Patrice McDonough - A Slash of Emerald

London, 1867: Among the genteel young ladies of London society, painting is a perfectly acceptable pastime—but a woman who dares to pursue art as a profession is another prospect, indeed. Dr. Julia Lewis, familiar with the disrespect afforded women in untraditional careers, is hardly surprised when Scotland Yard shows little interest in complaints made by her friend, Mary Allingham, about a break-in at her art studio. Mary is just one of many “lady painters” being targeted by vandals.
Painters’ sitters are vanishing, too—women viewed by some as dispensable outcasts. Inspector Richard Tennant, however, takes the attacks seriously, suspecting they’re linked to the poison-pen letters received by additional members of the Allingham family. For Julia, the issue is complicated by Tennant’s previous relationship with Mary’s sister-in-law, Louisa, and by her own surprising reaction to that entanglement.
But when someone close to them commits suicide and a young woman turns up dead, the case can no longer be so easily ignored by ‘respectable’ society. Layer after layer, Julia and Tennant scrape away the facts of the case like paint from a canvas. What emerges is a somber picture of vice, depravity, and deception stretching from London’s East End to the Far East—with a killer at its center, determined to get away with one last, grisly murder . . .

Comment: Last May I've buddy read the first book in the dr Julia Lewis series and I liked it a lot, as did my friend. Thus, now that the second one has been out for some time, we jumped right into it.

In this second adventure, Julia is asked to help the police again, and in the follow-up she sees herself part of another investigation. A young woman has been found dead but while Tennant and Julia deal with the possible causes, a respected man is found dead, presumably by his own hand, a few days after he had been rescued from an accident on the iced river. His sister and wife are left without an explanation but it all starts point towards the artists who use the type of color used in the mix with the poison which caused the man's death. Then, when all clues point to a possible suspect, that person is murdered. What is going on and how can Julia and Tennant solve the case, especially since many loose threads regarding another case seem to connect somehow with this one?

Once again, I've found this story to be very compelling. The case being investigated is interesting, and even more so when we realize there's more to it than what seemed at first. The most compelling part was precisely how what seemed to be a simple case turned out to be way more complex than what would seem possible.

I think the author did a good job setting up all the elements, along with the social commentary we got used to in the first book, namely all the content regarding woman's rights and place in society and how unfair the laws were to women. It was also clever to suggest the investigation would feature a certain situation and, as layers are peeled, after all there were other things hidden, which led to a more serious case than what seemed at first. The development of the investigation felt very intriguing and engaging and I was quite motivated to learn what was behind everything.

There are, in fact, more details to consider than what seems at first and we learn that the man who committed suicide had some secrets and even those secrets relate to issues that were more complex than what seemed possible. I was quite taken by the police investigation since, obviously, they could not use contemporary tools - some things would have been very easy to discover otherwise - but the deduction process and the clever way to reach some rational conclusions felt particularly well done.

Some elements weren't as fascinating, namely the identity of the murderer. I mean, the why seems simple and isn't, but the way things lead to unravel the person is not very satisfying, as isn't how the story ends. Besides the murderer case, there's also another subject being investigated which brings to light very unfair and even criminal issues, but this isn't fully solved. I can suppose something about this might be referenced in the possible third book, considering the final chapter, but... it's still unacceptable that there isn't a better resolution to some things.

As it happened in the first book, we keep having hints of a romance between Tennant and Julia, which I truly hope will happen. I also wish this could happen because this series certainly needs more positive and warmth to balance the sometimes too dark allusions and situations debated. I think this doesn't "ruin" the story, but having only depressing themes can be tiring, and I think a romance here, a solid one of course!, would help tremendously. I hope the third story can offer that.

Grade: 8/10

Patrice McDonough - Murder by Lamplight

November 1866: The grisly murder site in London’s East End is thronged with onlookers. None of them expect the calmly efficient young woman among them to be a medical doctor, arrived to examine the corpse. Inspector Richard Tennant, overseeing the investigation, at first makes no effort to disguise his skepticism. But Dr. Julia Lewis is accustomed to such condescension . . .
To study medicine, Julia had to leave Britain, where universities still bar their doors to women, and travel to America. She returned home to work in her grandfather’s practice—and to find London in the grip of a devastating cholera epidemic. In four years, however, she has seen nothing quite like this—a local clergyman’s body sexually mutilated and displayed in a manner that she—and Tennant—both suspect is personal.
Days later, another body is found with links to the first, and Tennant calls in Dr. Lewis again. The murderer begins sending the police taunting letters and tantalizing clues—though the trail leads in multiple directions, from London’s music halls to its grim workhouses and dank sewers. Lewis and Tennant struggle to understand the killer’s dark obsessions and motivations. But there is new urgency, for the doctor’s role appears to have shifted from expert to target. And this killer is no impulsive monster, but a fiendishly calculating opponent, determined to see his plan through to its terrifying conclusion . . .

Comment: I have a friend with whom I buddy read some books. We are quite organized and usually read two books per month, starting at a certain day and after we finish, we talk about it. Our taste is similar for most genres we have in common, but lately, we have certainly dedicated ourselves to mysteries with romantic elements and/or romance. 

That is why this book got on our radar, the blurb seemed to imply we would have the mystery we like and I, personally, hoped for some romance as well.

In this book we meet dr Julia Lewis, who has done her best to become a physician like her grandfather, with whom she works. When the story begins Julia is replacing her grandfather on a murder scene, and that is when she meets detective Tennat of Scotland Yard. At first, every policeman is wary of her presence, but Julia is quite professional and as the murders pile up, she keeps attending the location and even provides interesting information. However, someone has a killing agenda, but the connection between the victims doesn't seem easy to find.... then, at some point, it also feels the killer might have his sight on Julia... could it be that her dedication is her downfall?

Women having professions which are not the norm in the 1800s might not always seem easy to accept but I must say I was all onboard with Julia as a doctor and having her help with police crime scenes too. I was very much in awe of her competence and professionalism, although it felt as if she was a little too aloof at times. Perhaps this has to do with the writing style, which is to the point and without many extras, and sometimes that can be read as impersonal.

The plot has many of the elements I usually look for in these types of books, meaning historicals where the main focus is on a crime being investigated. An unknown villain is killing people and at first it felt nothing would link them but the investigators start noticing the killer's calling card was a balloon (like the ones from kids' parties) and they start looking into the victims' identities until they find things that all of them have in common. The process didn't feel rushed and the several situations are often peppered by some social commentary and information about the protagonists.

Julia is a fascinating character, even with her aloofness, and I appreciated a lot how dedicated she is to her profession and how caring she is too. Perhaps she isn't bubbly nor acts vulnerable but she is competent and clever and has beliefs which I can accept considering her path in life.

I liked detective Tennant too, although his personal story seems more complex but I applauded his eagerness to find the killer and his respect for Julia and those he felt were helping in the investigation. I would say they are not as fleshed as possible, perhaps this is a work in progress since there is one more book, at least, after this one, but their mutual impressions make me believe there could be something romantic developing too. Nothing that obvious in this book, though.

I was quite interested in reading this and wanting to find out what would happen next. I would say the writing style isn't always as charismatic as it could, but the way things played out kept me curious. I never considered the villain to be the person it is, and that added one more surprising factor for me. It does feel a little unfair how the villain's reasons for the crimes are made to seem unfavorable and I wish more attention had been given to it. I suppose the historical factor here might be a reason for it.

All things considered, this was an intriguing story and despite some less positive elements here and there, I will very likely read the next one too, at some point. I'll have to check if my friend will want to as well.

Grade: 8/10