The Angel Makers has an intriguing premise. I had not heard about baby farmers prior to this book. These poor women trusted an individual to watch their child (for a fee) or to find a loving and caring family to adopt their child. Unfortunately, it was a different era without the proper protections in place for the mothers and their children. The Angel Makers is based on an actual case. The author provides details at the end of the novel on Ameila Dyer and her misdeeds. While the mystery was interesting, I had a hard time wading through The Angel Makers. Tessa Harris’ descriptions of the area, the clothing, and their speech were accurate for the time period. The descriptions allowed me to visualize the scenes. The author included historical details that enhanced the book. You can tell that Ms. Harris did her research for this series. I found it difficult, though, to get into the story. The POV switches between Constance and Emily Tindall which leads to a disjointed book. I would get involved in Constance’s story and it then switches to Emily. So I switch gears and find out what Emily is up to. Just as you get involved in the scenario, it switches again. I found the writing awkward, formal and stilted. The pace of the book was slow (I think snails move faster than the storyline). I believe The Angel Makers would have been better if it had been written from the third person. While the mystery is complicated, I found it a simple matter to pinpoint the guilty person. The Angel Makers can be read alone. Details from The Sixth Victim are included. My rating for The Angel Makers is 2 out of 5 stars. While The Angels Makers was not a hit with me, that is not true for other readers. I suggest you obtain a sample to see if this The Angel Makers is the right fit for you.

I can't get enough of historical mysteries especially if well written and researched. I have always been fascinated by the East End of London circa 1888. Combine that with an interest in the mystery of Jack the Ripper and I am literally in Heaven.
I really love the Constance Piper mysteries. The author has a way of bringing this time period to life and is able to develop characters who you can picture in your mind vividly plus actually like and care for them as well.
This time around, the psychic Constance becomes aware of a baby farmer's crimes. With the help of her ghostly advisor and former teacher, Emily Tindall, Constance is hot on the trail of this new mystery.
Don't miss this one if you like historical mysteries with likable characters and accurate descriptions of certain time periods.

Another excellent edition to a wonderful series! Full of twists and turns that leaves you wanting more and enjoying each moment until the end when the killer is caught.

There is more evil lurking in the streets of London than Jack the Ripper. Clairvoyant flower seller Constance uses her unique gift, guided by the spirit of her friend Emily, to find a killer and unmask a dark, devastating scheme. In THE ANGEL MAKER, Tessa Harris takes readers on a tour of the more unseemly side of the Victorian Era where life for the unfortunate is dismal, often hopeless, and dangerous.

The premise of this series is good and the idea of a mystery based on a real life “baby farmer” intriguing and terrifying, but I had a terrible time getting into THE ANGEL MAKER. Harris has obviously done her period research, and the details enhance the story, but I never felt invested in the characters or mystery. The tale is told from two points of view, which should propel the story forward, but instead the switching back and forth is often jarring and disrupts the flow.

The mystery is sufficiently complex with plenty of misdirection, but it was still far too easy to figure out who killed Constance’s friend. There is no mystery about the baby farmer’s identity or activities.

I received a copy of this title through NetGalley and voluntarily shared my thoughts here.

This was a fun read! I loved how it referenced jack the Ripper because it showed how his murders affected the Victorian society. As for the story itself, I really loved Constance Piper. She is a bold, brave woman that is ahead of her time. The mystery was a bit predictable. Still, I thought that the characters were well-developed. The writing was suspenseful and atmospheric. I have not read the first book. However, I will definitely purchase it to understand the character more. I think this series has potential, and I look forward to the next installment.

Constance Piper is the heroine in this story. She is involved with murders, baby farmers and Jack the Riper, all interwoven into a good read. It starts out a bit slow but held my interest. The characters are believable and the ghost aspect interesting. I will look for more books by this author.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for an honest review.

Second in the series, this story is rich with atmosphere, period detail, and a strong theme. The author's research into "baby farming" is well done. Harris is fabulous with transporting the reader back in time to experience the detail of Victorian London's streets, homes, and city life. While this second book was a little more difficult to engage or connect with Constance the main character, it is a worthwhile read and an absorbing story.

this series just keeps getting better and better , love the characters and can't wait to read more of this series , with that said i want to say thanks to Netgalley for letting me read and review the second book in this series in change for my honest opinion

The Angel Makers by Tessa Harris is the second A Constance Piper Mystery. Constance Piper is a flower seller in 1888 London where Jack the Ripper is making his presence known. Constance is out with her sister, Florence and their friend, Cath. Cath is still reeling from the death of her daughter, Evie a year earlier. She left her with baby farmer who promised to find Evie a good home. Cath changed her mind the next day only to be told that Evie died overnight. The next morning Cath is found dead in Clark’s Yard from strangulation. Constance with the aid of her ghostly friend, Emily Tinsdall sets out to find who harmed her friend. The police are not going to look to deeply into a prostitute’s murder. Constance begins her investigation by gathering intel on the woman who took in Cath’s daughter, Mother Delaney. There seems to be something sinister going on in that Poplar household. As the evidence mounts up, Detective Sergeant Hawkins joins Constance on the search for truth and justice.

The Angel Makers has an intriguing premise. I had not heard about baby farmers prior to this book. These poor women trusted an individual to watch their child (for a fee) or to find a loving and caring family to adopt their child. Unfortunately, it was a different era without the proper protections in place for the mothers and their children. The Angel Makers is based on an actual case. The author provides details at the end of the novel on Amelia Dyer and her misdeeds. While the mystery was interesting, I had a hard time wading through The Angel Makers. Tessa Harris’ descriptions of the area, the clothing, and their speech were accurate for the time period. The descriptions allowed me to visualize the scenes. The author included historical details that enhanced the book. You can tell that Ms. Harris did her research for this series. I found it difficult, though, to get into the story. The POV switches between Constance and Emily Tindall which leads to a disjointed book. I would get involved in Constance’s story and it then switches to Emily. So, I switch gears and find out what Emily is up to. Just as you get involved in the scenario, it switches again. I found the writing awkward, formal and stilted. The pace of the book was slow (I think snails move faster than the storyline). I believe The Angel Makers would have been better if it had been written from the third person. While the mystery is complicated, I found it a simple matter to pinpoint the guilty person. The Angel Makers can be read alone. Details from The Sixth Victim are included. My rating for The Angel Makers is 2 out of 5 stars. While The Angels Makers was not a hit with me, that is not true for other readers. I suggest you obtain a sample to see if this The Angel Makers is the right fit for you.

I have to pass on the sequel to The Sixth Victim, as I did not care for the character Emily's role in the book as a spirit. I started the Angel Makers and saw that she was still in the series :( It just didn't jive for some reason. While I still rated the first book a 3, I have a feeling I will rate this one lower so am going to pass on reading it.

The Angel Makers, book two from A Constance Piper Mystery series, is a pretty good mystery. I enjoyed it and give it 4 1/2 stars.

"In Victorian England, flower seller Constance Piper goes searching for the truth behind a new rash of murders in London’s East End...

In November 1888, the specter of Jack the Ripper instills fear in every woman who makes her living on the streets of London. But there are other monsters at large, those who shun fame and secretly claim their victims from among the city’s most vulnerable...

Options are few for unmarried mothers in Victorian England. To avoid stigma, many find lodging with “baby farmers”—women who agree to care for the infant, or find an adoptive family, in exchange for a fee. Constance Piper, a flower seller gifted with clairvoyance, has become aware of one such baby farmer, Mother Delaney, who promises to help desperate young mothers and place their babies in loving homes. She suspects the truth is infinitely darker.

Guided by the spirit of her late friend, Emily Tindall, Constance gathers evidence about what really goes on behind the walls of Mother Delaney’s Poplar house. It’s not only innocent children who are at risk. A young prostitute’s body is found in mysterious circumstances. With the aid of Detective Constable Hawkins, newly promoted thanks to Constance’s help with his last case, Constance links the death to Mother Delaney’s vile trade. But the horror is edging closer to home, and even the hangman’s noose may not be enough to put this evil to rest..."

Yes, it's true, say Jack the Ripper and I'm interested...

This one was a disturbing read for me because of the subject matter involved: a Victorian baby selling ring that is headed by a viperous woman (based on the very real Amelia Dyer) who has no concern for, and, indeed, causes the deaths of, the infants she deals in.

Ms. Harris is a talented writer who spins a unique tale, bringing together plot, characters, and historical fact in a fascinating, if dark story, set against the backdrop of the Jack the Ripper murders. The twist in this series is compelling. Constance is a flower girl who has developed a psychic connection with the spirit of Miss Emily, a murder victim Constance had known in life. Miss Emily is integral to solving these despicable murders.

Constance is a winning heroine who works to rise above her poverty and lack of education, and her sleuthing brings her into contact with all layers of Victorian society and especially into the orbit of young Detective Constable Hawkins.

I will look forward to Constance's third outing.

Full Disclosure--Net Gallery and the publisher provided me with a digital ARC of this book. This is my honest review.

This is a Victorian murder mystery loosely based in part on the infamous baby farmer Amelia Dyer. It took me a few chapters to become accustomed to the style of writing, as the author writes in the present tense swapping between the voices of our heroine Constance Piper and the spirit of her former teacher Emily Tindall who comes to her aid at times of crisis. Not such an odd concept for the Victorians, a lot of whom were quite at ease with mediums and the spirit world. Although the book is perfectly enjoyable on its own, I personally would have much preferred to have read the previous book first as quite a lot of references are made to events which have happened previously and I think this would have given a better background to the story. There is a good plot and lots of action, making this a book I very much enjoyed and am happy to recommend.

Jack the Ripper casts a gloom over this novel but it's not about him- it's about women and babies who were exploited. The story is told in alternating chapters by Constance and her dead friend Emily. There's a paranormal element to this (Constance is clairvoyant and Emily is, well, dead) but it's in keeping with the Victorian era where this was a big thing. Good characters and atmospherics but this is less a mystery than it is about how the evil Mother Delany (she so doesn't deserve that title) is uncovered. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is the second in a series but can easily be read as a standalone. For fans of historical fiction.

Historical mysteries are my favorite genre, so I was really looking forward to reading The Angel Makers. The action takes place in London of 1889, about the same time and place as the Jack the Ripper murders. It involves the notorious baby farming industry, with portrayals of the evils of the poverty and class inequality of the era. For those who care, there’s no romance and it’s actually based on real events. The book’s descriptions of the setting as well as the speech patterns of the characters all seem to be authentic, which usually allows me to get lost in a different place and time. Unfortunately, the writing style stopped me from getting too involved. It is written in first person present tense which is a tricky thing to pull off in a book. Descriptions tend to be awkward and stagey, instead of the natural flow when using past tense and a certain depth of experience is missing. The narration in the book also flipped between two characters every chapter which became very irritating as it made it hard to get vested in either character. The suspense was ruined too, because it made the action somewhat choppy. I finally got into the plot by the middle of the book. There was a good story here, which I eventually enjoyed. But I think it would have been better served using a different style.

Tessa Harris’s newest Constance Piper mystery will send you deep into the darkest corners of Victorian London. Jack the Ripper is killing women, baby farmers are killing infants, and poverty and disease are killing everyone else. The story is told by two characters, one alive, and one dead. The clairvoyant aspect of this novel wasn’t as appealing to me as the atmospheric mystery, but I was intrigued and connected with Constance’s life and story.

It's a well written story, with a great pace, good mix of paranormal and thriller. The atmosphere was great it gave the novel a gothic, eerie feeling.. It's not 5 star review because I knew who the murderer was early on.

In this second book of the series, Jack the Ripper continues to terrorise London but the women still have other problems to contend with. Constance Piper, a clairboyant and flower seller, becomes suspicious via a friend of 'baby farmers'. Here we have the story told from Constance's point of view and also her dead friend, Emily Tindall.
Unfortunately I didn't really get interested in the story or engaged with the characters.

"A woman is most dangerous to herself when she is desperate to be loved." (Vanessa P.A. Evelyn)

And desperate times visit London in December of 1888. This is especially true if you are female, alone, and with child. The innocence that you carry within, under those circumstances, will be prey for the soulless evil-doers who bear no thought to the babe or to the mother herself.

Mother Delaney stands on a darkened corner in the Poplar district near the East India Docks. She listens for the hurried footsteps of Louisa Fortune. Louisa's arms are wrapped around her infant son, Bertie, for the last time. Fate and a spineless man have necessitated this baby exchange in which Louisa will thrust five pound notes into Mother Delaney's outstretched hands. Mother Delaney, rosey-cheeked and grinning, will see to little Bertie being placed in a good home. For that is her calling.......baby farmer.

Constance Piper, flower seller in the Whitechapel district, must be alert to the shadows in these streets that hide the likes of Jack the Ripper. But she and her sister, Flo, are celebrating Christmas cheer in a local pub with their friend Cath. Cath darts into the night excusing herself to run some late errands. One member of this trio will later be found dead in a back alley. Was it Jack or was it someone with a vengeance that she already knew?

Tessa Harris revisits the streets of Whitechapel once again in this second book of the series. The Angel Makers can be read as a standalone. Harris creates a multi-pronged storyline with short, action-packed chapters in the voice of alternating characters. Constance has the gift of clairvoyance and Harris uses this without over-kill throughout this story. It adds just the right amount of eerie and creepiness to those already mysterious streets in which a killer is on the loose and babies are at the mercy of a relentless grandmother.

Harris reveals her inspiration for The Angel Makers. Mother Delaney's character is based on the real-life Amelia Dyer who ran a baby farm with her daughter and son-in-law. Such reality makes the little hairs stand up on your neck.

The lively character of Constance Piper was front and center in the first book, The Sixth Victim. She remains so in this offering as well. Constance, bright and analytical, uses her gift to work with the police and with Louisa Fortune to uncover many dastardly deeds. The historically correct dialogue adds to the Victorian flavor and Tessa Harris presents another fine one, indeed.

I received a copy of The Angel Makers through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Kensington Books and to the talented Tessa Harris for the opportunity.