TEST
I love historical mysteries with a good romance thrown in. That’s why I picked up Murder in the East End to review. But I made a critical error – the historical mysteries that I love are series mysteries that build on the story and add some new information to the character development with each book. Here I jumped into book four, and while it was an enjoyable, well written tale, I think I might be selling it short because I missed out on the storyline and character development.
Murder in the East End starts with Kat Holloway, cook in a gentleman’s home and amateur sleuth, being pulled into a mystery by her friend/love interest Daniel McAdam, who introduces Kat to his “foster brother” the Reverend Errol Fielding. Fielding announces that children have gone missing from the Foundling Hospital (where he serves on the board) and asks for Daniel and Kat to quietly investigate. Kat feels compelled to help; as a single mother herself, she knows how close she was to leaving her child at the Foundling Hospital. Before Daniel and Kat get too far into the investigation, a nurse who was also searching for the children is murdered and the pressure to solve the case intensifies.
The search leads Kat through various kitchens and servants quarters taking advantage of the gossip/social scene happening below stairs all over London. This is a working class mystery – here are no ballrooms or visits to the modiste here. Some obviously well-loved characters from previous books enter the hunt and some new ones are introduced, and I liked them and the skills they bring to the search for the truth. I also really enjoyed all the cooking and food preparation talk – if you’re a fan of mystery books with a food angle, this will be right up your alley.
Kat is a very likeable heroine – a working, single mom in the Victorian era is easy to cheer for. And I loved the pieces of Daniel that we saw. What I didn’t love was all the mystery surrounding Daniel and his profession and history. It frustrated me to know so little (four books into the series) and I imagine that this would frustrate readers who have read the earlier books even more. There was some romantic movement forward in the book between Daniel and Kat but not much. I was also not bowled over by the mystery – the resolution was a little flat based on what the reader was led to believe.
Readers who have enjoyed the prior books in the A Below Stairs Mystery series will be happy to read more of Kat and Daniel’s adventures. For me, I think coming in at this late date was not the best introduction to the series because I missed out on the feeling of seeing beloved characters grow and watching the romantic tension between Kat and Daniel blossom. Lesson learned!
Note: The Below Stairs Mysteries were previously titled the Kat Holloway Mysteries.
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Grade: B-
Book Type: Historical Mystery
Sensuality: Kisses
Review Date: 09/08/20
Publication Date: 08/2020
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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This is a great series. I can’t relate to the nay sayers. I read them all.
I definitely think I would have enjoyed it more had I started at the beginning of the series. It often doesn’t make sense for the same reviewer to review the whole series. What do you think of the pace of Kat and Daniel’s love story? Do you see a lack of progress or is it just what you expected having read and enjoyed the prior books?
I think the issue of how much to develop the relationship(s) must be quite difficult for authors. Too fast, and then there’s not much else to divulge and readers may lose interest, or too slow and readers become impatient. Must admit I stopped reading the Charles Todd Ian Rutledge books in part because there was no relationship and I felt poor Ian was doomed to a dark, lonely life with only Hamish’s ghostly voice to keep him company as he went from murder to murder. Felt the same about Barbara Cleverly’s Joe Sandilands books, although those were not as dark, and there haven’t been any new books in the past few years. Before her books jumped the shark and she did something I found unforgivable, I thought Elizabeth George did a good job at developing ongoing relationships.
Exactly. But stretch it out too thin and people lose interest.
Evelyn:
I think I might be selling it short because I missed out on the storyline and character development.
Quite honestly, I don’t think you are. I’ve read three of the books in this series (and reviewed two of them here at AAR) and the lack of character and relationship development is one of the reasons I’ve stopped reading this series.
This Is a mystery series. Not a romance. Not women’s fiction.
I’m well aware of that. But the author has obviously set up a Daniel as Kat’s love interest and, after 5 books (if you include the opening novella) has done practically nothing with that. She can write whatever she wants to write of course, I’m just saying that she’s created certain expectations, and it’s fair to mention whether or not they’re being met in a review. And IMO even if that aspect was being handled differently, I haven’t found the mysteries particularly compelling. But each to his own…