Once again, Kat Holloway is thrust into high society when her abilities are requested by a lady who is convinced she is being poisoned. Using her wits and talents in the kitchen, Kat soon discovers the old adage that time heals all wounds isn't always true.

Book five in Jennifer Ashley's intriguing Victorian historical mystery series continues to entertain and delight fans with her astute and always pragmatic protagonist, Kat Holloway, and her kaleidoscope of bold and inventive contemporaries. The romance continues to bloom slow but steady while a secondary romance takes an interesting turn. I look forward to reading more from this world.

I wasn’t sure how this book would go since it’s the 5th in a series, but I quickly found myself enjoying Kat’s lemon cake along with the rest of the characters (in a manner of speaking).
One of my favourite aspects of this book was the detail. Jennifer Ashley was very thorough with all of her historical details (as far as I could tell). While some might find all of the cooking instructions boring, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about them and the way Kat prepared her suppers.

At first, I wasn’t quite sure what to think of Kat, but by the end, I realized that I appreciated her contentedness, kindness, and determination. She loved her job and the people around her and it was lovely to read about. Daniel was a real sweetheart! Kat and Daniel each had their own mystery to solve and as they went about doing this, their paths frequently crossed. I really, really hope she and Daniel can find a happy ending together.

The mystery was well executed as well. The evidence was all on the page, but like Kat, I had to figure it out. I definitely did not put all the pieces together and enjoyed that the ending took me by surprise. Honestly, I came to a point where I suspected almost all of Lady Covington’s family and staff.

I am excited to read more books in this series and I expectantly await the next installment.

Death At The Crystal Palace is the fifth book in the Kat Holloway Mysteries series by Jennifer Ashley.

Kat looks forward to spending time with her daughter, Grace. They have gone, along with friends, to the Crystal Palace to visit the beautiful exhibits. As they are heading to the next display, Kat hears a cry for help. Kat sees Lady Covington, who she met earlier, and asks how she can help. It turns out that Lady Covington has heard of Kat’s solving of mysteries and wants Kat to find out who might be trying to poison her. She suggests that Kat comes to her house, offering to share Kat’s recipe for lemon cake. When Kat delivers the recipe, she can look over the kitchen garden and find some poisonous plants there.

Lady Cynthia’s parents have come to town to take her back home to find a husband. So Cynthia can get away from her parents for a while, Kat suggests she spend a few days with Lady Covington to determine if someone is trying to poison her and who that might be. Lady Covington and her family attend the opening of a new school, and while partaking of a meal prepared at her home, her step-son becomes ill, and her step-daughter also becomes sick and will die shortly after that. What the step-daughter consumed was meant for Lady Covington’s meal.

Kat would like for her friend, Daniel, to help her with her investigation, but his “boss” has him undercover in Ireland, staying at the home of Duke Daventry. There have been some murders of British residents in Ireland. It’s believed that some of those that want Ireland free of British rule are getting financial help, possibly from the Duke.

But Kat will have to take a break from her sleuthing, as Daniel needs Kat’s help in his investigation. Meanwhile, Cynthia will be staying with Lady Covington until Kate can return and hopefully determine who the killer is.

This story is a fabulous addition to this engaging series. The story is well-written and features an exciting cast of believable characters. There were plenty of red herrings that I was kept guessing until the end to learn who the killer was.

I will be watching for the next book in this wonderful series.

Thank you to NetGalley, Berkley, and Ms. Ashley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title. An honest review was requested but not required.

I have really enjoyed the Kat Holloway mystery series so far and the latest installment does NOT disappoint. While a real-life Victorian-age cook was probably far too busy and hampered by obligation and class restrictions to do so much poking around in the lives of his/her "betters", Kat manages to convince the reader (this reader) it could work and pulls it off in style. The latest book was no different: Kat pokes around in the behind-the-scenes of a neighboring gentry family to try and discover if the family matriarch is being poisoned. The mystery itself isn't all that complex or twisty, but it's fun to see Kat sleuthing nonetheless. Meanwhile, our intrepid cook also gets sucked into roleplaying to assist her sort-of-beau Daniel McAdam as he attempts to discover who might be perpetrating treachery (funding Irish Home Rule rebellion and/or domestic terrorism). It sounds complicated but it's fun to see Kat removed from her kitchen and "fancied up" Cinderella-style.

Daniel and Kat's romance is the slowest of slow burns - it's been five books, and still they mostly content themselves with stolen kisses and meaningful looks - but rewarding nonetheless. Even more enjoyable, at least for me, is reading about Kat's life in the kitchen: developing recipes, sharing fascinating period cooking minutiae, training Tess. That's my favorite part of this series and Ms. Ashley never disappoints with cool new details.

Looking very much forward to book #6.

Death at the Crystal Palace is the 5th book in her historical Kat Holloway Mysteries series. This series takes place in Victorian, England, centered around our heroine Kat Holloway, who is a cook extraordinaire, as well as a great detective. Kat is smart, savvy, independent, loyal and is very protective of her below the stairs staff. As I have noted previously, this series has a wonderful feel of a historical Downton Abbey.

While Kat attends with her friends, and her daughter Grace an exhibition at the Crystal Palace, she is approached by a wealthy widow, Lady Covington. Seems Lady Covington has not been feeling well and is convinced that someone in her family is poisoning her. She tells Kat that she has heard about her detective skills from others and wants her to investigate who is threatening her.

When Kat visits Lady Covington, she uses the guise of giving their cook a special lemon cake recipe, and meets many of her family and staff. Kat begins to suspect that the threat is indeed real, and starts investigating what poison is being used; and why. Lady Covington is very wealthy, having been widowed twice, with a daughter and son; as well as a stepson and step daughter, who all may have financial reasons to try and kill her. She finds many of the family members, as well as staff are not overly friendly. In a short time, at an outing, Lady Covington’s step daughter eats a basket of food that was intended for the Lady, and dies from the poisoned food.

What follows is Kat escalating her investigation to find the killer, before they strike again. She sends Lady Cynthia to stay for a few days with the Covington family to keep an eye on them all. Kat will also help Daniel, who is very deep undercover to infilter a plot against the crown; both of these cases will put Kat in danger.
Death at the Crystal Palace was a wonderful suspenseful mystery, with Kat finding herself on the forefront in not only trying to solve one threat, helping Daniel on another, but also in helping out her friends, and trying to spend time with her daughter. The slow build romance between Kat and Daniel was still in the background, but we can see both of them very much expressing their feelings for each other. What makes this a wonderful series, is not only how great Kat is, but the scenes where she and Tess are preparing all these wonderful dishes for the upstairs family, as well as learn more about below the stairs.

Once again, Jennifer Ashley gives us another fabulous story revolving around our heroine, Kat Holloway. Death at the Crystal Palace was very well written by Ashley. If you enjoy Victorian stories, with a mystery theme, a Downton Abbey background, two very good leading characters and great secondary characters, you should be reading this series. If you have not read this series, I suggest you start with the first book.

This genre happens to be one of my most favorite genres and thankfully I stumbled upon this series earlier last year when I needed something new. It didn't take me long to quickly devour them.

I adore these characters, the setting and of course the mysteries that always manage to keep me on edge and on my toes. This is such an engaging series and I one I truly look forward to each new release. I love the slow burn romance, the relationships/friendships and truly, just everything about it.
This new installment was outstanding and I can't praise this series, the writings and everything about it enough.

I am tired of the non-answers. I need to.know about his past in the next book if i am going to keep reading. 3 books in it was okay but this is book five and is getting ridiculous. And her acceptance "I would wait for answers, but not much longer' is getting just as old. Move their story forward. Having a good mystery and unique spin on this era is not going to cut it much longer.

There’s a lot happening in Death at the Crystal Palace and Kat has her hand in all of it. She has two mysteries - and other complications - to solve in this latest installment.
I was baffled by Kat’s lack of secrecy in some parts of the book and wondered at her carelessness. While practical, this isn’t her game to play, really. The mysteries are resolved satisfactorily. As per usual, lots of delicious food - may want to get yourself a bit of lemon cake to enjoy alongside.
The first mystery is Lady Covington has asked Kat to look into the poisoning in her household, as she keeps becoming ill. Is she being targeted or is it something else? Is it one of her stepchildren, children, or one of the servants? No one is short of a motive. I love these types of mysteries, where everyone is a suspect and you keep uncovering more evidence in various directions.
Secondly, Daniel’s undercover on the trail of money being used to support independence movements in Ireland. He is avoiding Kat to keep her off radar until he needs her.
In the meantime, Lady Cynthia’s parents have shown up and are insisting she comes home, which does not bode well for any potential relationship with Mr. Thanos. His employer is Lady Covington’s older brother, so those stories intersect. Cynthia’s parents also meddle in the household, stealing wine and ordering different menus against their host’s wishes.
Kat’s got Tess well trained to run the kitchen, and she’s spending a lot of time out of it. It is why I wonder how long this is sustainable with her as a cook, even as the book tells us over and over she’s happy with it (but would like to be actually able to raise her daughter directly).
The series makes such small steps at change and I often wonder if there is a destination in mind. I love that we have a historical mystery series with someone who isn’t in the aristocracy - yet I also wonder if that means that her personal life is forever frozen because of the reality of the times. I look forward to future books.

The books in this series can never come out fast enough for me. I procrastinate starting each new one because I know it will be a long time before the next one – and then I mourn when it is finished – because I know it will be a long time before the next one. I think I like everything about the series; while there are aristocrats, the ‘stars’ of the show are of the domestic class; the aristocrats don’t always get to walk free; there is a background romance that I love watching grow; and, I love the relationship Kat has with her daughter Grace. In this book, we had two cases to solve – one for Kat and one for Daniel (with Kat’s help). You could read this as a stand-alone, but you might be a bit fuzzy on some of the relationships and some of the secondary characters if you haven’t read the previous books in the series. And goodness – those secondary characters are definitely worth getting to know and I certainly look forward to more encounters with them in the future.

On her day out, Kat Holloway has taken her daughter, Grace, to the Crystal Palace to see the exhibits. Kat values every minute of time she has with Grace because she only gets to see her on her full day out on Monday and her half-day out on Thursday, so, the cry for help she hears is dismaying on several levels. The person who cried out, Lady Covington, is deliberately seeking Kat because she has heard about Kat helping solve other mysteries. Lady Covington believes she is being slowly poisoned and she wants Kat to find out who it is and stop them. Kat agrees to visit Lady Covington at her home, and after speaking with her, Kat believes she really is being poisoned. With a house full of family and servants, there are a plethora of potential poisoners. Kat’s job won’t be easy because her own household has new arrivals as well, so her cooking duties have expanded. In order to manage her time constraints, she enlists the help of her usual cohorts and together they work to solve the issue of the poisoner. But it doesn’t happen before a death occurs in Lady Covington’s family – from poisoning.

While Kat is occupied with poisonings, Daniel is working on a very intense case for his guv’nor, Alden Monaghan. The guv’nor is a cold, ruthless man with nary a kind feeling to be had and he has a stranglehold over Daniel. There have been some high-profile murders of government officials and they are sure it has to do with the Irish who want Home Rule. There are also rumors that the Duke of Daventry, one of the richest and most powerful men in the country, is funding the Irish. It is Daniel’s task to prove or disprove those rumors. Daniel wants to keep Kat totally away from anything to do with his mission, but … the best-laid plans…

I highly recommend this book, this series, and this author. The book is well-written, well-plotted, and filled with exceptional characters you’ll quickly come to love. It did leave me wanting more information on Henry though – I’d love to know what actually happened with him. Maybe I’ll learn in the next book!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3.75 stars

Kat Holloway might be a servant, a very accomplished cook, but she is independent, highly intelligent and supremely capable. She is a very private person and the most important piece of her life is her daughter Grace, who lives with a friend's family but whom Kat sees twice a week without fail.

Kat has proven skilled at solving a few mysteries that have plagued the upper crust families she serves. She gets sucked in once again in two different cases: the mysterious poisoning of an aristocratic grand dame, and the investigation into some violent deaths in Ireland.

Kat has a gentleman friend, Daniel, who can appear as a working class guy or a nobleman, depending on the situation. He has a mysterious government boss who has some hold over him and sometimes requires him to take on dangerous and secretive missions, like the Irish case.

Kat is a great character, probably historically too good to be true since she appears to be able to disappear from her cook's position to dabble in mysteries fairly often. But it's fun to follow her adventures and watch her bond with Daniel grow. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I reviewed this book for Historical Novels Review Magazine, the magazine of the Historical Novel Society. Per their policy, I cannot post the review until after it is posted on the HNS website on August 1st. I will update the review then.

Kat Holloway is the cook of a wealthy household in Victorian London. The widow of a bigamous man, whose deception means that Kat doesn’t have access to a widow’s pension and makes their daughter a bastard in the eyes of the law, she has to continue living in her employer’s home while her daughter is raised by friends. Kat has some investigative experience so, when a lady approaches her claiming that someone in her household is poisoning her, Kat accepts to help. When the lady’s daughter dies of poison soon after, is becomes clear that the woman’s fears were founded.

This is the fifth novel in the Kat Holloway Mysteries, but the first one I read. The writing is perfect for someone reading out of order: enough background information is given to situate a new reader (or a reader with a faulty memory) but it doesn’t feel like an information dump. I loved the recurring characters, such as the kitchen maid who assists Kat in the house, the friendly if very proper butler, the love interest/spy Daniel, his untrustworthy vicar brother, the niece of Kat’s employer and her friends who are unconventional women for the time. The series feels lived-in, with real relationships built in and room to develop.

I like when my amateur sleuths have a regular job and must balance their regular duties with their investigations, and this book is perfect in that regard. Kat has to find pretexts to absent herself from the kitchen to investigate, or plan her inquiries around her half-days off without neglecting her too short time with her daughter. The balance is very good, as are the various eccentric characters who assist in her investigation in their own ways, providing excuses for her absences, costumes, and information.

The mystery itself is suitably complex, with a family whose members dislike each other and harbour various secrets, each of which could be a motive for murder. I admit that I didn’t guess the identity of the culprit, even thought all the evidence was right there on the page, obscured amid all the red herrings as it should be in a well-constructed mystery. I loved this book, the characters, and the mystery. I look forward to reading more about these characters.

Another fun adventure with Kat Holloway.
from description: While attending an exhibition at the Crystal Palace, young cook Kat Holloway is approached by a woman in distress. Lady Covington is a wealthy widow convinced that her entire family is trying to kill her. Kat feels compelled to help, and she escorts the lady home to discover whether she is delusional or in true danger.

Someone in the household is trying to poison Lady Covington, and her children and stepchildren have possible motives. Kat enlists Cynthia to visit the Covington home for a while and observe and gather information about the family. Cynthia, whose parents are trying to force her home to their estate in the country in hopes of finding her a husband, is only too happy to undertake the task and get away from her parents for a while.

Kat's friend Daniel is involved in another mission to discover whether a Duke is supplying money to Irish Nationalists.

This historical series is always fun, the characters are likable and the plots interesting. Another enjoyable mystery with the (mostly) Below Stairs crowd.

NetGalley/Berkeley Pub.

Historical Mystery. July 6, 2021. print length: 304 pages.

The series is a little bit spy thriller, a little cozy mystery, with a wonderful bit of romance blossoming on the wind. A Peculiar Combination crosses genres in brilliant fashion to intrigue readers. I found Electra (Ellie) to be like a female version of Janet Evanovich’s lovable conman in her Fox and O’Hare series with a cast of interesting secondary characters who perform a wide range of criminal acts that come in handy when one becomes a spy. Great book and an intriguing author to interview.

This has to be one of the best historical mystery series out there. Set in the Victorian age, Kat Holloway is primarily a cook at an upper-middle-class home, friend to the rebellious and wayward niece of her employers, mother to a young daughter that she cannot afford to live with while working as a live-in cook, and someone so canny that she has helped solve mysteries. Because she is a well-respected cook, she has access to the below the stairs areas that others can't and it affords her all sorts of insights into the goings-on in other homes.

In this book, she is out with her daughter and friend on a tour of an exhibit at the Crystal Palace when an older and wealthy woman surreptitiously tells her she needs her help because someone in her household is poisoning her. She has heard of Kat's past and thinks she would be able to help her. So Kat invents a recipe to bring to her, through the back servant's entrance and thus the mystery begins as she meets the servants and the family members living in this very opulent home.

I love the details of the period, especially the kitchen and below-the-stairs scenes, as well as all the characters in the series. This was another wonderful addition to the series and I am already waiting on the next one eagerly!

Another fantastic Below Stairs mystery.

A wealthy widow tells Kat that she believes someone is poisoning her. This leads Kat to explore a poisonous family while dealing with her own problems at home.

I'm amazed at how well Jennifer Ashley crafts a story. The wealthy family Kat investigates is full of secrets. The question is always what kind of secrets? Are they benign or dangerous? Kat is also playing matchmaker for her friend Lady Cynthia. When Kat discovers one mystery, there is another one to figure out.

Eventually, we will find out about Daniel's past. In the meantime, we'll still get breadcrumbs.

This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

Cook Kat Holloway is developing a reputation for problem solving among a certain set in 1882 London. Still, she is surprised when Lady Covington approaches her while she is at the Crystal Palace with her daughter and some friends. Lady Covington believes that she is being poisoned.

Lady Covington asks for Kat's assistance in finding out who wants her dead. Kat uses the excuse of providing a recipe for a lemon cake to Lady Covington's cook to visit and find out more. It turns out the Lady Covington is a wealthy woman who has financial control over her stepson and stepdaughter and her own son and daughter. She inherited money and shares in a railroad company both from her husband who died in a railroad accident and her second husband.

Kat asks her friend Daniel McAdam for some advice but he is currently undercover investigating an English Duke who might be giving money to Irish nationalists. Those nationalists have committed some brutal murders and Daniel's boss wants answers.

As Kat investigates, she learns that all of Lady Covington's children and stepchildren could have reasons to want her out of the way. They also all have secrets. Then Lady Covington's stepdaughter eats some of a basket prepared for Lady Covington and dies. Kat briefly wonders if the stepdaughter was the intended victim.

Meanwhile, Daniel asks Kat to help with his investigation too. And Kat's friend Lady Cynthia's parents have come to London to take her back to the country with them or to marry her off. Lady Cynthia's father who is something of a confidence man gets involved in Daniel's investigation when he tries to scam the Duke Daniel is investigating.

The story was interesting and fast-paced. The mystery was also intriguing and played to Kat's strengths as a cook. I liked the period detail and Kat's awareness of the class differences that pervade the society where she lives. I like that Kat is proud of her abilities as a cook and confident in herself.

Fans of historical mysteries will enjoy Kat's latest adventure.

This series remains solid, fun, and quite insightful...accompanied by a full plate of delectable and historically-accurate food description.

Another good entry in a favorite comfort series. Kat, the intrepid cook, is drawn into yet another intrigue involving the upper class of Victorian era London. Her sweetheart Daniel has a mystery of his own to solve, and their investigations weave around each other. Daniel is still as mysterious as ever with his work for Scotland Yard, and maneuvers around London sometimes as the everyman Kat first met, and sometimes as the upperclass gentry. He seems to slide easily in and out of both worlds.

I have this fantasy that the real Daniel will turn out to be rich, and whisk our beloved Kat off into a life of leisure after her years of cooking for the upstairs folk. Oh, and I keep hoping that she’ll run into Captain Lacey, even though that series is set in the Regency period. Wouldn’t that be fun…

Book 5 in the Below Stairs Mysteries series, begins with Mrs. Kat Holloway on an outing to the Crystal Palace with her friend, Lady Cynthia, and her daughter Grace. Kat is approached by Lady Covington who asked for her help. Lady Covington thinks she is being poisoned by someone in her household. She is afraid of scandal so doesn't want to involve the police. She asks Kat to investigate, because she has heard of the past investigations.

Kat doesn't know if Lady Covington is really being poisoned of if it is her imagination. She agrees to ask some questions and keep her eyes open just in case. Kat would usually ask for help from Daniel McAdam, her beau, but he is on a dangerous case himself. Complicating matters, Cynthia's parents come for a surprise visit. Cynthia knows her father is up to his old con game tricks. Can Kat juggle everything and save Lady Covington?