This is a tale full of imagination and creativity. It was a bit slow going in the beginning for me. It started to pick up about one quarter of the way in. The story takes place in England alternating back and forth between 1863 and 1843. The protagonist, Bridget Devine, was a poor child who taken off the streets and quickly learned to read and write. She was observant and had an uncanny ability to put these observations together to help her understand what others could not.

There is plenty of action, murder, conspiracy and general "skull duggery". The characters are diverse and well developed. The real question surrounding the story is can a myth be true?

I received an Advanced Reader's Copy from Atria Books through NetGalley. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.
#ThingsInJars #NetGalley

Honestly, it wasn’t bad. BUT it was really really hard to get into at first. I struggled to force my way through the first few chapters as I believe you should give a book that before deciding to finish it or not. However, once I got through a few chapters, it was much easier to read and I was able to finish it and enjoy it more than I thought I would. I would definitely try reading more books by this author after reading this one.

A dark and intriguing tale set mostly in Victorian London. A lady detective is given the task of finding an unusual child. A story with a little bit of a magical and supernatural twist and a very enjoyable read. My first Jess Kidd novel but it certainly won't be my last.

This is my first novel by Jess Kidd and it was a good one.
On Victorian London, we meet lady detective Bridie. Bridie is...... Very unconventional! She carries around a gun and smokes a pipe! She is consulted upon to find a missing child. A child who is said to have supernatural powers and looks very odd.
Throw in a ghost, Ruby, who joins Bridie in this and her servant, 7 foot tall Cora, who both provide a little comic relief.
I really enjoyed being thrust into this world. I enjoyed the many stories woven throughout. I liked getting to go back in years and getting to know Bridie and where she came from.

A lot of books claim to represent the Victorian era, but this is book actually earns the comparison. The spirit of the book feels very familiar to classic detective stories by Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle, but with the added twist of putting the supernatural front and center. Bridie is a great lead, and Cora is an amazing sidekick (although I feel like there was so much more ground to cover with her, and I hope it's explored if there are further books with these characters).

A fantastically written story, with a great mystery, but the true high point of the book is its unique and intriguing cast of characters.

I was invited to read and review this book by Atria Publishing, and my copy of the book was gratefully received through Netgalley.

Loved this author's first two books. I didn't care for this Victorian crime/fantasy fiction overall. It had its bits of humour and creative original thinking as one would expect from Jess Kidd, but it also had time sequencing of events that sometimes "jarred" if I may be so bold. I would not wish to see a sequel following the career of the featured female detective.
The early years of Bridie were most interesting for me as the portrait of survival amidst more than harsh living conditions was movingly described as well as her tutelage by a doctor who saw her brilliant potential.
I would have preferred to meet Bridie as a youngster and then follow the story chronologically. The calendar of going back and forth in time frustrated this grumpy old reader leaving me impatient to know what the fate of the "mermaid" was to be.
I see the majority of readers loved the book, so that is a good thing. Maybe I will read it again later and feel differently.

Thank you to publisher through Net Galley for this review copy!

Wow Wow Wow.
The only plus-side of losing power in my California home for five days was that I had all the time in the world to read this book. But what a plus-side that was!

This is a DELIGHTFULLY Grimm-like story. It's tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich for the reader's soul. It is so full of delicious characters, from the tough yet good, to the most terrifyingly evil. There is a ghost - A GHOST! - who will cause your Grinchy heart to grow three sizes. There is one amazing red-haired pipe-smoking detective woman as the main character, and it's all set in filthy, murky, fog-filled Victorian London. No, there are no Grimm princesses in this story, but there are scary possible-mermaids, and scary children who are possible-mermaids with teeth who will attack you and steal your memories and swallow your soul and kill you. FUN, right??

It's all told with beautiful writing that my brain had apparently been ravenous for. I ate this book up. I consumed every grotesque description, every gleefully unrepentant villain, every dirty street urchin. I loved being immersed in a London so engulfed in trouble it was soon to give birth to Jack the Ripper. And I adored Bridie, the flame haired heroine. Was there really a ghost? Were the mermaids real? The best stories feed your imagination so thoroughly that you make your own decisions. Jess Kidd's writing fills every character with huge personalities and I already miss them and am sad that at least a few will never be heard from again - even the evil ones!

So many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book gets five FULL stars from me, and I urge every reader to get a copy and immerse yourself in this magical world.

Things in Jars by Jess Kidd
Book Review by Dawn Thomas

384 Pages
Publisher: Atria Books
Release Date: February 4, 2020

General Fiction (Adult), Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Ghosts, Mermaids

Bridget (Bridie) Devine is a sleuth and medical specialist in the 1860s in London. She loves to smoke pipes and has a 7-foot housemaid named Cora Butters. Dr. Harbin contacted Bridie to assist on a missing child case. The girl’s mother is dead, her father is distraught, and her nurse is missing. While searching for clues, Bridie comes across Ruby Doyle, a heavy weight boxer. He has a problem though; he is a ghost.

Because the life of a small girl is at stake, Bridie uses all resources to find her. Valentine Rose is the local detective inspector and her childhood friend offers suggestions and advice when asked. She even dresses as a man at times to gain access to a medical theatre to witness a surgical procedure by Dr. Gideon Eames.

The story is written in the third person point of view in the present tense. It takes place in 1863 with memories from 1837-1843. The characters are well developed and the story flows well. This was the first book I have read by this author, but it will not be the last.

I have truly enjoyed the two novels I have read of Jess Kidd. Both Himself and The Hoarder were fun to read stories. However, Things in Jars is just too far afield for my tastes. I really found little to like in it save the setting which was Victorian England.

I am all for ghosts and oddities and things that set one's head spinning, but this book seemed to have no sense to it. It was so far from reality that it was at times laughable. I know it has been compared to Neil Gaiman's story telling, but I saw little or no comparison.

I feel like once again traveling on that lonely outlier road, but honestly this story was appallingly silly.

This was my first Jess Kidd book and I enjoyed it. The writing is exceptional. Bridie Devine is a detective, a surgeon, and lives an eccentric life. She lives with her 7 foot tall maid named Cora. The book is part gothic murder mystery and part ghost story. Bridie time growing up was difficult but she becomes an assistant to a doctor and with this background and her time with others makes her a scrappy detective.

Most of the book is Bridie's time trying to solve a few murders and set Christabe Berwick free from her captors. This book could be a set up for future adventures with Bridie, Cora, and Detective Rose. It is a good historical murder mystery with a touch of romance. It was interesting to read about life in the 1860's London and countryside.

I would like to thank NetGally and the publisher, Atria Books, for this book for an honest review. I am interested in reading more by Jess Kidd. #ThingsInJars #NetGalley

Oh, such entertainment. Disclosure, offered to me by the publisher through NetGalley. And they know what I like. I usually alternate back and forth among a few books at any given time, but I stuck with this one from the time I started reading it. If you enjoy books such as The Essex Serpent, Once Upon a River, The Wonder, or even the Anna Kronberg books, you will enjoy this. The characters are delightful, the immersion in mid-nineteenth century London is immediate, a result of what must have been meticulous research. You are transported by the rich detail of worlds both natural, and fantastical. I don't try to out-synopsis the experts, I try to tell you how I experience a book. This was fun, engaging, I looked forward to getting back to it. I do hope this is not the last we will hear of Bridie and her friends.

Female super-sleuth, Victorian London, what’s not to love? Giving a four rating because I started out having a hard time concentrating, but that was a personal issue, Once I got into it, delightful.

“Here is time held in suspension. Yesterday pickled. Eternity in a jar.”

In Things in Jars, A 7-foot tall bearded parlor maid, mythical sea monsters, a ghost, and a winter mermaid are all brought together by a female pipe-smoking detective in Victorian London to solve the kidnapping of a mysterious child.

When a child with supposed supernatural powers is kidnapped, Detective Bridie Devine is commissioned to find her. Bridie's sleuthing abilities lead her into the dark underbelly of nineteenth-century London where she encounters a criminal element obsessed with possessing the world’s oddities. Dead or alive, there is a price on the head of those who are different and don't fit societal norms.

Part mystery, part social commentary, part fairy tale, Things in Jars had me completely enthralled. Jess Kidd encompasses all of the strange eccentricities of the Victorians. In Bridie, Ruby, a dead boxer, and Cora, a 7-foot tall parlor maid, she creates fascinating and multi-dimensional characters. I hope to see them again in a future novel. Kidd seamlessly weaves together a story filled with magic, strong women, and those who long to possess those who are different. I LOVED loved loved every minute of this book. It is strange, eccentric, and wonderfully weird!

This is definitely one of the best books I have read in 2019!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I have never read a Jess Kidd book but I'm glad I did!!!!!!!!!! I loved this cute detective story!!!!!!! Am definitely a new fan!!!!! Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for my honest review

This little book captured my imagination in ways not seen since Harry Potter!!! Yes I mean that. Has a bit of everything- mystery, suspense, Sci fi- LOVED IT! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for honest review.

Loved, loved, loved this title, and I'm not much of a Victorian fan. However, having just binge watched "The Alienist" (no, I didn't know it was a book first...please don't judge) I was able to jump right into the story. I dare not say too much lest I give something away. It was wonderfully creepy in the best kind of way. I can't wait to share this with my friends!

This is an excellent start to what I hope is a series. The story teeters between science and fantasy. Set in the the mid 19th century Bridie DeVine is a woman in a man's world, who smokes a pipe (with an interesting mix of tobacco) and is followed by a ghost. The story gives a bit of Bridie's background while focusing on a connected case involving a strange lost child. With hints of folk lore this was an absorbing red.

When I reached the halfway point in Things in Jars, I deliberately started to ration my reading so I wouldn't finish it too quickly. Now that I'm done reading it, I feel all twitchy hoping for a follow-up soon-soon-soon. Things in Jars is just that good.

Things in Jars offers a delightful historical fiction/mystery/fantasy melange with characters who are utterly real and whose relationships I found myself caring deeply about. Early on, on "detective" Bridie, who does some work for Scotland Yard examining (but not autopsying) cadavers to determine cause of death, meets Ruby, the ghost of a prize fighter, clad in only bandages, drawers, and top hat with tattoos that move about on his body. He tells Bridie they've met before; she doesn't remember him, but as the story progresses the two become closer, learning to rely on one another.

There's also the Scotland Yard Detective Rose, who grew up on the streets like Bridie; a seven-foot tall, bearded maid who escaped from a sideshow with Bridie's help; a strange girl, half fish, half human, with the teeth of a pike and a deadly bite. And, even with their fantastic elements, each of these characters comes across as genuine.

This is the kind of book you can give yourself as a gift and that will stay fresh with repeated readings. I think I'll be starting it all over again early next month.

I received a free electronic ARC of this title for review purposes. The opinions are my own.