TEST
Jennifer Ashley is the author of a number of very popular historical romances about the various members of the MacKenzie family as well as of the Captain Lacey series of historical mysteries, which she publishes as Ashley Gardner. I confess that I haven’t read any of the Captain’s regency-set adventures, but as I enjoy historical mysteries, I was intrigued to see that Ms. Ashley is launching a new series set in Victorian England and that her heroine is a no-nonsense, twenty-nine year-old cook who is employed in some of London’s grandest households.
Death Below Stairs is actually the second book to feature Kat Holloway, as the author published a prequel novella (A Soupçon of Poison) a couple of years ago which introduces Kat and her friend/love-interest, the mysterious Daniel McAdam, who helps Kat out of a potentially deadly situation and assists her in her sleuthing efforts. It’s not absolutely necessary to read this story, as its storyline is completely separate from this novel, BUT it is a very useful introduction to the characters – to Daniel, especially – who is not at all what he seems. The novella also establishes the relationships between Kat, Daniel and his son, James, and some early reviews (of this book) have indicated that readers disliked the fact that these had been cemented in a prequel novella when this title is billed as the first in series. Because of such comments, I decided to read the novella before tackling Death Below Stairs, and would say I found it helpful to have done so.
Kat Holloway has just taken a new position as cook in the Mayfair home of Lord Rankin. It’s a small household, consisting of his lordship, his somewhat lethargical wife, Lady Emily, and her older sister Lady Cynthia who dresses in mens’ suits, smokes cheroots and chafes at the fact she is stuck under her unpleasant brother-in-law’s roof. Kat very quickly assumes command of the kitchen and just as quickly sums up her colleagues who include Mr. Davies, the butler (affable but a bit lazy), Mrs. Barton, the housekeeper (very proper, runs a tight ship) and the maid assigned as cook’s assistant, Sinead, who is a bright girl and a fast learner whom Kat believes will do very well.
Up early the next morning to begin preparations for the day’s meals, Kat goes to the pantry to retrieve some ingredients – and is horrified to find Sinead’s bludgeoned body lying on the floor. Reluctant to allow the murder scene to be disturbed, Kat locks the pantry door with the intention of getting word to Daniel McAdam so that he can inspect the room before the police arrive and disturb everything, but alas, she doesn’t know where he is or how to find him and has to allow the police and the coroner access so they can begin their investigations. I can certainly understand that readers not familiar with the novella would wonder who on earth Daniel is and why Kat is so keen for him to inspect the scene of the crime.
Kat learns from Mrs. Barton that Sinead was stepping out with a young man who may have been involved with the Irish separatists (or Fenians, an organisation dedicated to securing Irish independence), and later, from Daniel, that he has been investigating links between the organisation and Lord Rankin, a skilled financier who has not only been engaged in some very dodgy financial deals, but is also actively involved in promoting transactions that help traitors to finance terrorist acts and their campaigns against the government.
Both Kat and Daniel are sure these connections have to be more than coincidence, and the discovery of a ripped page from a Bradshaw (a book containing timetables for every railway route in Britain) hidden away in a corner of the pantry indicate that there is definitely more at stake than the murder of a servant. With the help of Lady Cynthia and a friend of Daniel’s (who happens to be a mathematical genius), Kat and Daniel begin to put together the pieces of the puzzle – and must race against time to foil an assassination plot directed at the Queen.
While I liked Kat very much – she’s a down-to-earth woman who, after ‘marriage’ to an abusive bigamist who left her with a young daughter, has worked hard to acquire her culinary skills and to become a sought-after cook – it was something of a stretch of my credulity to believe that she could spend so much time away from the kitchen and retain her position. I know at one point we’re told that a temporary cook was engaged while Kat travelled with Daniel and Lady Cynthia in order to pursue their investigations, but I still found it rather hard to swallow. On the plus side, Ms. Ashley does a great job with the descriptions of the food Kat cooks – which all sounds mouth-watering – but I did sometimes feel as though I was being hit over the head with reminders that Kat Is A Cook.
Daniel McAdam is fascinating and, if I’m honest, quickly became my main reason for reading the book; indeed, if I continue with the series, it’ll be solely on his account! He first appeared in Soupçon as an affable, scruffy delivery man, but it quickly became apparent he was nothing of the sort, an impression solidified when Kat saw him one evening dressed in formal attire and handing a lady into a carriage, very comfortably mingling with a group of ‘toffs’. He’s a chameleon, able to change his mode of dress, his bearing and his manner of speech to suit whatever situation he is in, and although he denies association with the police, it’s obvious he’s some sort of government agent or spy … or something of that ilk. Whatever it is, his work is dangerous and top secret; all he can tell Kat is that he can’t tell her the truth – yet – and ask her to wait and accept his friendship in the meantime.
There’s a strong romantic thread running through the story which, again, commenced in the prequel. By the time Death Below Stairs opens, Kat and Daniel have already kissed a few times and their attraction to each other is evident, so the tension in the romance is generated by the fact that Kat doesn’t know who or what Daniel really is, and that while she knows she can trust him with her life… she’s not so sure she can trust him with her heart.
Ms. Ashley has captured the ‘downstairs’ world of the servant class very well, the writing is solid and the story is easy to follow, although, as happened in Soupçon, the solution to the whodunnit – who killed Sinead? – comes a little out of left-field. Ultimately, however, I found the novel a little too pedestrian for my taste. Writers like Sherry Thomas and C.S. Harris have set the bar for historical mysteries incredibly high, and I like a little more challenge and complexity than is on display here. I’d put Death Below Stairs into the category of a ‘cosy’ mystery; the pacing is leisurely, the main characters are likeable and easy to root for, and the mystery is intriguing – but I had no problems setting the book aside, even in the last couple of chapters when all is being revealed. I’d recommend the novel to fans of cosy mysteries, but I don’t really count myself among their number; and to anyone looking for a mystery with a bit more bite and sophistication, I’d suggest looking elsewhere.
Buy Now: A/BN/iB/K
Grade: B-
Book Type: Historical Mystery
Sensuality: Kisses
Review Date: 29/12/17
Publication Date: 01/2018
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
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I didn’t love this, it was too easy to figure out “whodunit”. BTW The housekeeper’s name is Bowers.
Any suggestions for more complex historical mysteries? I like my stories, and especially my characters, complex – the trickier the better (unless I’m going for total escapism) and always love suggestions.
Well, as I said in the review, Sherry Thomas (her two Lady Sherlock books are superb – I’ve reviewed them both here) and C.S. Harris’ Sebastian St. Cyr series are excellent. I’m also enjoying Juliana Gray’s Emmeline Truelove books, although they’re very quirky and I suspect not for everyone. When it comes to straight up historical mysteries without the romance, I’ve enjoyed some of Ariana Franklin;s Mistress of the Art of Death books, which are medievals.
I really like Deanna Raybourn’s historical mystery series featuring Veronica Speedwell, and it has a good romance in it. The mysteries in the Speedwell books are not quite as deftly plotted as the Lady Sherlock or Sebastian St. Cyr books but still really fun to read. I’m pretty obsessively following both the Lady Sherlock and the Sebastian St. Cyr books though and so would have to recommend them first.
I would suggest that you try P B Ryan’s Nell Sweeney mystery series. There are six books in the series and they are all quite wonderful. Nell is a character that you will not easily forget .
Great review! I read the prequel to this novel and was, unfortunately, quite unimpressed by the details around the murder mystery. I was tentatively planning to read the first novel but after the prequel, I was not that hopeful it would be worth my time. Historical mystery/romances have a challenging job to write a compelling romance as well as a complex and sophisticated mystery in a believable historical setting and Ashley’s writing did not nearly accomplish these things. It feels more as if she has an interesting concept but not the skills needed to pull it all off. You are absolutely right though that Sherry Thomas and C. S. Harris are the ones to be reading.
Thanks. I saw so many early reviews complaining that they hadn’t realised they needed to read the prequel because that’s where the relationships were established – so I bought a copy (which wasn’t cheap for a novella) and while I liked the relationships, the mystery was really poor.
The mystery here – or rather the concept – is better, but the whole thing is fairly leisurely, hence my categorisation of it as a “cosy” mystery. The writing is very unsophisticated – I’m not saying it’s bad – just very simplistic with everything on the surface and not much going on underneath. I do think readers who like that sort of thing will enjoy it, which is the reason for the B-; but as I said, if I continue reading, it will be to find out more about Daniel.