London, 1891. The city is still reeling from the brutal Ripper killings and now women are once more being sexually harassed.
Someone is breaking into their homes, stealing their undergarments and leaving threatening messages behind. With no valuables stolen and no murders committed the police fail to take the women seriously.
But when Esther Jacobs finds herself personally acquainted with one of the victims, she starts to believe something more sinister could be going on. Enlisting the help of her fiancé, police officer Jack Enright, Esther is determined to solve the mystery.
Are women being targeted at random? Is it the work of a deranged sexual deviant? Or is this a calculated attack on the women of London?
After reading the first book in the the Esther and Jack Enright Mystery series, The Gaslight Stalker and really enjoying it, I knew I’d be on to a win with the second book which is just what I needed after two average reads in a row. Since reading the first book in the series, it’s expanded at a very quick speed and there are now 8 books so far in the series which fills me with joy as I’ll have a fair few books to go at.
Esther and Jack are set to get married but Esther isn’t ready to give up her independence just yet and takes a job working for the founder of a new union for working women, but then membership numbers start dropping dramatically and Esther must find out who is scaring women into retracting their memberships and why. With the help of her Met officer fiance, Jack and his Uncle Percy, Esther embarks on another crime adventure in the dark and dangerous streets of Victorian London.
What I really love about these books is they’re such easy reads whilst still being extremely enjoyable. The fact they’re set in Victorian London is the aspect I enjoy the most as I really like novels set in that time period, its the history geek in me! I find these sort of books the absolute best for getting out of a reading slump or for something easy going after a big book.
In all the second installment of the Esther and Jack Enright Mystery series was thoroughly enjoyable, there was one element that annoyed me slightly which was the author occasionally felt the need to explain some of the historical aspects that I believe a reader of historical fiction would already understand, this made the novel come across as a little dumbed down and jarring in places. It’s also an element I don’t remember from the first novel so I’m kind of hoping the rest of the series isn’t the same because it’s not really necessary.
I’m really looking forwards to reading the rest of the series and finding out where Esther and Jack’s lives go as well as well as finding out about the other crimes they’ll be solving.
Rating: ★★★★☆
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