, Victorian London is brought to life in all its sights, its sounds, its sordid and gas-lit splendour. Another must-read book, teeming with memorable Dickensian-style characters.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS

Rosie’s #BookReview Team #RBRT Victorian #Mystery FAME & FORTUNE by @carolJhedges

Today’s team review is from Cathy, she blogs here https://betweenthelinesbookblog.wordpress.com/

Cathy has been reading Fame & Fortune by Carol J Hedges.

Fame & Fortune is the eighth outing for DS Jack Cully, DI Lachlan Greig and DI Leo Stride, otherwise known as the Victorian Detectives. Carol Hedges immerses us once again in a London peopled with the sad and the bad, the rich and the poor, and the evocatively described back alleys, slums and more fashionable thoroughfares they inhabit.

When a body is found hanging from the scaffolding on a bridge, Detective Inspector Greig doesn’t agree with the presumption of suicide by the attending constable. It didn’t add up in Greig’s eyes but the ineptitude of the constable regarding the scene of the crime, as Greig believed that’s what it was, didn’t help.

Then we have Gerald Daubney, a collector of antiquities who has been robbed of his priceless netsuke collection and, it seems, his manservant has also disappeared.

In a shabby, cobbled passageway in Bloomsbury we find ten year old Izzy Harding, scraping a living of sorts and existing off very little, painting furniture for dolls’ houses, one of the many children working at the long tables. Her second job washing dishes in a diner at least comes with food, such as it is.

The indomitable Miss Lucy Landseer makes another appearance when she comes to the aid, not only of novelist, Mrs Riva Hemmyng-Stratton, but also a lady in an intolerable position, in a situation that would perhaps make a good plot for one of her books.

The villainous Black brothers, Herbert and Munro, encompass all that is bad and whose shady dealings have serious and continuing repercussions throughout the city.

I enjoy these books immensely and Carol Hedges’ writing and plotting never fails to draw me in, with witty and engaging prose. Characters are extremely well drawn, giving an immediate visual image and the existing cast continue to develop. And as always, London features as a character in its own right with atmospheric descriptions and the distinct social divide between all levels of society.

When the body of a man is discovered hanging from some scaffolding under one of London’s bridges, Scotland Yard’s detective division is called in to solve the mystery of his identity & how he died. What they discover is a web of crime and extortion, and at the heart of it, two evil brothers, Munro and Herbert Black. Their inquiries will bring them into contact with the strange world of Gerald Daubney, collector of Japanese curios, whose priceless collection of netsuke has disappeared.

Facing a similar loss is Mrs Riva Hemmyng-Stratton, writer of ‘silver-fork’ novels, who suddenly finds herself embroiled in a court case when she is sued for defamation and libel by Lord Edwin Lackington. Her priceless reputation as a writer is on the line. How on earth can she prove her innocence when the only person who could vouch for it is incarcerated in a private asylum?

Many old friends make appearances in the novel … and a certain meaningful relationship finally reaches its conclusion.

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Celebrating 6 Years Of Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT With Team Member @CathyRy

Recently we celebrated our review team’s six year anniversary by revealing fourteen of the team’s favourite books.

You can find out which books they were in part one and part two.

I invited some of my team members to tell us more about being part of the book reviewing team.

Welcome to Cathy Ryan, who also writes book reviews at Between The Lines Book Blog

I’ve just been reminded that Rosie’s Book Review Team is six years old! That means BetweenTheLines is also six years old. I joined the team a few months after I began my blog and am still enjoying the experience. Rosie does a great job coordinating everything and many books have come my way that I probably would have missed otherwise, and more than a few authors have become firm favourites, such as Terry Tyler, Carol Hedges, Adrienne Vaughan, Liza Perrat…the list goes on.

One book in particular, The Cunning Woman’s Cup by Sue Hewitt, which I enjoyed immensely and is one I’ve read more than once, sent me on search to find the stone circle in the story. It was a trek to find the Duddo Stones but it was worth it for the atmosphere and the view.

I enjoy following series and there are several murder/mystery ones I’ve enjoyed including The Victorian Detectives by Carol Hedges, Madame Tulip cosy mysteries by David Ahern and Inspector de Silva Mysteries by Harriet Steel.

Not only that, several of us have become ‘real life’ friends and meet up every so often, which is fantastic. Long may it last!