“The house was not large, for a family of such means, but its isolation gave a stark grandeur to its appearance. It rose from a promontory overlooking the dunes, and might have served at one time as a seaside villa. There was a faded elegance still about its arches and mullions, but it had fallen into neglect. Years of salt air had roughened its stonework, and its gables were discoloured by lichen and rust.”

This book was really fun; I enjoyed the plot, characters and writing style. It’s a clever, supernatural mystery set in 1893 London. A seamstress leaps to her death and other young women are disappearing, without much notice from Scotland Yard until Lord Strythe also goes missing. The disappearances lead to parallel investigations. The newspaper reporter, Octavia Hillingdon starts making inquiries, aided by her brother Georgie and her snide friend Elf, who has secret governmental connections. Gideon Bliss is a divinity student from Cambridge who is present at the disappearance of one of the women. “But she was staring past him, her scream a hoarse rasp as the rag was clamped to his mouth. He was slowing then, even as he began to struggle, clawing emptiness and breathing only the strange deep sweetness now, remembering nothing else. He saw her once more, as he was hauled up, the sense almost gone from things. He saw it, or thought he did. The brightness of her. The brightness of her, and then the dark.” Bliss manages to insinuate himself in the investigation by Inspector Cutter. They find more disappearances, deaths, visions and spiritualists.

Each of the three protagonists is intelligent and articulate. Cutter, in particular, has an amusingly sarcastic take on the proceedings. It also turns out that Cutter has a particular interest in the case. I loved Cutter and the somewhat prickly relationship he developed with Bliss. “And it’s only now comes out that when you found the same woman dead in the street, you shovelled her up and took yourself off to bed and did not trouble yourself to report the matter to Her Majesty’s police until this morning. I have never heard the likes of it. Bliss, have you ever heard the likes of it?” “There is not much, Bliss, that you do not know how to say. It is more in the shutting off of the valve that you are inclined to struggle.”

I hope there will be a sequel to this, but it was originally published in 2018 and there are no signs at this time that this will become a series. I listened to the audiobook and the narration by Charles Armstrong was excellent. He brought a lot of personality to the characters.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher.

I was intrigued by this book because spiritualism is a favorite topic of mine, and any book described as gothic is one I will pick up. This book certainly had a very gothic beginning, but it could not keep up the pace. Some might find the dialogue in this book droll or witty, but I found it slow and dull. It did not hold my interest, sadly.

It was hard to put down this very enjoyable novel that sees a detective inspector take on a not-quite-sergeant as they try to discover who is behind the disappearance of some of London’s poorest women after after a seamstress draws attention to them by sewing a message into her skin and then leaping to her death. The banter in this book is top notch and was my favorite part of the book.

I can’t. The initial scene with the suicidal seamstress sucked me in, but then the other characters were too saccharine and droll and ever so smackably witty. I'm sure many people will love this book but it just isn’t my thing.


I received an arc of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book, even though mysteries are not usually my thing! I am an HSP, and some mysteries get to be a little too much for me, but this one was pitched perfectly. Nothing too gory, but still really interesting. I did pretty much know where this one was going from early on, but still enjoyed the journey to see how it all concluded (and the ending was definitely satisfying to me!). I was drawn into the setting and the characters, and it was a fantastic vacation read for me.

I'll start with what I loved about this book. The gothic Victorian setting, complete with dark alleys, grimy boarding houses, eerie seances and opulent mansions was expertly brought to life. The supernatural mystery is unique and kept me guessing. Inspector Cutter's dry wit was laugh out loud funny, while his gruff care for young Gideon is surprisingly touching at times.
Now for the things I did not love. After such an intriguing and mysterious opening, the book became a bit plodding at times. The dense Victorian language used makes this a slower read at certain points in the book. I didn't like Octavia's plotline or her character as much as I enjoyed Inspector Cutter and Gideon.
All in all, this is a solid and imaginative Victorian mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for access to this arc.

I wanted to love this but this was a Dnf for me, I got to page ten and realized that I didn’t understand anything that I had read on those ten pages. The writing was too dense for me and I know it’s a writing style but it wasn’t reader friendly to a new reader of gothic Victorian.

Thank you to the publisher for granting me the wish to read this book.

Unfortunately I did not enjoy reading this story. I found it boring and the characters dull. There was needless dialogue and slow pacing which zapped the suspense,

A seamstress plunging to her death from an aristocrat's home lead a clergy student, a Sam Vimesian-police inspector, and an aspiring newswoman to investigate a string of missing working class women and the mysterious Spiriters in late 1800s London. An eerie, atmospheric mystery that tips into the supernatural with well-developed fantastic characters - I hope we see them again!

A creepy Victorian mystery with lovely dry wit! The death of a seamstress and the disappearance of a factory girl bring together Inspector Cutter, divinity student Gideon Bliss, and young journalist Octavia Hillingdon in a haunting and complex page turner. I have high hopes to see this cast reunited in a series.

A mysterious suicide, a wayward but passionate young man searching for his uncle, and a plucky young journalist trying to uncover the story behind several missing girls. Three stories unfold slowly before finally converging in The House on Vesper Sands. From the beginning, the dark, gothic mood is palpable as we follow Inspector Cutter, Gideon Bliss, and Octavia Hillingdon through Victorian London as they fit the pieces of this puzzle together, heightened by supernatural elements.

This is the perfect sort of book to curl up with on a gloomy winter day, for readers who enjoy a little fantasy with their historical mysteries. I thank NetGalley and the publisher for access to this advanced copy.

The start reminded me a little of <i>Sanctus</i>: someone jumping from a high place with a message for the police. The difference here is that this is in London, the jumper is a seamstress, and the message is cryptic. Gordon Bliss stumbles into this mystery, trying to locate his uncle so he can talk about his future (and that it's not going in the direction they'd planned). As an assistant he's not bad, and it's clear that Inspector Cutter has a lot he can teach Bliss. And then there's Octavia Hillingdon, also involved in the investigation but from a different angle. Maybe this will be a series?

All the fog and grime of Victorian Era London is depicted, along with the class issues and fascination of all things spiritual. Even Conan Doyle gets a mention, given his spiritualism exploration. However, the pacing doesn't quite work and that throws things off. The trip to the titular house has a different feel than the time in London, and smoothing that out would help.

eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss.

This book has gotten a lot of hype and I think it is well deserved. The opening is so suspenseful and strange that I was immediately hooked. It is a cracking good story with all the goodies - a damsel in distress, a determined female sleuth, a crusty detective, and a tender love struck gentleman. The cast is characters is delightful and one I hope return in a future volume.

A beautifully written historical mystery by Paraic O'Donnell, The House on Vesper Sands will captivate readers. Once begun, I could not put it down. With twists and turns by a masterful hand you will be engrossed in the story of Gideon Bliss and his love Angie Tatton.

Told along various plot lines that coalesce into an ending that will have you on the edge of your seat. Mystery lovers have a new shining star in O'Donnell.

This is a very enjoyable novel that will appeal to most mystery lovers. The writing alone is top notch and definitely worth the read. Great characters and a gripping nail biting plot sums up this novel for me. Plus it’s very humorous at times and simply wonderful to read. Highly recommend!

This paranormal Victorian mystery gets off to a strong start with an impactful opening scene and an eerie, gothic atmosphere that persists throughout. The hapless Gideon and the gruff police inspector made an enjoyable team; while I could have done without the intrepid lady reporter, who didn't seem to contribute much. The plot digressed quite a bit, until they finally reached the eponymous house, where all is revealed in a rush of information. The epilogue leaves open the possibility of a sequel.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy.

It's February 1893, dark and freezing cold. Inspector Cutter of Scotland Yard and Cambridge divinity student Gideon Bliss are investigating a strange suicide in London. A seamstress named Esther Tull has jumped to her death from an upper floor of Lord Strythe's house with words stitched into her skin.

Bliss is preoccupied with another mystery: the evening he arrived in London, he discovered a girl he fell in love with years ago, Angela Tatton, lying semi-conscious in a church. Angela Tatton has gone missing. Bliss's uncle, the Rev. Dr. Neuilly, who summoned him to London, is also missing. Lord Strythe is likewise nowhere to be found–he vanished the same night that Esther Tull committed suicide.

Murders follow the suicide and disappearances, and the crazily incompatible team of Cutter and Bliss are soon tearing around London, hardly knowing what to investigate next. Cutter's interrogations and Bliss's notes must be read to be believed. They are just hilarious.

The odd disappearance of Lord Strythe captures the attention of activist reporter Octavia Hillingdon, and she begins her own investigation. Octavia is also looking into the disappearances of young working girls, including Angela Tatton. All mysteries converge and all is revealed in a shocking conclusion at the house of Lord Strythe's sister Ada, on Vesper Sands.

Besides being hilarious, especially with Bliss as his doe-eyed straight man, Inspector Cutter has strange special gifts that come to bear in solving all of the riddles and explaining all of the macabre occurrences. Rumors abound in London of "Spiriters" who steal away young women. Are they real, or are they ghosts? Hillingdon herself is having strange visions of helpless young women dressed in white, preyed upon by two men in dark suits.

This is a brilliant novel, written with dazzling finesse, plot spinning merrily like a top. Author Paraic O'Donnell hearkens back to the very first detective novels and steeps his book in jocular rationality, ghostly women in white, and Dickensian murk. Inspector Cutter resembles Sergeant Cuff ("The Moonstone") and Inspector Bucket ("Bleak House"), only with more of a temper than either, and the sense of the macabre that permeates "The House on Vesper Sands" is also old-school. However, we have a young socialite feminist cutting a wide swath through the action on her bicycle. Cutter has a soft side under his gruff exterior. As for Bliss, after studying divinity at Cambridge he just can't seem to stop talking, which gets under the Inspector's skin to no end.

I was riveted and enchanted. Cutter and Bliss are the most delightful detective duo to come along in years, and with Hillingdon also doing investigative journalism, all that is left to wish for is a series of novels starring all three.

This is a promising start to a new series, especially for readers who enjoy mysticism with their mystery. The characters are interesting and while this book really is just laying the foundation, I think future adventures will be more intriguing.

Crazy elaborate great robbery. The writer really has a ability to recreate real casual conversations.