I love this historical fiction mystery series. This book was so dark and so engrossing, I couldn’t put it down. Another great book in the Jem Flockhart series. The London setting is so depressing and gruesome. Jem and Will are a great duo. I love this series and hope she keeps writing books!

"The Blood" is a great history mystery novel that is set in London during the Victoria era. An intriguing mystery work that touches class/sex inequalities, the harsh living conditions of the commoners, the development of medicine and etc back in the 19th century. The author creates a balance mix of suspense and historical elements into "The Blood" which makes it an excellent read overall. This is not a cozy historical mystery novel but a dark, grim and serious one instead; entertaining throughout but at times a bit heavy.

The plot is excellently crafted. The beginning is slow but the pace picks up quickly once the first victim is found. The unfolding of the mystery does not confine to merely guessing for the culprit but as well the yearning to learn of the unfortunate pasts of the victims. Well-developed characters, too. Both the recurring characters or the featured ones in this installment are vividly depicted; I seem to know the characters well even without reading the prior installments. Without being wordy, the author imbues the plot with the essentials elements and builds the characters in the most inconspicuous but effective way. In short, "The Blood" could be read as a standalone.

I honestly think this series has a lot of potential and it deserves to get more attention from readers especially those who adore quality historical fiction. I for sure will go back to read the previous two installments and to look forward to any future releases.

"The Victorian world is extremely dark and extremely bright." (Harry Treadaway)

All depends on which side of the ol' waterfront that you live. Life along the Thames in London brings visions of spices, tea, and cotton being unloaded by able-bodied men. The East India Company reaps the heavy bounty of plantations from distant shores. The hustle and bustle of goods being carried down the planks strikes one with awe. But the Victorians had a special penchant for keeping secrets deeply imbedded in back pockets.

Jem Flockhart has newly opened an apothecary not far from his father's St. Saviour's Infirmary. The honorable trade remains even though his father is no longer alive. Jem has become a wizard at prescribing remedies in the likes of tinctures, ointments, and herbs. Jem bears a portwine birthmark across the face as well as a secret identity known only by his best friend, Will Chamberlain, a London architect who works in the area. Their friendship has remained firm after many horrendous situations of the past.

All the world seems to pass through London in this Victorian Era. And the darkness of the times is well established aboard The Blood, a floating seamen's hospital of sorts. Row upon row of hammocks and scantily prepared beds reveal The Blood to be an inevitable place of death. Thomson begins this story with a hastily written message sent to Jem by John Aberlady, a fellow apothecary aboard this ship at the docks. The urgency is well apparent and Jem rushes to the site.

But when Jem arrives, Aberlady has already jumped to his death. And his body will not be the only one that Jem and Will come upon. Thomson sees to that as the story unfolds with Jem and Will following down the dark streets and alleys along the waterfront in London. What was the impetus for Aberlady's death and are all the others connected somehow?

E.S. Thomson has an amazing flare for placing the reader in the troubled mix of opium dens, prostitute corners, murder, and mayhem. Thomson assures you that the mayhem is not only on the streets, but it is at the center of medical treatments of the time and the physicians who may just, in error, call themselves physicians. Poverty guaranteed an instant diagnosis of death.

Thomson is noted for a wide variety of deeply complicated characters as you have come to know in the character of Jem. We will be introduced to a bevy of doctors and two agents at the mortuary, Toad and Young Toad. (Yep!) The plot deepens with the Siren House which was established by The League for Female Redemption. Thomson inserts letters written by individual "ladies" who describe their experiences.

The Blood is a virtual time warp imbued with life along the waterfront of London. It reads as a standalone, but the true flavor is set into play with Beloved Poison #1 in this series. The Jem Flockhart Series is a treasure of a read.

I received a copy of The Blood through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Pegasus Books and to the talented E.S. Thomson for the opportunity.

Thanks to Pegasus Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this advance copy of The Blood in exchange for an impartial review. This was the first book I’ve read in the Jem Flockhart series and I enjoyed it. The story is set in Victorian London in the 1840s. Jemina “Jem” Flockhart is a female apothecary, who has been forced to portray herself as a male since childhood in order to follow her profession which is closed at this time to women. She and her friend Will Quatermain are called to the waterfront by an urgent plea from a colleague, a fellow apothecary aboard the floating hospital for seaman, known as the Blood and Fleas. They arrive too late and find her friend dead under mysterious circumstances and Jem takes his place in order to investigate. Meanwhile, ashore, they discover the body of a young prostitute, a former client of Siren House, a home for the redemption of fallen women, and a nurse aboard the Blood. The two deaths seem to be somehow linked, but how? The story follows Jem and Will from the dark and foreboding ship and it’s eerie inhabitants, along dimly lit London streets to the squalor of a waterfront morgue, and into wretched brothels and deadly opium dens. The story is well written and filled with rich and well researched period details.