Jim Eldridge

I'm a big fan of Jim Eldridge's museum mystery series, which features a male retired police detective and female archaeologist investigating murders at—you guessed it: British museums!— in the late 1800s. I somehow had missed the fact that he also writes a hotel mysteries series set in WWII London where the murders happen at—you guessed it: British hotels! This new-to-me series is every bit as engaging as the one I've been following. The different setting and cast of characters gives show more reader access to a world very different from the one in the museum series.

In this volume, a kitchen worker has been murdered outside Claridge's. This poses certain problems as a great many leaders and royals from mainland Europe have taken up residence in Claridge's after fleeing their home countries. DCI Coburg, the younger brother of a member of the aristocracy, is called in to take over the investigation because higher-ups trust him not to ruffle feathers while investigating. Coburg find that the kitchen worker is essentially a man without an identity, whose presence in Britain may or may not be a threat. Coburg also finds himself investigating a prostitution ring serving Claridge's residents (more need for not ruffling feather).

The pacing here is lively. The secondary characters are well-developed, and the depictions of life in London during the Blitz are both stark and moving. If you enjoy detective or WWII fiction, you have a real treat ahead of you. Read Murder at Claridge's—and check out Eldrige's museum mysteries as well. You have many happy hours of reading ahead of you.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own. show less

I love historical mysteries. They're my favorite kind of relaxation reading. I admit the genre has its limitations. Too often such novels have one interesting element—the inclusion of a particular historical figure or event—but are much less engaging in other areas. Murder at Madame Tussauds is NOT one of those titles. The characters are interesting, their relationships with one another are rich, and the plot is reasonably complex.

The detectives in this series, set in 1896, are a current show more Scotland Yard Inspector; a former Scotland Yard detective turned private investigator; and a female Egyptologist. (I don't know the backstory for these characters, as this is the first book in the series I've read, and there are five previous volumes.) Arthur Conan Doyle makes an appearance, and there are numerous references to the Nightingale Fund, which supported training for nurses globally. As the title suggests, there's also Madame Tussauds, where the mystery originates: one of the two nighttime guards at the museum is decapitated and left in the French revolution scene; the other has disappeared.

I have a few caveats here. The plotting owes something to Conan Doyle's The Red-Headed League. We're told our female detective holds a first-class Classics degree from Cambridge, but Cambridge didn't begin granting degrees to women until 1948, long after the novel's 1896 setting. But this is fiction, so old ideas can be revisited and historical fact can be altered for the sake of the narrative.

If you enjoy historical mysteries and are willing to allow for a little artistic license on the part of the author, you'll enjoy this book. It's one of those series that leave one feeling compelled to go back and read every previous volume.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own. show less

This is a murder mystery set in Victorian England. Former Scotland Yard detective Daniel Wilson is hired by the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge to investigate a murder on its premises. He teams up with Abigail Fenton, a museum employee, who is cataloguing the museum's Egyptian acquisitions. She found the body and this puts her in the spotlight. A couple of other dead bodies turn up as Wilson and Fenton investigate. The investigation is essentially led by Wilson and results in the discovery show more of the killer's identity.

The story has an interesting premise and it is basically a good one. However, the whodunit gets edged out as the author chases after tangential storylines, that soon are abandoned with no conclusion, For example, there's writing about the campaign for women's right to vote and some demonstrations are staged by the principal female characters . However, this issue (and several others) lasts for only a brief time and then disappears without resolution. Then there's something called the Pyramid Inch. Red herrings or lost ways? There's simply too much crammed into the storytelling.

In the final analysis, this merits a "needs improvement" rating. It's a cluttered and overly busy story. Better to have stuck to the murder mystery! There are probably some who will say there's little mystery about the killer's identity I was surprised to learn that the author had written several other books because this one seemed like a debut. The storytelling gets better as it goes along to the end, which gives me hope that a sequel will be a more enjoyable read. show less

Museum Mysteries, a series by Jim Eldridge, is one of my go-to reads. Each new title that comes out feels like a bit of a vacation to me. The books read quickly, the characters are engaging, and the mystery solutions take some real thinking. The mysteries are set in London during the reign of Queen Victoria, a period I'm particularly fond of when it comes to historical mysteries.

This volume is interesting in that the narrative includes two murders, which may or may not be connected, making show more Daniel and Abigail (the central characters) unsure of the number of culprits they're seeking. Several characters have engaged in unscrupulous activities of one sort of another, so no one can be quickly removed from the list of suspects. Add in tensions between our detective pair, Scotland Yard, and government departments. There are no dull moments in this title.

If you need a mystery-based "vacation," and like historical mysteries, this title should do the trick!

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own. show less