One of those books where you aren't sure at first if you're reading a cozy mystery, a ghost story, or a thriller. The main character, an upper-class lady who leaves her husband after some physical abuse, is very likable and interesting. We're simultaneously introduced to a missing woman through her diary entries from a few years previous, and her vanity and foolishness do make one itch. The plot expands to a few additional characters.

Plot: 5. I wasn't sure where it was going at first - whether a ghost was responsible for the murders, or perhaps a madman in a hidden asylum. But some very interesting plot twists make the plot work out neatly - perhaps a little improbably, but I was quite satisfied.

Execution: 3. Each chapter begins with an excerpt of the missing woman's diary, so you can trace her descent into horror. It starts to feel a bit formulaic after a while.

Character development: 4. Lydia seems to me to be a bit too willing to leave the security of home and husband, but she is well fleshed-out overall. Many of the supporting characters could have easily been cardboard villains or heroes, but end up having complexities that keep them from from being quite that.

Scenes: 4. Some dovetailing into the politics of 1930's England are particularly interesting - the fascist meeting and those who ware against them. Some of the horror elements just come off as being silly, or at least tacked-on, when their mundane explanations are revealed.

Puzzle: 4. I lost track of all of the relationships between the main characters, which might have led me away from figuring out the eventual murderer. Certainly some of the revelations towards the end came as complete surprises, but when I figured out the implications and see how they fit together, I was usually impressed. ( )

I read this as a result of it being highly rated by another LibraryThing reader with whose views on another book I agreed. For me, though, it wasn’t so good. I found my interest flagging a bit two-thirds of the way through and the ending where it turns out to be Fenella who had killed her aunt, Miss Penhow and who then goes on to murder Joe Serridge who has turned out to be Lydia’s real father. All this taxes the reader’s credulity and, in my case, puts him off through the melodrama.

While criticising the book, set in 1930 and 1934, I should add that I found it odd that Lydia’s apparent father should wish to have seen a marriage counsellor conjured up when she told him of her bad marriage to Marcus – it’s hardly what would come to the mind of a largely sozzled individual since marriage counsellors had only really come into currency in the US and Germany a little earlier than this. What Taylor is miles out with is the Morris Minor than Mrs Alforde drives. MMs weren’t manufactured until 1948, some 14 years later!

What was a little odd was the way Taylor uses the second person to someone – the reader? – when introducing each segment of Miss Penhow’s diary. It had me intrigues as I expected to find out who was addressed but I think it was just the author’s way of trying to draw the reader in – something which worked until I realised it was essentially meaningless.

It was interesting having this set in the 1930s and I liked that element but all in the all the plot wasn’t convincing enough and the historical setting couldn’t make up for this. Still, Lydia was quite well drawn. ( )

Lydia Langstone leaves her abusive husband and goes to live with her father at 7 Bleeding Heart Square. A strange place, the square has its own chapel and the house itself is home to a number of intriguing people. Lydia meets Rory Wentwood who is looking into the mysterious disappearance of Miss Penhow, the house's owner.

I liked this book more than I thought I would. For some reason I thought it was set in Victorian times which is not one of my favourite genres, but then realised it's actually set in the 1930s. There is a interesting side-story about the rise of the fascist party in that decade but the main story concerns Miss Penhow and what might have happened to her. It took a little while for me to get into the story because there's quite a lot going on and it became quite complicated but I soon became engrossed in it and I ended up really enjoying it.

It all came together well as the story progressed and the ending in particular was a surprise. There was some clever plotting involved. This is the first of Andrew Taylor's books that I have read but I would definitely read more. ( )

I do like Andrew Taylor's books, but the best word to describe his style is probably 'meandering'. The tangled plot of Bleeding Heart Square did keep me interested, but getting to the reveal was hard going at times. The characters are well developed, from determined heroine Lydia to the skin-crawling Mr Serridge, and the atmosphere, as always with Taylor, is incredibly dark and claustrophobic. I also admire how the author wove such a Dickensian tale from real life, grounding his gothic adventure in modern history. Good, but slow. ( )

Andrew Taylor’s literary mystery is set in London in the early 1930's, in that uneasy period between the Great Wars.

Aristocrat Lydia Langstone leaves her violent husband and having no one else to turn to moves in with her ne'er-do-well drunken Father, Captain Ingleby-Lewis.

Their scruffy, lodging house at 7 Bleeding Heart Square used to be owned by a rich spinster Miss Phillipa Penhow but she has, apparently, gone to America after signing over the house to Joseph Serridge, a mysterious, menacing man. Miss Penhow has not been heard of in four years

Rory Wentworth, a struggling journalist wants to find out what happened to Ms Penhow, his soon to be ex fiancée is her niece. Rory turns out not to be alone in his suspicions about Joseph Serridge. A plain clothes policeman, Narton, is watching the house obsessively and strange parcels addressed to Major Serridge and containing rotting animal hearts begin arriving at the house.

The mysterious disappearance of Miss Penhow is the foundation of the novel but it is the strong writing, the almost Dickensian characters and the layer upon layer of subplots, all twisting and turning, till they become interlinked that keeps you turning the pages. The book has a menacing atmosphere throughout, with shady, shifty characters and a threat of violence, either real or perceived.

Intertwined with this is Miss Penhow's diary which is narrated to the reader by a persons unknown and you feel in turns sorry and then angry at this foolish, naive woman desperate for love.

The sense of period is superb and the author has important things to say about the privileged rich and their attitude towards the working class, rural Britain, the legacy of World War One, women’s place in society and the rise of the British Fascist party. The setting of a grim, cold London in the 30s and the gloomy oppressive nature of Bleeding heart Square itself gives the story a sinister,menacing tone.

I loved ‘plucky’ Lydia Langstone as the lady who is now ‘slumming’ it trying to make a new life for herself, her growing friendship with Rory Wentworth as he also moves into 7 Bleeding Heart Square, and her own part in unravelling the threads surrounding Miss Penhow's story. ( )