Judith Cutler starts another Victorian mystery series with Matthew Rowsley as the estate manager. A young teenage girl is missing and thought to be pregnant. Who did it? Rowsley is trying to find the girl and the man who seduced her. A tragedy unfolds before the reader's eyes.. The preacher puts all the fault on the girl. Rowsley is not so sure. Watch the tragedy unfold to the end of the story. More chapters remain in the next book in the series.

It's Downtown Abbey inside out and upside down. I have never read an 'upstairs downstairs' book like this one.
The Wages of Sin takes the reader on the intricate journey of relationship and interactions between estate's servants, farmers, villagers and officials. This story is as much about ins and outs of the estate's life as it is about crimes and solving them.
The land agent Matthew Rowsley is new to the estate. His eye is fresh. His outlook is modern. And he has the luxury of being independent of Lord's changing moods. And changing moods they are. Mr Rowsley gets to work with farmers and villagers. But it is inside the grand manor that the evil things lie. Mr Rowsley gets to the bottom of things but they are not what he signed up for when he entered the contract with the Lord of the manor.
The reader is taken in, immersed and introduced to a lot of people. Some are likable and some are not that much. We fall in love with the housekeeper Mrs Faulkner and feel for her. We learn a lot from innuendos, references and inferences. Sometimes I felt that servants are more restricted by self-imposed tact and etiquette even among themselves.
The journey of this book is long and deep. The Wages of Sin is not your usual crime story. It is a story of life with everything in it: love, loss, hatred, pain, hope and yes, crime and villains.
The happy end is needed and it will be delivered as the narrative itself, slow in coming and unfolding.
I enjoyed this book immensely.
Highly recommend.

A Victorian mystery, a predictable who done it. I found it slow and couldn't engage with it all, thought it was very lack lustre and struggled to finish it.
I kindly received a copy from NetGalley in return for an impartial review.
#NetGalley #TheWagesOfSin

This was an interesting read and I liked the main character and the way the story was presented but it did drag a bit in parts but was overall a good read and i would recommend it

I enjoyed the main storyline a great deal, especially the twists and misdirections!

But I thought it was weird that so many people in this historical novel had modern views on women and social classes. Such an oddly progressive village made it hard to accept the historical setting.

I didn't really connect with the romances, and I didn't really like the flashbacks, I thought they were heavy-handed and didn't really add anything to the character. It's often hard to have a relatable character with a Dark Secret.

The Victorian period is my favorite for historical mysteries. I have also read and enjoyed a number of mysteries by Judith Cutler so I was eager to read her latest. It was reading time well spent. The young estate manager, Matthew Rowsley, has a huge job trying to whip Thorncroft Manor into shape. It needs work and he is focused on not only bringing it to good working order but to also help the people who live and work on the estate. If that wasn't enough, there are some strange things going on - the Lord of the Manor has gone off to parts unknown, his mother, Lady of the Manor has secluded herself in her private quarters and one of the very young maids has vanished. Matthew wants to find her, especially since she is pregnant. He can't do it all on his own and joins forces with the housekeeper, Mrs. Faulkner and the valet. Together they try to find Maggie and uncover the strange events at the Manor.
I enjoyed the upstairs/downstairs setting and the characters of Matthew and Mrs. Faulkner made for a great pair of sleuths. The puzzle kept me engaged leading me to hope that there will be a sequel in the not too distant future. My thanks to the publisher Severn House and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

An engrossing and entertaining new historical mystery series that kept me hooked till the end.
Even if some details seems a bit over the top I really liked the cast of characters and the well researched historical setting.
The mystery is solid and kept me guessing till the end.
A good read, recommended.
Many thanks to Severn House and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I am a big fan of historical mysteries, but this one didn't quite work for me. The characters were likable, but it felt like there was no real accuracy for the supposed setting. I can't imagine male and female servants of that era in mixed company discussing the master's secret virgin deflowering room or the bloodied sheets he saved as trophies.

The plotting also was puzzling. I thought I had skipped a chapter at one point as a romance quite suddenly bloomed without much preparation. And the master's disappearance and in fact the whole setup of the house never felt quite plausible. The switching between the young girl's voice and the regular narration was a bit jarring as well.

Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Unusually (in my experience of historical mysteries!), the principle character is an estate agent, Matthew Rowsley, a young, educated man working for a landowner in Victorian England. The landowner has taken himself off to parts unknown, the lady of the manor (the landowner's widowed mother) has secluded herself in her rooms, and, in addition to dealing with the running of the entire estate (in multiple locations), Matthew and the housekeeper are dealing with the disappearance of one of the young maids. I found the characters interesting (although not all of them believable), and the social commentary on the attitudes of the upper classes in Victorian England was nicely done. I look forward to a sequel.

What an interesting duo! Matthew is the new agent for Thorncroft Manor, where Mrs Faulkner is housekeeper. The estate has issues, to put it mildly, but chief among them at this point is the disappearance of Maggie, a young ad pregnant housemaid. Matthew and the staff, but chiefly, Mrs. Faulkner, band together to find her. This has lots of other threads which can be pulled if the series continues. The characters are well done and the mystery, while not too complex, is appropriate to the period. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For those who like period mysteries.

Layers of Secrets And Scandal....
The first in a new series of Victorian mysteries featuring sometime amateur sleuth Matthew Rowsley. Matthew, newly appointed as land agent to Lord Croft, is distracted from his estate upkeep by the disappearance of a maid. As Matthew digs more deeply into the mystery he uncovers more layers of secrets and scandal than he would care to mention. Rich in character development and with a nicely woven plot this is a promising start to the series.

If you were a fan of Downton Abbey, The Wages of Sin recalls all of the atmosphere of an estate in Victorian England. Matthew Rowsley is the young agent hired to manage the estate. Thorncroft Manor has been neglected and he is working to improve the conditions on the estate, not only of the Manor house but also for the families who work the land. When one of the maids disappears, Rowsley takes on the responsibility of finding her. Maggie was little more than a child when she became pregnant and he fears that she will end up in a workhouse with her child in an orphanage. As the son of a clergyman, he has a strong sense of what is right and he is determined to help her. Rowsley is assisted by Mrs. Faulkner, the housekeeper, as well as the cook and the valet. As the senior staff, they gather for their meals and share the news from the staff and village and form a support group for each other.

It is not only Maggie’s disappearance that has disturbed the estate. The nighttime arrival of men on horseback, the disappearance of the estate’s lord, the erratic behavior of her ladyship and the mystery of a locked room have all given the Manor an unsettled feeling. It is up to Rowsley to find the answers.

The class differences, the issue of education for the workers and the moral values of the period all play a role in Judith Cutler’s new series. Victorian England comes to life in this entertaining mystery, one that does not disappoint. I would like to thank NetGalley and Severn House Publishers for providing this book for my review.

There is very little to say about this book, it is in fact quite dull. I didn't find myself engaged with the tale at all, its not badly told it just lacks pace and intrigue. The upstairs downstairs nature of it is a feature that was predictable, the aloof lady, the overbearing lord and the newly employed estate manager. 2020 surely will have much better to offer.

#TheWagesOfSin #NetGalley

The recently appointed Land Agent, Matthew Rowsley, is kept busy on the neglected country estate of Thorncroft. But he is soon distracted from his work by the disappearance of a young maid, Maggie Billings. But what really is going on at the Hall and why is it not a safe place to be.
An enjoyable Victorian mystery with a cast of likeable and interesting characters. A good solid start to a new series.

I mostly enjoyed this. It's a little uneven, but the author is experienced and knows how to tell a tale. Interesting characters and plot make this better than average read. 3.5 stars rounded up.

I really appreciate the ARC for review!!

Very enjoyable first book in a new series, for a first book it's a little rough around the edges but I look forward to the next book in the series.

I've read several novels by Judith Cutler but this is my favourite so far.
Cutler quickly establishes the historical 'below stairs' environment and the cast of compelling characters. There is much to keep the reader turning the pages, a missing maid, a missing lord (is there a connection?) and the intermingled story of another character, whose identity doesn't become clear until later in the book.
Along with the mysteries is a soupcon of romance, which had me rooting for the protagonists to find happiness.
A very enjoyable read!