A Pretender's Murder by Christopher Huang Series: Eric Peterkin #2
Published by Inkshares on January 27, 2026
Source: NetGalley
Genres: Historical Mystery
Pages: 400
Format: eARC
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Colonel Russell before the War had four sons; now he has four widowed daughters-in-law, each facing the aftermath in her own iconic way. Then an old friend of the Colonel’s dead sons resurfaces, reawakening tales of wartime espionage — enemy spies preying on the unwitting families at home — and is he really who he says? When the Colonel is thrown bodily through an upstairs window of his London Club, Eric Peterkin is once again called to investigate.
Eric Peterkin’s second mystery is about recognising that war impacts more than just the men who there are wheels turning behind the scenes and strings being pulled from afar, and the people we leave behind might ultimately leave us behind. Set in the 1920s and the aftermath of the Great War, the story honours the period by reflecting the changing social mores, the gradual emancipation of women, the questioning of tradition, and the illusion of innocence — the truth behind the facade, against a backdrop of ongoing war trauma.
A Pretender’s Murder is the second in the Eric Peterkin historical mystery series, but can certainly be read as a stand-alone. Eric Peterkin, our amateur sleuth is dealing with life post WWI. He carries guilt for decisions, and occasionally has flashbacks. He has recently been elected to the position of secretary of the Brittania Club, a result of the murder in the first book, and is relieved when the well-respected Colonel Hadrian Russell shows his support. When Russell is murdered in the club, Peterkin takes it upon himself to find the killer.
The Colonel had four daughters-in-law, each of whose husbands died in the war. These women let us see how the war impacted women’s lives, both during the fighting and afterward, but are potential suspects. We have one of the dead men’s friends who has returned after convalescing abroad and has been getting quite close to one of the widows. It’s also possible that some of the Colonel’s activities during the war led to his death.
This not a quick read. The plot is complex and maybe a little drawn out. I like the characters and setting, but found myself not really caring who dunnit.
About Christopher Huang
Christopher Huang was born in Singapore, where he lived out the first seventeen years of his life. He moved to Canada in the expectation of cooler weather, returning to Singapore the following year to serve his two years of National Service in the Singapore Army. He studied architecture at McGill University, and lived the next twenty-odd years in Montreal. He now lives in Calgary, Alberta.
A longtime fan of the principles of fair play governing the mystery genre, he thinks of detective stories as an early form of interactive fiction. He is, of course, very fond of modern interactive fiction as well.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges: