Synopsis

The Welsh borders, 1870s: on the cusp of adulthood, Eliza Mace is battling for her independence. Stuck in a crumbling manor house on the fringe of a small town, she is thwarted by powers that conspire to protect, control and deceive her. But when her father goes missing in mysterious circumstances, Eliza’s determination to uncover the truth is unstoppable.
 
Joining forces with the charismatic new police constable, Dafydd Pritchard, she sets out to solve the case, but that’s no easy task. Her father has run up debts in town and beyond, and there are many who bear him a grudge. As she searches for evidence, Eliza exposes dark secrets that threaten to tear her world apart… 

Review

This was such an interesting story. Victorian crime tends to be gothic and very dark, but this was a nice balance of cosy crime away from the dark alleyways of London.

Eliza is a great character, full of gumption, although she maintains a naivety of one so young. To this end she and Dafydd work quite well together as they complement each other nicely, each approaching the situation from a different angle. There are plenty of suspicious characters to throw readers off the scent, not least because the victim – Eliza’s father – really isn’t a nice man.

I did feel disappointed with Hannah’s character; at first she seems very strong and relaxed about her daughter roaming around, but she suddenly changes and becomes more concerned with propriety than expected. It seems quite unlikely Eliza would be allowed to meet up with a policeman without a chaperone, but consistency would have helped here!

It is a slow story, with a lot of introduction and description before we really get into the plot, which is a shame. The pace remains gentle throughout, but does pick up once we have our dead body, although this could have happened much earlier. At times the authors seem to take far too long to tell us what is happening and this detracts from what is a pretty good story.

Narration is good, although Eliza feels a bit too modern at times in the delivery of sentences ending on a higher pitch, as if everything is a question which doesn’t quite work.

Overall, a solid story although I shan’t be racing to read the next one.

Thanks to Duckworth Books and NetGalley for the audiobook. Opinions my own.