Book Synopsis:

You wouldn’t suspect it, but scandalous secrets are being kept on Blythswood Square…

1846. Glasgow is a city on the cusp of great social change, but behind the curtains, neighbours are watching, and rumours of improper behaviour spread like wildfire on the respectable Blythswood Square.

When Charlotte Nicholl discovers that the fortune she has been bequeathed by her father is tied up in a secret collection of erotic art, she is faced with a terrible dilemma: sell it and risk shaming her family’s good name or lose her home.

An encounter with Ellory McHale, a talented working-class photographer newly arrived in Glasgow, leads Charlotte to hope she has found not only someone who might help her, but also a friend. Yet Ellory is hiding secrets of her own – secrets that become harder to conceal as she finds herself drawn into Charlotte’s world.

As the truth begins to catch up with both women, will it destroy everything they’ve fought to build – or set them both free?

My Review:

I was a huge fan of The Fair Botanist, Sara’s first novel, so I was very excited to read more from her. The Secrets Of Blythswood Square is another absorbing, fascinating historical read which I really enjoyed.

Firstly I absolutely loved the setting of 19th Century Glasgow, with the author’s vivid descriptions often making me feel like I was actually there experiencing it myself alongside the characters. It was definitely a time of great social expectations where people were meant to act a certain way and anyone different was treated with suspicion. It was interesting to see who was considered an outsider though and I found it very frustrating to see how they were treated. 

I absolutely loved the two female main characters Ellory and Charlotte. They were such strong, determined women and I loved seeing them assert themselves to go against the norm. It was very interesting to learn about early photography through Ellory’s work and I enjoyed finding out more about the process, especially how long it took to take a picture. The different views on how to set people up for a photograph was also fascinating and I enjoyed exploring the different ideas that the early photographers had.

I thought the book had a lovely pace to it and there always seemed to be something happening to keep me reading. Even in the slightly slower moments I just enjoyed hanging out withe Charlotte and Ellory, watching their wonderful friendship develop. There were a few revelations that kept me guessing, especially a few towards the end that made it hard to put the book down. I loved the ending that and enjoyed seeing how things end up for all of the characters.

Huge thanks to Alainna from Hodder and Stoughton for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book.

About The Author:

“History is a treasure chest of stories. I love them.”

Sara Sheridan works in a wide range of media and genres but mostly historical and especially the stories of women. She loves exploring where our culture comes from. In 2018 she remapped Scotland according to women’s history. Tipped in Company and GQ magazines, she was nominated for a Young Achiever Award. She has received a Scottish Library Award and has been shortlisted for the Saltire Book Prize and the Wilbur Smith Prize. Her work was included in the David Hume Institute’s Summer Reading list 2019. She has sat on the committee for the Society of Authors in Scotland (where she lives) and on the board of ’26’ the campaign for the importance of words. She took part in 3 ’26 Treasures’ exhibitions at the V&A, London, The National Museum of Scotland and the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green. She occasionally blogs for the Guardian about her writing life, the Huffington Post about her activism as a writer and a feminist and puts her hand up to being a ‘twitter evangelist’. From time to time she appears on radio, and has reported for BBC Radio 4’s From Our Own Correspondent from both Tallin and Sharjah. Sara is a member of the Society of Authors and the Historical Writers Association. A self-confessed ‘word nerd’ her favourite book is ‘Water Music’ by TC Boyle. In 2016 she cofounded feminist perfume brand, REEK: artefacts from the project are now held at the National Museums of Scotland and the Glasgow Women’s Library.

Good afternoon everyone I was lucky enough to receive a copy of this fabulous book today. 

I have a bit of a fascination with gangs so this book really intrigued me. I’ve not heard anything about the Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) before so I’m looking forward to learning more about them.

Find out more about the book below!

Huge thanks to Katy from Little Brown for sending me a copy of this book.

Book Synopsis:

Makoto Saigo is half-American and half-Japanese in small-town Japan with a set of talents limited to playing guitar and picking fights. With rock stardom off the table, he turns toward the only place where you can start from the bottom and move up through sheer merit, loyalty, and brute force – the yakuza.

Saigo, nicknamed “Tsunami”, quickly realizes that even within the organization, opinions are as varied as they come, and a clash of philosophies can quickly become deadly. One screw-up can cost you your life, or at least a finger.

The internal politics of the yakuza are dizzyingly complex, and between the ever-shifting web of alliances and the encroaching hand of the law that pushes them further and further underground, Saigo finds himself in the middle of a defining decades-long battle that will determine the future of the yakuza.

Written with the insight of an expert on Japanese organized crime and the compassion of a longtime friend, investigative journalist Jake Adelstein presents a sprawling biography of a yakuza, through post-war desperation, to bubble-era optimism, to the present. Including a cast of memorable yakuza bosses – Coach, The Buddha, and more – this is a story about the rise and fall of a man, a country, and a dishonest but sometimes honorable way of life on the brink of being lost.

About The Author:

Between writing books, I’m currently editing http://www.japansubculture.com. I was born in Missouri and first went to Japan in 1988 as an exchange student at Sophia. I spent most of my time in college living in a Zen Buddhist temple in Tokyo, failing to obtain enlightenment or even a little, tiny satori. I became a reporter for the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest newspaper (circ. 10,000,000 daily) and was there from 1993 until close to the end of 2005, primarily as a crime reporter. I worked for a year on a human trafficking study of Japan sponsored by the US State Department from 2006-2007. Currently, I travel back and forth between Japan and the United States, writing both in English and Japanese for various publications under my own names and pen names. I do some consulting work on occasion. I’m also the temporary public relations representative for Polaris Project Japan, which combats human trafficking and other exploitation issues in Japan.

I hope you enjoyed the book or at least got something out of it. If you’re interested in the dark side of the sun–the problematic, interesting and strange aspects of Japanese society, please see our sporadically updated blog at http://www.japansubculture.com. I’m also hoping to add supplementary materials in Japanese and English that will be useful for people want to know more about crime in Japan and its other less talked about aspects.

Good morning everyone and happy Tuesday. Today on Two For Tuesday I’m featuring two books by Sarah Hawley.

I absolutely loved A Witch’s Guide To Fake Dating A Demon so when I heard there was a second book in the series I pre-ordered it asap. I’m excited to go back into their world and spend more time with the fabulous characters.

I’ve got a busy day today I’m working this morning which is always fun and then I’ve got to rush to school for a parent consultation for my daughter as her teacher is going on maternity leave at the end of this week. I’m then rushing home to sort food out for the kids and it’s a bookclub night tonight which I’m really looking forward to!

Do you belong to a book club?

A Witch’s Guide To Fake Dating A Demon

Mariel Spark knows not to trust a demon, especially one that wants her soul, but what’s a witch to do when he won’t leave her side – and she kind of doesn’t want him to?

Mariel Spark is prophesied to be the most powerful witch seen in centuries of the famed Spark family, but to the displeasure of her mother, she prefers baking to brewing potions and gardening to casting hexes. When a spell to summon flour goes very wrong, Mariel finds herself staring down a demon – one she inadvertently summoned for a soul bargain.

Ozroth the Ruthless is a legend among demons. Powerful and merciless, he drives hard bargains to collect mortal souls. But his reputation has suffered ever since a bargain went awry – if he can strike a deal with Mariel, he will earn back his deadly reputation. Ozroth can’t leave Mariel’s side until they complete a bargain, which she refuses to do (turns out some humans are attached to their souls).

But the witch is funny. And curvy. And disgustingly yet endearingly cheerful. Becoming awkward roommates quickly escalates when Mariel, terrified to confess the inadvertent summoning to her mother, blurts out that she’s dating Ozroth. As Ozroth and Mariel struggle to maintain a fake relationship, real attraction blooms between them. But Ozroth has a limited amount of time to strike the deal, and if Mariel gives up her soul, she’ll lose all her emotions – including love – which will only spell disaster for them both.

A Demon’s Guide To Wooing A Witch

Welcome back to Glimmer Falls!

Calladia Cunnington knows she’s rough around the edges and her hot temper can get
the best of her. So when she stops a demon attack one night, she’s horrified to realize the man she saved is none other than the cold-hearted Astaroth.

Astaroth is a legendary member of the demon high council – or at least he was. Suffering from amnesia after being stripped of his immortality and banished to the mortal plane, Astaroth doesn’t know why a demon named Moloch is after him, nor why the angry, hot-in-a-terrifying-way witch hates him so much.

Calladia grudgingly agrees to help Astaroth find the witch who might be able to restore his memory, vowing that once Astaroth is cured, she’ll kick his ass. But the more time she spends with the snarky yet utterly charming demon, the more she realizes she likes this new, improved Astaroth… and maybe she doesn’t want him to recover his memories after all.

About The Author:

Sarah Hawley lives in the Pacific Northwest, where her hobbies include rambling through the woods and appreciating fictional villains. She has an MA in archaeology and has excavated at an Inca site in Chile, a Bronze Age palace in Turkey, and a medieval abbey in England. When not dreaming up whimsical love stories, she can be found reading, dancing, or cuddling her two cats.

Book Synopsis:

In deepest winter, beware the coldest hearts . . .

London, 1850. Constance Horton has disappeared.

Maude, her older sister, knows only that Constance abandoned the apothecary they call home, and, disguised as a boy, boarded a ship bound for the Arctic. She never returned. ‘A tragic accident’, the Admiralty called it. But Maude Horton knows something isn’t right.

When she finds Constance’s journal, it becomes clear that the truth is being buried by sinister forces. To find answers – and deliver justice for her sister – Maude must step into London’s dark underbelly, and into the path of dangerous, powerful men. The kind of men who seek their fortune in the city’s horrors, from the hangings at Newgate to the ghoulish waxworks of Madame Tussaud’s.

It is a perilous task. But Maude has dangerous skills of her own . . .

My Review:

Wow this was an absolutely fantastic book that I raced through in a couple of days. I read 200 pages in one day which is no easy feat with three kids. 

Firstly I absolutely loved the author’s vivid descriptions in this book which made me feel completely transported to the Victorian era and the Arctic in turn. These happen to be two of my favourite settings in a book so I absolutely loved learning more about them. I’d actually never heard about either the Victorian Murder Mania and the explorations into the Arctic to find out what happen to Franklin so I found it fascinating to discover more about them. The author has included some real life character’s and events into the story which I always love and I spent lots of time googling them as I was very intrigued.

The story is told from the point of view of Maude and Edison with extracts from ship boy Jack Aldridge. I found this very interesting as it helped me get to know the characters and to see things from both of their points of view. I loved Maude and enjoyed following her throughout the book. She’s an incredibly brave, clever lady and it was fun to try to solve the mystery of what happened to her sister alongside her. Edison was an interesting character who I couldn’t make my mind up about. On one hand he was obviously slightly unhinged with some of his behaviour but on the other I actually felt quite sorry for him at times as he’s obviously had a bit of a difficult time in life.

Overall, as you can probably tell, I absolutely loved this book and will be recommending it to everyone. The author has a great way of slowly increasing the tension in the book as the reader follows Maude in her investigation and Jack trying to avoid detection in the freezing cold Arctic until it becomes almost unbearable. I found it almost impossible to put the book down as I had to keep reading to find out what on earth would happen next and to make sure everyone was going to be OK. There were lots of surprising twists that kept me guessing and seemed to keep going. Just when I thought everything had been revealed there would be another twist that threw more light onto the whole story. I honestly didn’t guess how this book would end, which I always love and I can’t wait to read more from this author in the future. I’m really hoping there will be a sequel as I’d love to spend time with Maude again.

Huge thanks to Siobhan from Picador for providing me with a proof of this book through Rossiter books. If you’re a fan of historical crime books then I highly recommend this book.

About The Author:

Lizzie is an award-winning writer and journalist. She is the author of Moonlight and the Pearler’s Daughter, a STYLIST and WOMAN & HOME ‘Best Books of 2022’ pick.

Lizzie began her career in women’s magazines, covering everything from feminist motorcycle gangs to conspiracy theorists, before moving into travel writing, contributing to publications including Condé Nast Traveller, Lonely Planet and the Sunday Times.

Her assignments have taken her to some of the most remote parts of the world, from the uninhabited east coast of Greenland in search of polar bears, to the trans-Himalayas to track snow leopards. She was inspired to write Moonlight and the Pearler’s Daughter, her debut, after taking a road trip through Australia with her twin sister after the death of their father. A chance visit to the Maritime Museum in Fremantle led her to an exhibition about a family of British settlers involved in the early pearl diving industry. Thus began an obsession and a research journey that would take Lizzie from the corridors of the British Library to isolated pearl farms in the farthest reaches of northwest Australia.

She lives in London.

Good morning everyone I thought I’d do a little reading update today:

Last: The Philosophy Of Love by Rebecca Ryan &
Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge by Lizzie Pook

I’m on a bit of a roll with five Star reads and absolutely loved both of these books. I finished both in a couple of days as I just couldn’t put them down. I reviewed The Philosophy Of Love last weekend and you can read my review on my profile. I’ll be posting my review of Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge later today. I highly recommend both these fabulous books!

Now: The Secrets Of Blythswood Square by Sara Sheridan & One Love by Matt Cain

I’m currently reading, and enjoying, these two books. I actually went to uni in 2002 so I remember that period well and I’m loving all the culture references in One Love. I was a huge fan of Sara Sheridan ‘s last book and I’m loving The Secrets Of Blythswood Square so far, especially the descriptions of early photography which is fascinating to learn about.

I’m also listening to The Fury by Alex Michaelides on audiobook which is intriguing so far. An isolated island that locals say is cursed, a group of old friends with lots of secrets and jealousy – what’s not to love!

Next: The List Of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey & Meet Me At The Surface by Jodie Matthews

I’m then hoping to read these two fabulous looking books. I’ve been hearing lots of great things about both of them so I’m looking forward to finally reading them.

Huge thanks to the tagged publishers for sending me the proof copies it’s really appreciated!

What are you currently reading?

Good morning everyone and happy Sunday! Well my book buying ban got smashed this week as a few of my orders came in.  Here are some of the books I’ve picked up:

❤️The Runaway Heiress by Emma Orchard
🧡 Divorced Not Dead by Harper Ford
💛 Sisters Of The Sky by Lana Kortchik
💚The Only One Left
💙Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
🩵King Of Wrath by Ana Huang
💜King Of Pride by Ana Huang
💟A Demon’s Guide To Wooing A Witch by Sarah Hawley
🩷Girl, Goddess, Queen by Bea Fitzgerald
🤍The City Of Stardust by Georgia Summers

As you can see it’s a bit of a mixed bag from a variety of genres.  Some of these like Riley Sager, Anna Huang and Sarah Hawley I’ve read before so I’m very excited to read their new books.  The rest are all new authors for me, from recommendations that I’ve had from my fellow book lovers on here, and I’m looking forward to reading them soon.

I’m working today which is always fun as Sunday is normal quite busy.  It tends to be people from out of town who have come to visit Malvern for the day so it’s fun to meet new people.  I’m really hoping that one of the books I’ve been looking forward to has arriving the two days I’ve been off too.

What was the last book you bought? Do you see any I should bump up my list?

Good afternoon everyone I hope you’re having a great Saturday. I received a copy of this fabulous sounding book in the post this week. I have a bit of a fascination about AI and what it might be able to do in the future so this book instantly appealed.

Huge thanks to Jasmine from Viking for my copy of this book.

Out 14th March 2024!

What’s your opinion of AI? Useful or something to be feared?

Book Synopsis:

From the acclaimed authors of the runaway New York Times bestseller 2034 comes an explosive work of speculative fiction about a radical leap forward in artificial intelligence that combines with America’s violent partisan divide to create an existential threat to the country – and the world.

The year is 2054. It is twenty years after the nuclear war between the United States and China that brought down the old American political order. The new American Dream Party has emerged in the US and held power for over a decade. Many fear the president will stop at nothing to remain in the White House. Suddenly, he collapses in the middle of an address to the nation. After a flurry of misinformation, the administration reluctantly announces his death. A cover-up ensues, conspiracy theories spread like wildfire and the country descends into civil war.

A handful of elite actors from the worlds of computer science, intelligence and business have a fairly good idea what happened. All signs point to a profound breakthrough in AI, of which the remote assassination of an American president is hardly the most game-changing ramification. The trail leads to an outpost in the Amazon rainforest: the last known whereabouts of the tech visionary who predicted this breakthrough. As some of the world’s great powers – old and new, state and nonstate alike – struggle to outmanoeuvre one another in this new Great Game of scientific discovery, the outcome becomes entangled with the fate of democracy itself.

Combining a deep understanding of AI, biotech and the possibility of a coming singularity, along with their signature geopolitical sophistication, Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis have once again written a visionary work. 2054 is a novel that reads like a thriller even as it demands that we consider the trajectory of our society and its potentially calamitous destination.

About The Authors:

ELLIOT ACKERMAN is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Halcyon, 2034, Red Dress In Black and White, Waiting for Eden, Dark at the Crossing, and Green on Blue, as well as the memoir The Fifth Act: America’s End in Afghanistan, and Places and Names: On War, Revolution and Returning. His books have been nominated for the National Book Award, the Andrew Carnegie Medal in both fiction and nonfiction, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize among others. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and Marine veteran who served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart. He divides his time between New York City and Washington, D.C.

Admiral James Stavridis

Admiral Jim Stavridis, USN (Ret.), spent more than thirty years in the U.S. Navy, rising to the rank of four-star admiral. He was Supreme Allied Commander at NATO and previously commanded U.S. Southern Command, over-seeing military operations throughout Latin America. At sea, he commanded a Navy destroyer, a destroyer squadron, and an aircraft carrier battle group in combat. He holds a PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where he recently served five years as dean. He received fifty medals in the course of his military career, including twenty-eight from foreign nations. He is the author of ten other books, including Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the World’s Oceans and Sailing True North: Ten Admirals and the Voyage of Character, and is Chief International Analyst for NBC News and a contributing editor of Time magazine. He is currently the vice chair, global affairs, and managing director of the Carlyle Group and the chair of the board of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Good morning everyone I was tagged by the lovely @nothing.beats.a.good.book to share a stack with your favourite Disney film and a cold stack so, as they complimented each other, I thought I’d combine the two.

I absolutely love the film Frozen and always try to steer my kids towards it when we’re trying to choose a film. The characters in it are fantastic and I really love the catchy songs. I’m quite sure if it was around when I was younger I’d have bought everything to do with it. Instead I have to try and live precariously through my daughter who has recently declared she’s too old for it now sob .

When I was a kid my favourite film was Mary Poppins and apparently I used to go out in the garden with an umbrella, twirling it around and singing. I also love Tangled but the kids didn’t have any toys from that film 🤣

We’ve got a busy day today as my youngest have clubs this morning and my daughter has two birthday parties. I’m hoping to take the boys for a haircut and we may visit the bookshop so they can spend their book vouchers.

I’ve tagged a few people who might want to take part, but as always, no pressure.

What’s your favourite Disney film?

Book Synopsis:

Molly Gray wears her Head Maid badge proudly for every shift at the Regency Grand Hotel: plumping pillows, sweeping up secrets, silently restoring rooms to a state of perfection. But the hotel’s reputation is sullied when a guest – a famous mystery writer – drops very dead on the tearoom floor.

As suspicion swirls in the hotel corridors, it’s clear there’s grime lurking beneath the gilt. And Molly knows that she alone holds the key to the mystery. But unlocking it means thinking about the past, about a dusty old house, and everything else she’s tidied away in her memory.

Because Molly knew the dead guest once upon a time – and she knows his secrets too . . .

My Review:

The Mystery Guest was a compelling, absorbing and heartwarming read which I really enjoyed.

Firstly I really loved Molly and enjoyed following her throughout the book. She’s such a sweet person who seems to really care about those closest to her. She calls things as she sees them which made her seem very endearing to me and often made me wish I could just reach into the book and give her a huge hug. We find out more about her childhood in this book and I found it heartbreaking to discover how she was treated when she was younger. It made me glad that she’s found herself a good place in the hotel with friends who get her and seemed to really care for her.

I thought the mystery side of the story was well done and I enjoyed watching everything unfold. The story is told in two timelines one sent in the present day following the murder investigation and the other flashing back to Molly’s childhood. It was very intriguing watching things unfold and watching the two timelines slowly reveal some secrets as the story continues. There were a lot of surprising twists that I wasn’t expecting and I honestly didn’t guess who the murderer was until just before it was revealed which I really loved. I was actually completely convinced it was another person so I thought it was clever that the author kept me guessing. 

Overall I adored this book and really hope this isn’t the last we see of Molly. I felt it was a bit of a slow burn as it took a while for the mystery to get going but I didn’t mind as I was having so much fun hanging out with Molly. I listened to this on audiobook and though the narrator did a great job telling the story, I particularly liked the different voices she was able to do for each characters. I found this book very gripping and I often found myself paused as I listened as I was so absorbed in the story. The ending was brilliant and I closed the book very sad to leave Molly behind. 

Huge thanks to Indie Thinking for my physical copy of this book, as well as Libro and Harper Collins for providing me with ALC of this book. If you like a cosy, absorbing mystery with a lovable thought slightly flawed main character then I highly recommend this book.

About The Author:

Nita Prose is the author of THE MAID, which has sold more than 1 million copies worldwide and was published in over forty countries. A #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestseller and a Good Morning America Book Club pick, THE MAID won the Ned Kelly Award for International Crime Fiction and was an Edgar Award finalist. Her second novel, THE MYSTERY GUEST, publishes in November 2023 in North America (January 2024 in the UK). Prose lives in Toronto, Canada, in a house that is moderately clean.

Good morning everyone and happy Friday. It’s the weekend finally whoop!

I was lucky enough to receive these fabulous looking books from @gallicbooks this week:

❤️Edith Holler by Edward Carey

💚 Clara Reads Proust by Stéphane Carlier

💙 The Tumbling Girl by Bridget Walsh

💜 The Innocents by Bridget Walsh

I’m a huge fan of Edward Carey and absolutely loved his last book Little so I actually squealed when I received a copy of Edith Holler. It sounds amazing and I love that it has more wonderful illustrations in it.

I’ve heard great things about Bridget Walsh’s books and, as I’m fascinated by the Victorian era, I can’t wait to read these soon. They are set in the Victorian music halls which I haven’t read much about before which is always exciting.

Clara Reads Proust is set in a French village and I always enjoy books set on different countries. I’ve been hearing great things gs from my fellow book friends so I’m very intrigued.

Huge thanks to Gallic for sending me these it’s really appreciated.

Edith Holler by Edward Carey

Edward Carey’s witty and entrancing story of a young woman trapped in a ramshackle English playhouse – and the mysterious figure who threatens its very survival.Norwich, 1901. Edith Holler spends her days among the eccentric denizens of the Holler Theatre, warned by her domineering father that the playhouse will literally tumble down if she should ever leave.

Fascinated by tales of the city she knows only from afar, young Edith decides to write a play of her own about Mawther Meg, a monstrous figure said to have used the blood of countless children to make the local delicacy, Beetle Spread. But when her father suddenly announces his engagement to a peculiar woman named Margaret Unthank, Edith scrambles to protect her father, the theatre, and her play – the one thing that’s truly hers – from the newcomer’s sinister designs. 

Teeming with unforgettable characters and illuminated by Carey’s trademark illustrations, Edith Holler is a surprisingly modern fable of one young woman’s struggle to escape her family’s control and craft her own creative destiny.

Clara Reads Proust by Stéphane Carlier

A tender and witty coming-of-age story about the power of literature to inspire new beginnings, peppered with a cast of quirky characters and a unique heroine.

Clara is a hairdresser at Cindy Coiffure, a sleepy French salon with an identity crisis. Her relationship is fizzling out. Her tanoholic boss Madame Habib worships Jacques Chirac and talks longingly of her days in Paris. The highlight of the week was when the dishy technician came to repair the display cabinet. And now Madame Lévy-Leroyer wants to go blonde. Clara can’t help but wonder if there’s more to life . . . 

Everything changes when a customer leaves behind the first volume of In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust. As Clara reads, she discovers a whole new world, leading her to strike up an unexpected friendship. And slowly but surely, she will work out who she wants to be.

The Tumbling Girl by Bridget Walsh

1876, Victorian London. Minnie Ward, a feisty scriptwriter for the Variety Palace Music Hall, is devastated when her best friend is found brutally murdered. She enlists the help of private detective Albert Easterbrook to help her find justice. 

Together they navigate London, from its high-class clubs to its murky underbelly. But as the bodies pile up, they must rely on one another if they’re going to track down the killer – and make it out alive . . .

The first in a sharp, witty series of Victorian mystery novels, The Tumbling Girl is sure to delight fans of Sarah Waters, Elizabeth Macneal, and Miss Scarlet and the Duke.

The Innocents by Bridget Walsh

In the hotly anticipated follow-up to The Tumbling Girl, Minnie and Albert take on a new crime-solving quest in the world of a Victorian music hall.

The Variety Palace Music Hall is in trouble, due in no small part to a gruesome spate of murders that unfolded around it a few months previously. 

Between writing, managing the music hall and trying to dissuade her boss from installing a water tank in the building, Minnie Ward has her hands full. Her complicated relationship with detective Albert Easterbrook doesn’t even bear thinking about. 

But when a new string of murders tears through London, Minnie and Albert are thrown together once more. Strangely, the crimes seem to link back to a tragedy that took place fourteen years ago, leaving 183 children dead. 

And given that the incident touched so many people’s lives, everyone is a suspect . . .