Having confused you all with two Second Monday Crimes, we’re now giving you Fourth Monday Crime on 24th May! (Don’t worry, we’re back to normal for June.) Yes, we’re giving you an extra panel in May with four incredible authors – B.A. Paris (The Therapist), Fiona Cummins (When I Was Ten), Mel McGrath (Two Wrongs) and Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Daughters of Night), with Jake Kerridge asking the questions. We will be on the First Monday Facebook page at 7.30pm BST. Before I re share my review of Daughters of Night, here’s the blurb.

 

The Blurb

From the pleasure palaces and gin-shops of Covent Garden to the elegant townhouses of Mayfair, Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s Daughters of Night follows Caroline Corsham as she seeks justice for a murdered woman whom London society would rather forget . . .

Lucia’s fingers found her own. She gazed at Caro as if from a distance. Her lips parted, her words a whisper: ‘He knows.’

London, 1782. Desperate for her politician husband to return home from France, Caroline ‘Caro’ Corsham is already in a state of anxiety when she finds a well-dressed woman mortally wounded in the bowers of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. The Bow Street constables are swift to act, until they discover that the deceased woman was a highly paid prostitute, at which point they cease to care entirely. But Caro has motives of her own for wanting to see justice done, and so sets out to solve the crime herself. Enlisting the help of thieftaker Peregrine Child, their inquiry delves into the hidden corners of Georgian society, a world of artifice, deception and secret lives.

But with many gentlemen refusing to speak about their dealings with the dead woman, and Caro’s own reputation under threat, finding the killer will be harder, and more treacherous, than she can know . . .

 

My Review

I loved Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s debut Blood & Sugar and Daughters of Night is even better. Laura’s depth of research comes across well and I felt completely submerged into Georgian London. Just thinking about it now I feel myself pulled back into that world. But if you’re expecting a Jane Austen Georgian view, then think again. Yes, we have the aristocracy and the wealthy but we also have the underbelly of London’s streets. There are three main narrators – Caroline Corsham, wife of Harry Corsham from Blood & Sugar; Peregrine ‘Perry’ Child, former magistrate now turned thieftaker; and Pamela, a young maid who wants more out of life so decides to auction her virtue to the highest bidder. Definitely not Jane Austen!

When Caro discovers the body of a young woman, she’s determined to find the murderer. Her husband is away so she hires Perry Child to help her. Sounds simple enough but when it’s revealed that the young woman was a high-class whore and not the lady Caro thought she was, Caro and Perry find themselves plunged into a very sinister world.

There is so much going on in this novel and I genuinely couldn’t work out who was responsible. Just when I thought I knew, there would be another twist. Even Caro has her own secrets to deal with. This book combines, art, Greek philosophy, the aristocracy, war heroes, whores, taverns, jewellers and banks! And that’s just what I remember!

Caro is a wonderful character. Forget the simpering, modest Georgian wife as Caroline Corsham has a mind of her own and is not afraid to use it. I think I actually prefer her to Harry but I’d love to see them team up together in another book.

This is a truly magnificent novel and deserves to do incredibly well. After reading Daughters of Night, I tried to read a contemporary crime novel but I couldn’t settle to it. Instead I’ve started to read The Mirror and the Light* by Hilary Mantel and quite honestly, that should tell you something about the calibre of Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s writing. I eagerly anticipate her next book.

*I wrote this review in February for Laura’s publication day. I’ve since read The Mirror and the Light and as much as I enjoyed it, I preferred Daughters of Night.

You can buy Daughters of Night here or you can now head out to your nearest bookshop!

 

The Author

Laura Shepherd-Robinson was born in Bristol in 1976. She has a BSc in Politics from the University of Bristol and an MSc in Political Theory from the London School of Economics. Laura worked in politics for nearly twenty years before re-entering normal life to complete an MA in Creative Writing at City University. She lives in London with her husband, Adrian.