Murder by Lamplight by Patrice McDonough is a historical mystery set in Victorian London in November 1866. It features Detective Inspector Richard Tennant of Scotland Yard and Dr. Julia Lewis, one of Britain’s first female physicians. The two team up to investigate a series of gruesome murders that are linked. The murderer sends the police taunting letters and clues, but how many must die before the killer is caught?

Julia is overworked between her practice and operating a clinic in an impoverished part of town. She is direct, intelligent, curious, and wants to be listened to; not just seen. Richard is dour, aloof, guarded, has a steely resolve, and isn’t easy to know. Shrewd Sergeant Graves and young, but meticulous, Constable O’Malley assist them in their investigations. The characters have depth and seemed to come to life as the story unfolds. Readers also get insight into the killer as his or her viewpoint and thoughts are also occasionally revealed.

The narrative flows a little unevenly, but has a twisty and absorbing plot that is atmospheric. The story immediately fascinated me from the first chapter to its shocking conclusion. One of the things I enjoy about historical fiction is learning something new. In this case, I learned more about the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak in London and life in workhouses, as well as the beginning of women physicians in England. Readers should be aware that there are graphic descriptions of the sanitary conditions of the times. Themes include murder, immigration, racism, poverty, family, revenge, patience, friendship, and much more.

Overall, this dark, gritty, and engaging book has great characterization with able main characters, excellent worldbuilding, and a solid mystery. Readers who appreciate historical mystery stories will ly enjoy this novel. I hope that this becomes a series.

Kensington Books and Patrice McDonough provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date is currently set for February 20, 2024.
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My 4.18 rounded to 4 stars review is coming soon.
historical-mystery netgalley-2024 quest-winter-2024 ...more99 s15 comments Kristina 908 545

I want to be nice but woof, this book.

I will say that the author seems she really enjoyed the research, the time period and the subject matter and the prose was well written, unfortunately that doesn’t make up for dragging plot, excessive info dumping and stilted dialogue. Please find a really strict editor next time and listen to them.
All this info, though probably really interesting to a person doing the research, dragged the story down and made this book a chore to read. A book can be technically well written but also have a very bad reader experience and though I believe authors should write what they love, they have to consider how a reader will digest a story and this story was eating a brick. Debut author’s syndrome is really at play here; just because you researched all this info doesn’t make it plot necessary, it’s ok to not include it, the effort wasn’t wasted.
No one needed so much information on sewer systems through the ages, NO ONE!!
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