London, 1888. Whitechapel is full of the noise of August Bank Holiday celebrations. Everyone is in high spirits until a woman – Martha Turner – is discovered brutally murdered. Her friend Esther, a lowly seamstress turned female sleuth is determined to find the killer.
A young police officer, Jack Enright, takes the lead on the case, and he and Esther soon embark on a professional – and personal – relationship.
When another murder is committed and whispers of a slasher calling himself Jack the Ripper start flowing through the London streets, the search becomes even more desperate. The police are on the wrong track and the young couple take matters into their own hands, and soon find themselves navigating through London’s dark underbelly.
Can they find the murderer before he kills again? Will anyone listen to their suspicions? Or will this dark presence continue to haunt Whitechapel?
This book combines everything I love so I was so excited to give it a go. I’ve developed a new found love for crime novels this year so that aspect already appealed to me but I’ve always loved novels set in the Victorian era as I’m a bit of a history buff and that particular period in time is one of my favourites. I also find the whole case of Jack the Ripper very interesting so this book was made to be read by me!
The book includes some of the real names of the Ripper victims and the detectives involved but alongisde that runs the fictional tale of Jack and Esther. I loved the different take on the Ripper murders and the person responsible that was presented in the novel as it added a new and exciting twist that differs from the facts that are already out there about the real case so it was nice to see that the author chose to go in a different direction for the novel.
The descriptions of Whitechapel’s businesses, homes and people was very vivid and instantly transported you to the East End of London in 1888. The novel flowed nicely and kept you gripped both in terms of the murders and with Esther and Jack. The budding romance between the two main characters didn’t detract from the historical crime element of the book either which I was glad about.
There are three more books in the Esther and Jack Enright Mystery series which I look forwards to reading in the future for my fix of Victorian crime goodness!
Rating: ★★★★☆
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