M.J. Tjia

SHE BE DAMNED is the opening salvo in an new series set in London in the 1860's featuring courtesan and professional detective Heloise Chancey. If this opening is anything to go by then this will be a fun, engaging and very lively group of novels.

Given this is the debut, there is a scene and character set up going on, but never to the detriment of the plot and pace of the story overall. Chancey is a wonderful character - strong, resilient, a survivor despite the odds stacked against her - show more revealed as the novel progresses. There's a really good, unforced sense of place and time as well, established using circumstances and events, rather than resorting to scene setting descriptions. Everything about the novel feels true to life, right from the interactions that Chancey has with the police and brothel madams, the girls who work in the brothels, street urchins, and the maids and staff who keep both her, and the wheels of society moving.

The central plot is also very much of the time. The dodgy doctors, the backyard resolutions of untimely pregnancy and the questionable health care for sex workers in those days. From the awful numbers of women being found mutilated and dead, co-coinciding with the disappearance of a young woman thrown out of her family home for her own unmarried pregnancy there is a timely, without being preachy, reminder that we're quick to blame the women, never the clients, never the downright stupid "rules" and restrictions involved. It's actually quite refreshingly done - many of these women are survivors, they are making the best of the hand that life has dealt them and Chancey, in particular, is unrepentant (nor should she be), and proud of her achievements.

Needless to say I really loved this novel. Loved the character, appreciated the observations about women's role in society and the need to survive despite the odds. Loved the sense of place and time, and really liked the way that it all came together in a beautifully balanced storytelling style. SHE BE DAMNED should leave you looking forward to the next instalment with pleasurable anticipation.

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I love the narrative style. Although there's a risk of it becoming overbearing, Tjia manages to strike the perfect balance while maintaining the flow of the story. I'll definitely be reading more from this series!

The second outing for Heloise Chancey, A NECESSARY MURDER follows on from the promising debut SHE BE DAMNED. In that novel we were introduced to Heloise Chancey, courtesan, independent woman and occasional detective. A combination Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poroit in an 1800's V.I. Warshawski depiction, Chancey is considered, cautious, fearless and disdainful of societal rules and expectations. She's a highly sought after courtesan with lovers and champions in all sorts of places, and a show more fondness for detecting that makes enormous sense. So far the crimes she's involved in have had a certain female or domestic leaning about them, making her insertion into the story, in the timeframe, conceivable and, one supposes, achievable.

In A NECESSARY MURDER more is drawn out about Chancey's mixed race background - her Malay "maid" is actually her mother, and her involvement in Chancey's investigation in this outing is more overt - with Amah Li Leen's suspicions about a series of violent deaths, including that of a very young child, falling very close to home indeed. Chancey is called upon to take a position as governess in the home of the first victim - looking after a younger brother - in an attempt to work out if these murders are connected to events years ago in Malaysia, or if there's something closer to home at their heart.

SHE BE DAMNED delivered much potential in the character of Heloise Chancey, an unapologetic, strong woman surviving in a world that's not well disposed towards independent women. Her bravery tempered by intelligence, and a burning desire to see wrongs righted, the basic plot of the first novel had Chancey involved for reasons that made enormous sense. In A NECESSARY MURDER there's slightly less personal motivation for her (as opposed to her mother, but that's not known to Chancey until much later on), so she's taking more of a role as an independent private detective. Because of that there's something slightly less convincing about the underlying plot elements here which struggle a bit for clarity of purpose. Instead, this time, Amah is taking the more personal involvement and that thread has considerable credence as a result. It's when writing about the personal circumstances of these women that Tjia really hits her high notes.

That's not to say that the mystery elements aren't interesting, especially the interspersion of history and societal norms from the time, although it may be that you will have had to read the first book as much of the setup from there is required reading. For this reader at least, it's the personal stories of Heloise Chancey and her mother Amah Li Leen that leave me wanting this series to continue.

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I wish I had read the first title in this series, She Be Damned, before this one. Not because A Necessary Murder cannot be enjoyed as a standalone (it can), but because the references made to the previous case Heloise was involved in were so intriguing!

Series lead Heloise Chancey, and her mother Amah Li Leen (posing as her maid) are appealingly strong-willed and strikingly independent women for their time. They are by necessity enigmatic characters (given Heloise’s profession and their show more ethnicity) currently leading a life of affluence on the fringe of Victorian London society. But this was not always the case. Their situation is precarious and ripe for suspense.

Heloise courts men of power and influence. These men have colourful pasts and associates and, we soon learn, skeletons in their closet. Skeletons worth murdering for. Read full review >> show less