This was a fun and easy book to read. I very much enjoyed it and found it charming. The story of Kate Ardleigh, this young American woman who decides without a backward glance to change her life and move to England is well told. At the same time, Charles Sheridan is wrapped up in his fascination with the budding science of criminology and photography and getting the local police to accept his version of a murder at a nearby archaeological dig. That the two meet and come to work together seems inevitable. When Kate's life unravels, who more natural to help her piece it back together than Charles?

This is a great book for a rainy day read and I am looking forward to the rest of the series. ( )

This book, written by Susan Wittig Albert and her husband, is a great historical read. The details you get from daily life in the late Victorian era is great, but they don't rule the story. And what a story it is!

While Kathryn Ardleigh, an American, free-thinking writer of 'penny-dreadfuls', is crossing the ocean to go to England and work for an aunt she never knew she had, a body is discovered in an archeological dig near where she is going.

Sir Charles Sheridan, an amateur scientist, is determined to find out who the dead man is and who murdered him, when it's clear that the local police can't do their job. What he didn't expect was a feisty American woman who seems very interested in the murder.

Kathryn discovers upon arrival in England that she has two aunts, one who's not that nice, and they seems to hate each other. Not to mention that the staff hates her aunts, and her one aunt hates the staff. The bright side of her stay is that there's been a murder, which is perfect material for her next book, and a secret occult society know as the Order of the Golden Dawn, precisely what she needs for the book she's currently writing. But perhaps Kathryn's inquiries are more dangerous than she thinks...

The mysterie is great, and complicated, and the book has a very surprising ending. I always like a good historical mystery, and this certainly qualifies! Highly recommended, both for lovers of mysteries and lovers of historical fiction. ( )

Kathryn Ardleigh is a struggling young woman, orphaned at an early age, and now supporting herself in Manhattan by doing clerical work in the daytime and writing "penny dreadfuls" at night under the pseudonym Beryl Bardwell. Then, out of the blue, she is approached by a private detective and given an invitation to move to England to live with and be employed by an aunt that she never knew she had. Kate is a strong-willed and resourceful woman and accepts the odd invitation without hesitation. She is everything that a proper English gentlewoman is NOT: outspoken, free-thinking, American with an Irish mother. Her reception at her father's family estate is mixed, for Kate discovers she has not one, but two aunts -- and they could not be more different. Aunt Sabrina is cordial and welcoming. But her aunt Berniece Jaggers is cold, nasty, and condescending. Kate shortly finds herself embroiled in a secret society through her employment, and caught in a world somewhere between polite society and the servants domain belowstairs. She views every experience through the eyes of Beryl Bardwell, taking note of everything new to be used in future mystery stories. And when she finds herself in the middle of a real-life murder mystery, she soon joins forces with another amateur sleuth and budding photographer, Sir Charles Sheridan.

The story here was very good, though the clues to the mystery were a bit heavy handed, I thought. It was a good introduction to both Kate and Sir Charles and I look forward to reading more books in this series. 4. ( )

This book was fun and easy to read. The perfect book to relax and enjoy. Each book in the series gets better as you learn more about the main characters and what it might have been like to live in Victorian England. It's interesting to see the development of forensic science and what Scotland Yard's reaction might have been to some of what we now consider commonplace items. ( )

Kathryn Ardleigh is from America and secretly writes "penny-dreadfuls" under a pseudonym. She's at the end of a job and is invited to join her Aunts in England, aunts she never knew she had. When she arrives she finds herself embroiled in murder, family drama and the Order of the Golden Dawn.

It's interesting and has a fair number of famous people involved but sometimes it just doesn't move as smoothly as it might. Shows promise. ( )