A historical mystery about the Bronte sisters investigating the disappearance of a woman in their community, the only clue seeming to be a bedroom soaked in blood? Ummmm, yes please! One of the first classics, and first romances, I ever read and fell in love with was Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. The moody gothic atmosphere, the quintessential ‘plain jane’ heroine, the broody hero, the shocking twist at the end, what’s not to love? So, seeing Bella Ellis bring the Bronte sisters to life in this mystery tale was a delight.

What normally has me hooked to a mystery book is how intriguing and perplexing the actual mystery is. However, with The Vanished Bride what had me turning the page was getting to know the distinct personalities of the sisters and their relationship with each other. It is made extra bittersweet as it has a twist of tragedy because you as the reader are aware of just how short and precious those times together are going to be, given their early deaths.

Not that the mystery wasn’t great, I enjoyed seeing the sisters ferreting out the truth. There was even a slight ghostly edge to the story which very much lent to the gothic feel of this tale. However, it did take a while for the intrigue to build, but I liked the slow but fairly steady pace as you uncover layer after layer of the story. Did the conclusion surprise me? Not really, I had guessed what had happened by the end of the story, but that didn’t mean I didn’t like seeing it unfold.

A great book, especially if you are a fan of the Bronte sisters, although, of course this is all fiction and speculation on the part of Bella Ellis, it felt well researched and written with great affection. If Ellis is writing more book and creating a series, I am definitely going to pick up the next book.

Loved it!
The story and the ladies, sucked me in from the first page!!
I highly recommend Bella Ellis' The Vanished Bride.
I highly recommend!

I liked the premise of the book with the Bronte sisters solving murders. I originally reas up to page 70 before life interfered. When I went to finish it I could not place myself on the moors. I do not think it is the author's writing, but my point in life. I think Bella Ellis wrote a good mystery.

I really wanted to like this book, but I think it just wasn’t for me. I first heard about it at a Rachel Hawkins book event at East City Bookshop in DC, and the premise—the Bronte sisters solve mysteries—had me sold. Unfortunately I found the actual book… a bit slow. I think this was mostly because the mystery tended to take a backseat to the development of the Bronte sisters. Usually that wouldn’t be so much of an issue for me, but it felt like what development was here required outside knowledge of the sisters. For example, it is implied Charlotte had a bit of a romance with a tutor in Brussels… but we are never really told what happened. Most of Emily’s character development involves traipsing around moors and thinking wild, romantic (in the poetical sense) thoughts a la Wuthering Heights. It’s also a bit all over the place tonally—gothic, cozy mystery, feminist historical novel, everything. I think I’ll pass on the next book, but I think the intense Bronte-lover will enjoy it.

Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Daniele

In The Vanished Bride, author Bella Ellis takes on the infamous Bronte sisters before they were published authors and makes them lady detectors, investigating a friend’s employer’s disappearance and possible murder.

Oh, how I wanted to like this book! I adore historical mysteries, and the idea of the sisters being amateur sleuths is appealing. However, I ultimately found the story boring and tough to slog through. We meet the Bronte family in 1845 when all of the siblings are back under the same roof with their father. Charlotte is nursing unrequited love, Anne is lamenting her lost governess position, brother Branwell is mourning the end of a scandalous love affair, and Emily is mostly in her own imagination. When Elizabeth Chester is discovered missing by one of Charlotte’s school friends, the sisters are determined to find out the truth of her fate. The amount of blood found in Elizabeth’s room suggests foul play, and the sisters consider all of the suspects and possibilities.

I think The Vanished Bride suffers from a bit of an identity crisis. It reads more like YA fiction instead of a mature mystery. The setting is fine, but the characters are one dimensional and lack the depth one might expect since they are based on real people. The dialogue often feels stilted as though the author is trying too hard to make it period correct. That said there are many times throughout the book where feminism, which does not feel period correct at all, rears its head, jarring readers out of the mystery. The sibling bickering also took me out of the story; it is simply annoying.

I had a hard time getting into the story and staying invested in the outcome. I just did not care what happened to Elizabeth and the other characters by the end. Even with a few plot twists meant to beef up the mystery, it is all far too easy to figure out. I felt let down. One of the characters comments that the resolution of the mystery is very dull…it is dull indeed.

Devotees to the Bronte sisters may find The Vanished Bride a worthwhile read, but it is not the book for me.

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review as part of their ongoing blog tour*

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for release of this review copy!

A book with someone missing, the 1800's and historical fiction is always a want to read for me and this one had all 3!!! It did not let me down. The mystery in this was done very well! Loved it. I will keep an eye on other works from this author. This was a first read by Bella but I am now intrigued at the work. I loved the writing style and the way it was written, I felt like I was right there in the 1800's.

I participated in an absolutely DELIGHTFUL buddy read of The Vanished Bride over the past few weeks. Are you a fan of mysteries? Women empowerment? Historical fiction based around read people or events? The Bronte sisters? If any of these are a yes, pick up a copy of this book!

Emily, Charlotte, and Anne Bronte live a quiet life, spending their time exploring their passion to write. When a young wife and mother is seemingly murdered just a few miles from their home, the sisters set out to investigate.

Elizabeth Chester, second wife of Robert Chester, has disappeared, leaving behind two small children and a large amount of blood in her place. Chester’s first wife also died under strange circumstance, leading to some suspicion about what happened to Elizabeth.

While Anne and their brother Branwell investigate inside of the house, Charlotte and Emily work the community, gathering information. The more they learn about the events surrounding Elizabeth’s disappearance, the more suspicious they become…

I loved this reimagining of the Bronte sisters in their younger years solving mysteries together. The dialogue on what women (particularly women of a certain class) were expected and able to do at the time was so interesting. I loved the alternating narrators as well, getting to know each sister a bit more and what their strengths are in this powerhouse crime-solving trio.

Their brother Branwell is a different story.. I liked the inclusion of him in this novel as a contrast to the Bronte sisters. Branwell is part of quite a scandal. In contrast, Emily, Charlotte, and Anne live a quiet, studious life. And yet, being male, Branwell has so much advantage over the sisters. The biggest strife they cause (besides the danger they get themselves into by solving this crime) is that they are approaching an age where they should be focused on getting married. As a non-spoiler for the real lives of the Bronte sisters, only Charlotte ended up married and it was in the last year of her life. It is also, in my opinions, the least interesting thing about her!

I loved the feminist themes in this book. A few that I buddy read with thought they were overdone, but I didn’t feel that way at all. I actually felt that among the three sisters, the discussions on women were so enlightening and informative for the time they lived in. Lest we not forget that all three originally published under male pseudonyms. Female writers, of course, not being taken seriously at the time.

The mystery was intriguing nearly right from the start. The idea of what seemed to be a murder but with no body was fascinating. There are a number of avenues this could take—did someone hide the body? Is she still alive? If so, whose blood is that? By the last quarter of the novel, I could scarcely put it down!
A truly engaging historical mystery that delighted me in every way!

Thank you to Berkley for my copy. Opinions are my own.

The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis is a 2019 Berkley publication.

The Bronte sisters as amateur sleuths? Yes, please!

I have read a few mystery novels featuring real life persons as detectives, but with mixed results.

This is the first one I’ve encountered in which the three Bronte sisters work together to solve a mystery, and I must admit I was immediately intrigued by the all the possibilities- although, I was also cautiously optimistic.

However, the author did a stellar job of breathing life into these legendary authors, creating their distinct personalities, and giving readers a few clues as to why they were inspired to write the types of stories they eventually became famous for.

In this first installment of what promises to be a solid cozy mystery series, the ladies are pulled into a most puzzling case in which a young wife vanishes, leaving behind a bloody, gruesome scene, and two small children without a mother. Charlotte, Emily and Anne are horrified, but also titillated, deciding they should get to the bottom of the mystery themselves.

However, they soon learn that many feel female detectors are unladylike and that the women should not be out roaming the countryside alone, scouring for clues. However, that may be the least of their concerns, as their probing into the missing persons case could put them in grave danger.

I am quite impressed with this debut novel! The author has obviously studied the real- life counterparts of her main characters. Readers get a delightful and realistic depiction of their personalities before they became famous authors. The banter between the sisters is crisp and sharp, while the mystery is very well constructed and executed.

The story is atmospheric, occasionally creepy, and is an absorbing whodunit that kept me interested and guessing from start to finish. I loved it!! My kind of story all the way!!

I am very much looking forward to the second book in this series!

So. Many. Words. Yet, very few that moved the plot forward. If it was not for sheer determination, I would have wall-banged this disappointing attempt to recreate the Bronte style with a murder mystery on the side.

With overactive imaginations, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne invent a factitious solicitor’s agency and set off in 1845 Yorkshire to solve the disappearance of a young mother. Wandering over much of the countryside, and then some, the trio bumble and discover, in an anticlimactic way, what became of Elizabeth Chester.

Belle Ellis, a pen name for Rowan Coleman author of The Accidental Mother, which I enjoyed, does her best to throw in red-herrings, and additional characters, all to no avail. I found the first book in the Bronte Sisters Mystery series to be lackluster and will not be picking up any further offerings.

The concept was interesting enough but the characterization of the girls was superficial. And the story took much too long to get going. Plus, the author's pseudonym is too cute by half (Ellis Bell was Emily Bronte's nom de plume).

This was a very interesting historical title about the Bronte Sisters. This was all set before the iconic lives of the sisters in history and I just loved learning more about their life. I know that this isn't a true prediction of their lives but I loved Ellis' take on it. The pacing was well done and the characters were fabulous. I loved the mystery surrounding the story and I hope that book two is out soon. The story was twisty in its telling but still easy to follow. The author did a fabulous job!

***Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***

While I figured this book would be right up my alley - I love the Brontes and historical fiction - it wasn't exactly what I thought. This was written with wit and clever allusions to the women's fiction writing, I had to struggle to finish the book.

I struggled a bit with this one. I loved the concept of the Brontë sisters solving mysteries but it fell flat for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book which I voluntarily chose to review.

What if the talented Brontë sisters decided to put their incredible imagination and intelligence to practical use and solved a mystery? It's 1845 and the Brontë children are all back in the parsonage with their father at Haworth. Their reunion has given them the intellectual peace they desire and they spending evenings in the dining room writing and talking. The sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, have every intention of putting aside social convention and living lives that they choose -- free from male overbearance. Their brother, Branwell, is typically off at some particular debauchery nursing a broken heart and spirit, while the young women laugh and argue. But it is Branwell who brings them the news that will set them on a great adventure, detecting, when he informs them of a "bloody and awful killing" that has apparently taken place in nearby Arunton. It seems that the lady of the house, Elizabeth Chester, had disappeared from her bedchamber leaving behind her son and a stepson - and a great quantity of blood. There's no sign of the body at Chester Grange and the Brontë sisters are at once intrigued. They just so happen to be acquainted with the governess there, Matilda French, who happens to be a friend. There's nothing to be done but to go see for themselves and visit their acquaintance in order to help. In this way, the sisters embark on a secondary career and set their writing aside to solve the case. NO SPOILERS.

This was just lovely! The writing was excellent and the author did a great job giving each of the Brontë sisters her own personality. It was a time when women were subjugated completely, property of their fathers or husbands, and these women are having nothing to do with being put in such a place. The novel stays true with many facts about their life and times and, though them being "detectors" is probably a bit of a leap, the device serves the story quite well. A large cast of secondary characters is brought to life and there are many layers to this mystery. I totally enjoyed it and definitely will look forward to another installment in this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for this e-book ARC to read and review.

My Highly Caffeinated Thought: A richly historical novel with intrigue and amateur sleuthing at its best.

THE VANISHED BRIDE is the Brontë centric book I never knew I wanted to read. The author carefully constructs a tale so that the reader thinks they are back in time with this family while they dive entirely into the uncharted waters of detecting.

Here is the thing. It is not a secret that I love historical mysteries. However, this one just blew me away. Experiencing the fictionalized versions of the Brontë sisters and their brother was such a treat. Their personalities, retorts, and interactions made this book even better than I could have imagined. And when they decide that they will be “lady detectors,” it is fantastic.

With the dynamic cast of characters, THE VANISHED BRIDE is a gothic mystery pulling heavily from the time period and the surroundings. There isn’t one moment I didn’t enjoy being thrown into the Brontë’s mission to discover the truth behind the crime. This beautifully written novel has opened me to a world I will be happy to visit again.

The Bronte sisters hear of a missing woman and they know the nanny there. They find a lot of blood but no sign of the missing woman. They decide to investigate.

Berkley sent me a copy of this book to read for review (thank you). It is being published today.

They find that the man she married is a monster. His first wife committed suicide to get away from him. Might he have killed his second wife?

This is a well thought out mystery with the sisters sharing what they've found out. They each have their own strengths. Some are braver than others. And they clash frequently, just like siblings do. They press at the case, talking to family members, friends, and to anyone that knew her. They sometimes have to pretend they have been sent by an attorney to get answers. Women don't investigate...

They finally think they know what happened so they go to confront the suspected party. They just want to get the children out of there alive.

The ending is dangerous and a bit sad but the mystery is solved and the overall outcome is good. I enjoyed this tale of the Bronte sisters and would read more in this series.

Big big big Bronte fan here! So it’s a given that I have been looking forward to this book for quite a while!

But I will admit I was on the fence about it. This book is a reimagining of the Bronte sisters as lady detectives and for me it could have gone either way. I mean, the sisters wrote romances, not mysteries so I was worried that this book might come across as hokey.

So basically, I had reservations. I worried that I might have a hard time imagining them as detectives but on the other I love all things Bronte and I simply couldn’t pass on the opportunity to find out which way this book was going to go—-all good or all bad!

Summary

Before they became legendary writers, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, and Anne Brontë were detectors in this charming historical mystery…

Yorkshire, 1845. A young wife and mother has gone missing from her home, leaving behind two small children and a large pool of blood. Just a few miles away, a humble parson’s daughters–the Brontë sisters–learn of the crime. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë are horrified and intrigued by the mysterious disappearance.

These three creative, energetic, and resourceful women quickly realize that they have all the skills required to make for excellent “lady detectors.” Not yet published novelists, they have well-honed imaginations and are expert readers. And, as Charlotte remarks, “detecting is reading between the lines–it’s seeing what is not there.”

As they investigate, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne are confronted with a society that believes a woman’s place is in the home, not scouring the countryside looking for clues. But nothing will stop the sisters from discovering what happened to the vanished bride, even as they find their own lives are in great peril (summary from Goodreads)

Review

In this book, the sisters are yet to be published but they have huge imaginations and put their talents to use by solving crime—so basically we get to see the same Bronte sisters that we know and love before they were famous and in an entirely different way.

While I don’t know that I loved meeting them in this new way, since it was just so different than what I was expecting, but I do know that this book was exciting and interesting in a completely different way. At times the book was a little over the top and stretch things a bit when it came to some of the sister’s detecting tactics, I thought it was innovative and unique.

I think it takes guts to take three iconic classic authors such as these women, and give them a completely new backstory. As I was reading, I found myself wondering why did these women do before they became writers? And this book gives us a fun and tantalizing options to consider.

I thought this was a well constructed mystery with a truly unique story line not to mention the way the author described the sisters was so spot on and I loved seeing the authors love of the Bronte sisters on each page.

The mystery itself was a lot more complicated than I anticipated. I thought this might be a little more fluffy, but it was actually more complex and give me a lot more to try and work out. It was a fun way either way and I easily spent a few afternoons caught up in a mystery that was well done and different. I look forward to reading more in this series!

Book Info and Rating

Hardcover, 304 pages
Published September 10th 2019 by Berkley Books
ISBN 0593099052 (ISBN13: 9780593099056)
Free review copy provided by publisher, Berkley Books, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and in no way influenced.
Rating: 4 stars
Genre: historical fiction, historical mystery, mystery

Ladies and gents, this book was SO MUCH FUN. It features the Bronte sisters, before they became published authors. Turning ammeter sleuth, Charlotte, Emily and Anne attempt to solve a dastardly crime. The story is told from the POV of each of the Bronte sisters in turn, giving us a glimpse into each sister's character and worldview. There are so many elements of a thrilling gothic mystery here - a missing damsel in distress, a tyrant with a seeming obsession for the macabre, an ancient home with secret passageways, and an overwhelming sense that everything is not as it seems, and that secrets lurk around every corner. I loved all of the subtle (and not so subtle) nods to the novels that Charlotte, Emily and Anne would go on to write. Foreshadowing abounds, making it the perfect read for any Bronte fan. That said, I was interested to see how many in our reading group were not that familiar with the Brontes, or even fans of the mystery genre. Quite a number of people said something to the effect of, "This is not something I would normally read, but I am really enjoying it!" So if you are looking to treat yourself to a little dash of mystery and adventure, featuring three awesome female sleuths, go check this one out! A perfectly spooky autumnal read.

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Dollycas’s Thoughts

When I pull out my list of favorite books, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is always near the top of the list so when I learned of this book I knew I just had to read it.

Bella Ellis writes a story where the Brontë sisters with a couple of assists from their brother become amateur detectors when they learn of a young bride missing from her home with a gruesome scene left behind. The sisters spend their days trying to write but have been bored and in need of some fresh ideas. They soon realize they know the governess caring for the missing woman’s children. Charlotte feels this gives them the in they need to investigate. The sisters are very independent but their father worries about their excursions. They feed him stories so he doesn’t worry but he knows his daughters. He prays each day that they come home safe.

This story takes place before any of the Brontë works have been published. The author captures their knowledge, imagination, uniqueness, and perseverance in an excellent way. She immerses them in a complex and compelling mystery. The girls travel “hither and thither” is their quest to find the vanished bride. The clues started to fall into place for me a bit before the sisters but I was totally entertained by the journey I was taken on. The author’s descriptive talents brought each setting and the characters place in it to life. In a time where women are usually seen and not heard and treated like property, the feminist slant to the story was refreshing.

What I really enjoyed was the story being told by each of the sister’s point of view alternating chapter by chapter. It really gives insight into their lives and thought processes allowing readers to get to know each in a more personal way. Ms. Ellis has done her research and presented it in an interesting way.

Intriguing and entertaining, The Vanished Bride, is a fascinating historical mystery that fans of this genre will enjoy whether they have read Brontë sisters work or not. It does make me want to go back and reread some of their stories and poetry which I haven’t done for years.

3.5/5 stars

What if, before they authored some of the greatest works of fiction of all time, the Brontë sisters were intrepid detectives? Bella Ellis answers that question for us in The Vanished Bride, bringing us into the world of the Brontë sisters and showing us a side of them we may never have otherwise seen.

The Vanished Bride follows Emily, Charlotte, and Anne Brontë as they investigate the case of a young wife and mother who has gone missing from her bedchamber, leaving an alarming amount of blood and a suspicious husband in her wake.

The story switches between Emily, Charlotte, and Anne’s perspective, giving us a great glimpse into the mind of each sister. Ellis does a great job capturing each sister’s voice. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of Charlotte, I adored Emily.

“Although Emily had never before broken into the manor house of a suspected murderer in the dead of night, it didn’t occur to her once that this wasn’t something she wouldn’t be perfectly good at.”

Emily’s dauntlessness and unending sense of imagination made her the most entertaining and lovable character by far.

The mystery is also well crafted. I thought I had figured it out and found myself genuinely surprised by the plot twist at the end. I’ll admit that it took me a while to get into this story. I didn’t feel particularly gripped or invested in the mystery at first and felt like it took a while for Ellis to build a sense of intrigue. The final act of the book, however, made it worth it for me.