The Highgate Cemetery Murder by Irina Shapiro Narrator: Imogen Church
Series: Tate and Bell Mystery #1
Published by Storm Publishing on February 29, 2024
Source: NetGalley
Genres: Historical Mystery
Length: 12 hrs 42 mins
Pages: 382
Format: Audiobook
Purchase at Bookshop.org or Audible
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His heart pounding, the man scribbles the words in his notebook as fast as he can: “Woman dead in Highgate. Man in caped coat. Milky way and red streaks. I’m being followed.”
Hours later, the man’s cold body lies in the city mortuary, alongside the woman he couldn’t save. And his sister, unconventional nurse Gemma Tate, tracks down troubled police inspector Sebastian Bell to unravel the truth.
Sebastian has enough pressure to solve the murder of an aristocratic heiress without Gemma meddling in his case. But the cryptic sentences she brings him from her brother’s notebook could be a crucial lead. If only they knew what “milky way” meant. But as the trail of clues takes them away from the gilded drawing rooms of the nobility and into the dangerous slums of London, how far will their partnership be tested on the quest for justice, and will they both emerge unscathed?
Fans of Andrea Penrose, Deanna Raybourn and Carole Lawrence will be hooked on this intricate, compelling mystery set in Victorian London.
The Highgate Cemetery Murder opens with the discovery of the gruesome murder a young woman on the morning of All Saints’ Day, 1858, who is displayed on a cross in Highgate Cemetery with a pig’s heart around her neck. A journalist who may have witnessed the crime falls under the wheels of an omnibus and is killed. Gemma Tate, a nurse recently returned from the Crimea, is the sister of the journalist and doesn’t believe his death was an accident. Sebastian Bell is the police officer assigned to investigate the murder of the young woman victim in the cemetery. Soon the two begin working together against Bell’s better judgement to solve the two suspicious deaths.
This book is a little darker than what I usually read. The details around the murder really are horrific. And this is not a romanticized Victorian London; it’s dirty, grim, and harsh for many that live there. The author shows us the prejudices, class distinctions, and poverty that abound.
The mystery itself was well-thought out and compelling. The clues are sprinkled throughout and there were several good twists.
What makes this book strong is the characters. Sebastian is deeply troubled, blaming himself for his wife’s murder and addicted to opium. Gemma is resourceful and smart, but battles sexism and nurses are typically looked down on. They are both lonely and in pain, but are stronger, more in control when working together. They make a good team.
I listened to the audio and while overall, the narrator did a good job, occasionally her tone pulled me out of the story. She was overly dramatic at times and her pacing was a bit odd.
About Irina Shapiro
Irina Shapiro is a cozy mystery and paranormal romance novelist from New York. Irina was born in Moscow which is where she spent much of her childhood before moving to the States as an eleven year old. Since she loved reading, she picked up English in a few months and throughout school, she was an honors student. After she graduated in 1992 from Bernard M. Baruch College with an International Business degree, she went on to work in advertising for several years before she pivoted to export and import. Before she left to take care of her autistic son in 2007, she had managed to work her way to become import manager at a large textile company. It was not until Irina spent a few months at home that she thought she should start writing. Her characters eventually started to take a life of their own and she started writing down the conversations they had in her head. She combined her love for travel and history to create detailed and rich backgrounds for her characters. Since then she has written more than thirty novels over several series. Irina currently lives with her husband and two children in New Jersey.
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