Not my style of a mystery. Felt long and dragged on. I liked the setting and idea though and could see recommending it to the right reader.

Though I liked the book, I made the decision when I finished not to review it on my site because it didn't fit into my editorial schedule. I may include it in a review post or possibly a book list post in the future.

As a history nerd I really appreciated the historical details in this. This turn-of-the-20th-century time period is one of my favorites to read and study. Kaaberbøl includes key components of the time period like xenophobia, nationalism, militarism, and eugenics. She particularly articulates the views and processes of prostitution. France like many western countries was in the midst of reform movements whereby middle class reformers sought to improve their countries and standards of living. Some of these movement were extremely beneficial to society, such as city sanitation, more healthcare services for women and children, education and worker's rights, etc. We still live with the benefits of these reform movements. However, there were other questionable movements such as the regulation of prostitution. In some respects it can be argued that this benefited the prostitutes by decriminalizing it and creating mandatory health examinations to prevent the spread of infectious disease. Though the intentions may have good (and you know that they say about the road to hell) in practice the regulation of prostitution - and women's bodies - was rife with class prejudice and racism. I think the author does an admirable job at accurately portraying that in her novel. Moreover, one of the characters is bisexual. Kaaberbøl also accurately portrays the consequences of being "outed" as well as the unfortunate classification of same-sex sexual relations as a "degenerate" or "deviant" behavior in the medical and emerging field of psychology. So, in my opinion, the author handled complex historical material with a deft hand!

Though I applaud the author's historical accuracy, a few things fell short in this novel, at least for me! I think the story was bogged down by the minutiae of the heroine's daily life and did not provide enough investigation. I enjoyed the dynamics of Madeleine Karno's experience as the first female student at her university as well as her relationship with her fiancé, I would have liked a stronger focus on how our heroine was uniquely equipped to solve this crime. Additionally, the ending is a classic deus ex machina. I think the ending is what really curbed my enthusiasm for the novel. Without revealing details, it all seemed a little convenient and neatly wrapped up for my taste.

It’s so nice to see my new friend Madeleine Karno again! She’s back with a new mystery and her handsome fiancé. It’s June 1894 and the French president has been assassinated triggering riots in the streets. When the body of a young woman is found in an alley the next morning, Madeleine is called and finds herself with a possible Jack the Ripper copycat roaming the streets. Then she receives word that she has been accepted as the first female student at the local university. While she will be learning from the best, her professor will test her limits in every way possible. Meanwhile, her fiancé is facing charges and their future is starting to look very uncertain.

There is a lot going on in this story and I love how the author is able to balance all the parts of the storyline and weave them together seamlessly. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader engaged and guessing till the end. The character of Madeleine continues to develop in this 2nd installment of the series and my affection for her just continues to grow. She is not just smart and well-educated but a caring and empathetic individual as well. She can distance herself enough to be able to expertly carry out an autopsy but turn around and cry for the victims. I really like the depth of this character. Finally, I like how the author places her character in a historical setting but manages to incorporate issues such as homosexuality and women’s rights into the story without disturbing the history. If you haven’t checked out this series yet, then I definitely think you need to.

Dreadful. That is the only word that I can come up with to describe this long and drawn out book. Trying either to shock the reader with the subject matter or to lure them in with the detailed gynecological practices of a villainous doctor in 1880’s France, or if that is not enough, the unbeknownst relationships of Madeline Karno’s fiancé – which really served no point. The book should have been wall-banged within the first 100 pages.

Trying to disguise a failed, what we now call a cesarean section, as the acts of a French Jack the Ripper, Madeleine Karno, who we were introduced to in ‘Doctor Death’ begins to see tell tail signs and sets off to find the hideous person brutalizing the local prostitutes all in the name of science.

Lene Kaaberbol goes into curious detail about the time and place, but tends to go overboard for shock value. The doctor at the center of this fiasco reads more like Josef Mengele, the Auschwitz Angel of Death, in his need to find perfect subjects to rebuild France’s dwindling birth rates. Then throw in a person from August Dreyfuss’ past, and a photographer with his own naughty secrets, and those that should know better but do not do better when it comes to those in need.

Considering how I loved her first book in this series, this was a torture to read. The gruesomeness of the subject matter was not the issue for me, but rather how drawn out it all was. How in the end she tried to tie her storylines together and how unrealistic that it all played out. If there is a third book, I certainly hope that she tries not to throw too much in in hopes that something will catch the reader and that she reduces her fillers to keep the story flowing.

A Lady in Shadows in the second installment in the Madeleine Karno historical mystery series. I did not read the first book in the series and found that this was not an issue when reading this book. This story takes place in late 19th century France where the country is dealing with a multitude of issues to include the assassination of their president and a serial killer on the loose whose crimes closely resemble that of Jack the Ripper. The author provides a bit of historical context in the back of the book to explain that the story was based on a real person from this dark time in France's history. I appreciate it when I can read a historical fiction book that teaches me something about a country's past. Madeleine, the leading lady, is a strong willed, intelligent woman who is breaking the mold of typical society by assisting her father with autopsies and attending medical school. These experiences lead her to a mystery involving the brutal murder of prostitutes in a similar fashion to Jack the Ripper. While trying to solve this mystery, she heads down a very twisted and dark path in the underbelly of France. This experience also leads her to discover personal things about herself as a woman. I found that the writing at times was a little too descriptive and the author would go off on detailed tangents that could distract from the story. It was a good historical mystery and a good story overall.

In 1894 Varbourg, France Madeleine Karno assists her father as a forensic pathologist ands is called out one morning to inspect a mutilated female body.
An interesting historical mystery, not that difficult to reason the guilty party, but really couldn't get engaged with the characters.

France in the 19th century has very little to interest the average woman besides keeping house, raising children and staying out of sight - all the things that Madeleine Karno is not. She is an assistant to her physician father and wants to be admitted to medical school on her own merit. There is just one or two small problems - someone is killing pregnant prostitutes a la Jack the Ripper style and there are no women in medical school. This would stop anyone other than Madeleine who takes dangerous risks to solve this grisly crime. Her fiance, a nobleman who has a less than noble past, is supportive but his ex-lover and his family want Madeleine and her notoriety out of the picture unless she gives up her dreams. Terrific historical mystery with a spunky, smart woman who does not faint dead away at the sight of a dead body or a shadow in the dark. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria for the eArc.
Madeleine Karno, a young French woman who wants to be a forensic pathologist, is accepted by the University of Varbourg as it 's first female student. Having helped her father, an esteemed doctor, while he conducts autopsies, this is a dream come true for her.
When she gets involved in the case of a brutal murder of a young prostitute, with no defensive wounds and a carved out stomach, she realizes something is very off. Another previous murder has people whispering about the possibility of a FrenchJack the Ripper. Fleur, the heartbroken close friend of the murdered girl, begs Madeleine to look into her death.
At University she's doing very well, despite unwelcome attention from a German student, a 'friend' of her fiancé's.
At the same time she's being harassed by a journalist who writes an article about 'Mademoiselle Death', even printing a photo of her with the body.
I liked her character, with all the struggles of a female trying to make it in 1894, and the many historical facts regarding medicine; plus the strong sense of place was very appealing to me. The ending was a good one, it didn't leave you hanging, but it certainly made me wish I had the next one on my nightstand! Highly recommended!

1894 France, a smart intelligent female protagonist, murder, madness, artificial insemination, homosexuality, bigotry. and a fascinating cast of characters. I liked this book so much that I ordered the
First book in this series.

This was not a favorite of mine. The story was good and engaging, however, it just seemed a little too long and tedious.

My thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for this advanced readers copy.

On the eve of the French president’s assassination in 1894, Madeleine Karno is summoned to examine a prostitute’s mutilated corpse. The daughter of an esteemed forensic pathologist, Madeleine discovers that the woman’s entire uterus has been removed and notes striking similarities to a murder that occurred weeks earlier. Does France have its own Jack the Ripper or is a mad scientist using "filles isolees" for his own dark experiments? While pursuing her studies as the University of Varbourg’s first female medical student, Madeleine sets out to learn the truth behind the grisly deaths.

A Lady in Shadows is an engaging novel that held my interest from beginning to end. This is more of a historical thriller than a traditional mystery that keeps readers guessing the identity of the killer until the final pages. Normally, this might have bothered me but what made the novel worth reading was Lene Kaaberbol’s depiction of Fin-de-Siecle France. She captures in vivid detail the political chaos, scientific advances, social inequity, and changing values that characterized the era.

I also liked Madeleine’s character. She is spirited, smart, and determined to succeed at a time when women were given very few choices. There is a darker side to her as well. A photographer who works for the police asks her: “Why don’t you stay in the light where you belong?” Madeleine explains that like the murdered “ladies of the night” she too is a creature of shadows, raised in a home where the dead were just as important as the living. Granted, a few of Madeleine’s choices struck me as inconsistent with her character, especially at the end of the novel. But for me they underscored an idea that is as true now as it was more than a century ago: no matter how rigorously we use scientific methods to study the mind, logic will never fully explain human beings.

Much thanks to Atria Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Is it something you think, Madeleine? Or is it something you know?"

A prostitute is found mutilated and dead in a coal yard on the day after the night that the President is assassinated. A knock on the door of the house where Madeleine and her father live brings a request from the Commissaire des Morts to attend the body. Madeleine is 21 and an assistant to her physician father -- she wants to study medicine herself, but it is not likely that she will be allowed at university due to her gender. Nevertheless, Madeleine has the requisite knowledge and skills to conduct these examinations. She performs the autopsy back at the morgue and finds some disturbing contradictions. From there, the story really gets complicated as Madeleine investigates this case.

This second book in the Madeleine Karno series was excellent historical fiction with a clever and suprising mystery/plot. Set in France in 1894, the details of the period are perfectly rendered and add so much ambience and authenticity to the story. The moral and ethical dilemma that Madeleine confronts was even more appalling considering the time period.

I love the character of Madeleine and the relationship she has with August, her fiance. Makes it hard to wait for the third installment! I've read every other book written by this author as well and can highly recommend to anyone who likes mysteries that focus on a variety of topics but all of them have a medical bent because of the main character.