I had no idea that this was the 2nd book in a series, but I still enjoyed the story. I enjoyed the story as well as the characters.

I thoroughly enjoyed this cozy murder mystery set in Victorian era England and staring Florence Nightingale. In this book, Florence is the director of a hospital and has worked hard to set cleanliness standards that were uncommon for this era. I really enjoy a Victorian mystery that gives women a voice and gives them influence over other institutions in society. In regards to the plot of the novel, I will inform readers that the focus is more on the cholera epidemic than the murder mystery itself. I did not find this to take away from my enjoyment of the novel, however, I wanted to inform readers who may by seeking a more mystery focused book.
I found the characters to be well developed and I could almost feel the misery and suffering Florence encountered in Soho. I will definitely be following this series! Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book, even thought it took me a while to get to it!

Hetty and Beni married for convenience but have worked together investigating crimes that the law doesn’t care about. In between solving crimes with a little magic, Hetty keeps looking for her sister that she left behind before the war was over. This time the victim is someone they know. From the title I was expecting more of a historical mystery featuring conductors from the civil war, but only in flashbacks was this the case.
Goodreads

This novel has dual issues that are almost at odds with each other as well as the reader. I found the story to be quite informative yet at times it seemed to drag on about either the cholera or the carriage assault that killed the coachman. It certainly has some very great aspects to it and I felt that the characters were interesting and intriguing. I would give this book a 4 out of 5 stars.

As in the first novel in this series <i>No Cure for the Dead</i>, this mystery novel features a well-paced storyline that keeps the pages turning. However, I ultimately found the storyline was rather scattershot, and therefore the conclusion was somewhat underwhelming. <i>A Murderous Malady</i> is remarkable for the incredibly well-drawn protagonist -- the fictional Florence Nightingale. I did not always find this character likeable, but her perspective and nuanced personality compelled me to stay engaged with the novel. I would recommend this second installment in the series for the opportunity it presents to follow another adventure of this entertaining, multidimensional, indelible heroine.

It was a captivating read. A bold story with bold characters. The atmosphere was alluring, it made me want to keep reading. Some things about the plot really surprised me and that only added to the enjoyment. I'd love to read more from this author.

I debated how to rate this book. The first I've read from the series, I loved the fictionalized portrayal of Florence Nightingale and the historical details about finding the cause of "King Cholera." These early forays into public health are fascinating to read while we deal with Covid-19. For this reason, I considered four stars. However, I found the mystery convoluted and unconvincing. Hence, I leaned towards three stars. What pushed me to the higher rating? I really do want to read more of Trent's tales of Florence Nightingale as a detective. I do recommend this to those who enjoy light historical fiction.

Reviewing this arc of A Murderous Malady was interesting as I had read Ghost Mao, which was about the cholera outbreak. The cholera outbreak took place because of a contaminated water pump, but at the time they didn't k ow that. Even Florence thought it was caused by bad air and didn't want to believe Dr. Snow. It was a mystery because someone may have tried to kill her friends Liz. Florence investigated and by the end of the book has solved the mystery and is getting ready for Crimea and nursing care there.. I would recommend this book for people who enjoy historical mysteries.

A Murderous Malady is the second book in this series which has Florence Nightingale serving as an amateur detective. In this installment, Florence's best friend and her father are attacked while traveling in London. This causes her best friend's husband to fear that someone wants to kill his wife and he asks Florence to investigate. It is a bit far fetched of a story.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books for the free e-galley.

*Many thanks to Christine Trent, Crooked Lane and Netgally for ARC in exchange for my honest review.*
This is the second installment in the series with Florance Nightingale but can be read as a standalone. The story covers the period just before Miss Nightingale left for the Crimea and is already established as a nurse. In this book Florance has to fight the cholera outbreak in Soho as well as solve the mystery around the attack on her friend Mrs Herbert and her father.
This is a light read, well-researched and with good cover of the period. I recommend is as a perfect summer read to the fans of historical fiction.

I would rate this 3.5/5 stars. I thought this was a decent Victorian London mystery but I kind of struggled with it for some reason. The character and setting was wonderful, I just felt that the book threw Florence into a role that I wasn't sure would be for her (the leap from working on a murder case to tracking down her best friend seemed like an odd one). I can definitely appreciate that this book mirrors some of the Sherlock Holmes novels in terms of how many 'hats' Sherlock wears, but it felt a little forced for me in this instance. I'm planning on rereading to see if that helps to clarify or resolve some of the issues that I encountered on first reading.

I was intrigued by the summary of the story - I love the idea of Florence Nightingale taking on solving murders along with nursing. The story never came together completely for me.
I found the story took a long time to get into and it didn't always keep my attention perfectly.
I certainly see the potential for the book and the character. Hopefully, the series will improve as it continues.

I wasn't sure when this story started if I was going to enjoy reading it, but I did. The historical details were well done and the character development was good. It doesn't pretend to be a biography of Florence Nightingale so whatever liberties it takes with what's known of her personality and endeavors moved the story along nicely, although being depicted as a para-detective with a note-taking side-kick seems a bit stretchy to me.

The second book in the Florence Nightingale series. It's not as good as the first book and it made me wonder why Florence Nightingale would try to solve a crime.

Where the motivation for FN becoming a detective made sense in the first book, the crime happened in FN's hospital, it does not really make sense here. Florence's friend Elizabeth is being attacked in her carriage and the coachman dies. Liz's husband asks Florence to investigate.

Add some historically inaccurate word choices and this book made for a jarring read.

#A Murderous Malady #NetGalley #Crooked Lane Books

A Murderous Malady is a historical mystery based in London, it is the second book in Florence Nightingale Mystery.

Christine Trent involves Florence Nightengale in a murderous tale that involves London high society and the British debacle in Afghanistan in the 1850's. Miss Nightengale is fighting a cholera outbreak at the same time. She discovers that her friends have dissolute histories that impact the present day. A dark Victorian mystery.

The second book in the Florence Nightingale Series - “A Murderous Malady” is exactly what I expected. A true well written historical novel that leaves you wanting for more. The characters are well written, authentic and easy to like, how can you not?

Florence Nightingale, a private detective in London during the summer of 1854 is busy with the cholera epidemic hitting the city, but not too busy to try to figure out alongside her note-taker and companion Mary who tried to kill her friend Liz.

On their way to a new exhibit at the British Museum, Josh the coachman announces loudly as the carriage passes through a less desirable section of town “General à Court and Mrs. Herbert coming through!” Her father the “General” had joined the Army back in 1801 and was now advising Liz’s husband Sidney the War Secretary on the conduct of war.

All of a sudden the carriage is attached by what appears may be a madman howling insults at them pointing wildly as his eyes rolled around. As he walks away shots are fired. A bullet barely misses Liz, but Josh the coachman is not so lucky. He is killed and Liz and her husband needs answers. So they enlist the help of Florence to find out what really happened and who could have killed Josh.

Not only is Florence dealing with her friend’s attempted murder, she is also busy working at the nearby hospital and helping find work for needy families.

One of the points of this book I enjoyed was the background history and summary of characters, such as, Captain Sir Alexander Burns and even Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Sheridan Norton. That being said I would have liked either this information at the beginning or a notice telling the reader this information is at the end for purposes of reference.​

Overall this is a great historical novel that keeps you guessing until the very end and leaves you wanting for more.

​I was provided this book for free in exchange for my honest opinion.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book for anyone who loves a great historical mystery. 📕👍🏼

I GIVE IT A 5 STAR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Murderous Malady is the second book in the A Florence Nightingale Series, it definitely works fine as a stand-alone.

With so many contemporary mystery’s out there it’s a treat to read a historical one for a change. Though I am not overly familiar with the life of Florence Nightingale I enjoyed her portrayal here. With the story equally divided between the mystery and the cholera epidemic/hospital duties it was easy to get a feel for her talents.

A Murderous Malady was an interesting story, tagging along beside Florence (and Mary, I really like Mary) as she dawned her sleuth hat unraveling clues. There were times it was a little slow but all in all I was kept guessing and ultimately enjoyed a satisfying ending.

My thanks to Amy from HFVBT and the publisher (via Netgalley) for an advanced copy in exchange for honest review.

Christine Trent has a couple of series of historical British mysteries going - one whose main protagonist is Violet Morgan, a wife who takes over her husband's undertaking business, and this series, of which this novel, A Murderous Malady features a private detective written in the persona of Florence Nightingale, along with several other actual public characters of that time period. All of her mysteries are completely stand-alone, though there are several characters that recur throughout the series. The backgrounds and descriptive passages are completely authentic. I want to read all of these books by Christine Trent.

A Murderous Malady takes place in London in the summer of 1854, in the Soho district, and in Florence's hospital in Marylebone where she also lives, Our main locations are her hospital, The Establishment for the Temporary Illness of Gentlewomen, but also in the fine home of the Secretary of War Sidney Herbert and his wife Liz, who is Florence's dear friend. Visiting the Herbert home is the father of Liz, Lieutenant General Charles a'Court, who is a life-long member of Her Majesty's military, given the colonelcy of the 41st Welsh Regiment of Foot in 1848. Sidney is attempting to sort out the soldier's needs at the beginning of the war in Crimea. A lot going on, but the tale is easily followed.

Elizabeth and her father are riding to the British Museum to view a new exhibit by way of Soho, a festering slum with a current spreading outbreak of cholera. Their open carriage is attacked by a man on foot, who screams insults at Liz before he is shoved off by the coachman. Almost immediately several shots are fired from the crowded street. Liz is a near miss, the shot cutting a flower from her hat. The coachman, Josh Pagg, is killed. The carriage quickly carries them out of danger thanks to the fast reactions of the family tiger riding on the back of the carriage, Isaac Bent. But no one seems to know who was the actual target of the attack, nor who made the decision to access the British Museum through the dangerous Soho district, nor could they follow the logic of how their route would be known to the assassin. All mysteries placed in the hand of friend Florance and her side-kick and note taker Mary Clarke, the widow of Florance's tutor in her youth.

Also, as the city is in the grips of a cholera epidemic, Florence is involved in her own hospital's needs and in upgrading the large Middlesex Hospital nearby to cover the needs of their overflowing patients. Also with the aid of the Reverend Henry Whitehead and Doctor John Snow, a London doctor who treats and both the inhabitants on Soho and the royal family, Florence is busy trying to find work for needy Soho families she encounters during cholera visits, solving the mystery of the attempted murder of her friend Liz, and charting the outbreaks of cholera in an effort to pinpoint the cause of the disease. Flo and Mary become frequent visitors of the Soho Red Lion Inn and Brewery both seeking employment for needy families and resolving the mystery of the fact that neither workers at the brewery nor customers of the bar have been brought down with King Cholera. Florence Nightingale is a very busy woman. But can she do it all?

I received a free electronic copy of this historical novel from Netgalley, Christine Trent and Crooked Lane Books. I have read this book of my own volition and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work

This is the second book in a series about the world’s most famous nurse, Florence Nightingale, as an amateur detective in a cosy mystery type story set against the real backdrop of the cholera epidemic in 1850s London. When I received it from NetGalley several months ago, I intended to buy the first book, No Cure for the Dead, but it’s priced at over $NZ15 for the ebook, which is a bit steep for an author I didn’t know when I have so many other books in the queue. While there are references to the events and people in that book, I think this stands alone as a mystery so don’t think missing the first one mattered.

It’s summer, 1854, and 30-something Florence is running The Establishment, a successful hospital for middle-class women, when her friend, the War Secretary Sidney Herbert, asks her to investigate the attack on his wife’s carriage, where the horseman was killed. Her enquires take her, accompanied by her trusty elderly companion and note-taker Mary, to poverty-stricken Soho, where cholera has exploded and is killing indiscriminately. Intrigued by the dice found in the dead man’s pocket, she finds links to the disastrous war in Afghanistan two decades earlier, but is it this or a more personal vendetta that has set off a murderer?

I found the first half of this a bit slow and was easily distracted, but eventually got into the story. What the author has done well is capture the pompous arrogance common to most great leaders, typified by the majority of surgeons I’ve ever met, which is necessary to do such a difficult job against the odds, but doesn’t make for a particularly appealing narrator. The writing was good although a few Americanisms crept in, such as diaper rather than nappy/napkin.

I was most interested in the medical history aspects - and was prepared to be outraged if it was suggested that it was Florence not John Snow - the founder of modern epidemiology - who discovered how cholera was spread. In fact she remains wedded to the prevalent miasma theory of the time, and I found her discomfort at being proved wrong oddly charming, and humanising. I didn’t know much about the Afghan Wars and the afterword was very useful in explaining these, as well as clarifying which characters were not fictional.

I didn’t guess the identity of the murderer at all, so congratulate the author on crafting an effective mystery around the true historical events. What I did find preposterous was the total lack of police involvement: while I can understand Herbert wanting to avoid a scandal, such a public attack couldn’t possibly have been kept quiet and surely Scotland Yard would’ve investigated.

Overall I enjoyed this and would be interested in reading more about Florence’s adventures in Crimea, although suspect I would like her better if it were narrated from Mary’s POV. 3.5 rounded up for the fascinating history lesson.
My thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane books for the ARC in exchange for an ARC which allowed me to give an honest review. A Murderous Malady is available now.