A Death Along the River Fleet

Susanna is an author I know from the Chicago mystery writer groups I belonged to before moving back to Boston. I saw her at Malice Domestic and purchased the latest Lucy Campion book. I enjoy these books that show London right around the time of the Great Fire. I hadn’t been to London until a couple of years ago and when I did go, I realized how very 18th century it seemed compared to Paris or Rome. Of course, that’s because of the fire and the rebuilding of the city from late 17th into 18th century. So reading about that time is fun. Lucy starts out as a maid in the first book but the fact that the city is thrown into confusion due to the devastation of the fire provides a reason why she can become an apprentice to a printer. And show more since printing stories of murders and gruesome events is the stock and trade she gets to pursue mysteries. She’s a writer of stories like her creator. In this book, she finds a woman who is covered with blood and who cannot remember who she is. Solving that mystery leads to some dead bodies and Bedlam, all along giving you a feel for the times. It does strike me that Chicago is like London in that it suffered a big fire and coming back from that was such an interesting time since people who could overcome the tragedy had to be pretty determined. That’s something that reminds me of the post fire times in Chicago that I write about as well. Susanna has found an interesting woman to write about in Lucy, and I’m sure you would enjoy her adventures as I do. Frances McNamara Author of the Emily Cabot Mysteries show less

Historical details, mystery, suspense . . .a page turner.
Cloak & Dagger. This fourth installment in the Lucy Campion Mysteries series has given me an appreciation of the Historical Mystery. I think that this was more due to the fact that the female lead was not what I was expecting.

Lucy and Constable Duncan make a good team with the investigation of this young woman and what had become of her. Calkins makes this journey to the truth on that will be felt with each new discovery. The momentum builds with small clues here and there. Almost like little bread crumbs being left for discovery. As clues to the young woman's past are uncovered there was a premise of intrigue.

I felt at peace by the last line of the last page. Calkins does not show more leave me with wanting to know how, when, where, why or any other of those questions that can sometime go un-answered. I was able to follow along in Lucy and Constable Duncan's logic, maybe not at the exact time it was happening but that was the intriguing part of it.

I enjoyed this page turner so much I am getting the remainder of the series from the library this weekend and will begin my little on mystery-read-a-thon on Lucy Campion. show less

A riveting story set in 17th. Century London, about a woman who is found in mysterious circumstances, the attempts to piece together her life and how she came to be in such dire need.
The river Fleet in the title has long since disappeared and part of it has been buried under what is now Fleet Street.
This is an atmospheric tale of life in a London long gone and Susanna paints an intriguing picture.
Vert highly recommended.
I was given a digital copy of this book by the publisher St. Martins Press via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review.

In April 1667 London Lucy Campion is working as a printer's apprentice. On an errand she comes across a disturbed young woman in bloodied clothing who she helps to a Dr. Larimer. Unfortunately the young women has lost her memory but she is soon recognised but can Lucy determine what has happened to her.
An enjoyable read/ Although this is the 4th in the series I didn't find it necessary to have read the previous 3, though I shall do so.
A NetGalley free book