Gemma Tate has a new job and a new address. She is putting her past – her memories of nursing in the Crimean war – behind her. Until Jacob Harrow, a journalist with ties to Crimea, is found brutally killed, and Gemma is pulled into the investigation.
Police inspector Sebastian Bell works alone. But when all signs point towards a dark secret Harrow brought back from the war, he realizes he needs Gemma’s help to untangle the mystery. But raking up the past has devastating consequences when Gemma’s friend, another nurse from Crimea, is found murdered in her boarding house…
As dark betrayals come tumbling out, Gemma and Sebastian are on a dangerous race to uncover the truth. In her determination to solve the case, could one rash act by Gemma place her next in the killer’s sights…?
Comment: This is the second installment in the Tate and Bell mystery series by author Irina Shapiro. My buddy read friend and I have read and enjoyed the first story last year and we decided to keep up with the series, thus why we got to this one now.
Police detective Sebastian Bell is called for another case, this time related to a man found hanged, and it was definitely not a suicide. As he investigates the victim he realizes it's a reporter not liked by many, and more so he was blackmailing several people. He also learns he has a connection to a nurse who is familiar to Gemma and he asks her questions to learn more about possible motivations. Then, the nurse is also killed and it does seem everything is more complex than what they imagined. Will Gemma and Sebastian find the culprit before someone else dies too?
The vibe of this story feels quite moody and slightly more bleak than what I remember the first book being. To add contrast, I think the author has established an interesting connection between the main characters and the work they do, which provides character development and a look into their personalities, making them people we like and root for and I certainly hope things between them become more intense, romantically speaking.
The plot of this book is very similar to what happened in the previous one, and I assume this is how all the books will carry on. There is a crime, the police investigates and somehow nurse Gemma will assist in discovering something or helping with something specific. In regards to this case, there were parts I felt a little sad over the situation, since the blackmailing guy was taking advantage of others and these others were not bad people nor were they, for the most part, causing problems or harm, but they were still being exploited. This means the murdered individuals weren't "good" people and it was not difficult to think their fate was deserved.
Of course, this also means someone killed these people and that is where things become more complex. The actual killer shouldn't have done it, obviously, but I can't say the motif was wrong. In fact, the reason why the murders happened was sad and related to an unfair situation, an impossible one actually, if we bear in mind this is an historical setting. I still wish the reasons would have been different because I feel sorry for the killer while still morally condemning his actions.
I still think the author could have added more personality to all the characters... there were times I think some emotions and reactions could have been depicted better. Thinking about the main couple, perhaps not really since I assume we will see them interacting with one another and with other characters in the books that will follow, but some of the secondary characters in this book felt they could have shown more emotional range, namely the killer and two other people connected to the victims.
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