Finally got around to reading this. I really enjoyed it. I loved how Emma evolved. At first it seemed like she was just going to be a sullen moody brat. But she had her reasons. I’m glad she found something worthwhile to put her energy into. I loved Aunt Florence too. She was a firecracker.

This was the first historical fiction book I read based in Melbourne, Australia, and to be honest it wasn't very different from those based elsewhere in the Western world.
I was also surprised at the end to realise that the two main protagonists (Max and Emma) may not appear in the rest of the series (it goes as Reggie de Costa Mystery).
Anyway, I love WW1and 2 fiction and this book was no exception with themes such as PTSD and mental health taking centre stage as well. I was particularly impressed with the way in which they eventually caught the killer.
Overall, a good read.

The Death Mask Murders is the author's debut novel and she's done a great job weaving an interesting mystery.

The novel starts off in 1918 in Melbourne Australia. Emma, now living with her aunt after her fiance was killed spends her days sketching on the beach. That is until one day when she's caught in a terrible storm. Max finds her and takes her to an abandoned mansion in order to take shelter. What they don't realize is that it's the lair of the death masks of a serial killer. While hiding they discover several women. The killer has been engaging in a ritualistic killing spree: shaving their heads, strangling them, and creating a gruesome memento of each in the form of a death mask.

Emma along with her aunt and two others get involved when Max is arrested for the murders. Because he has PTSD the authorities think he's the killer. Will Emma be able to clear his name?

The story is captivating and the characters are well crafted. A great start!

*Many thanks to Laraine Stephens, Level Best Books, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
The most interesting bit for me, a European, was the take on the Australian society at the end of WW1, the places, the characters, their mentality. The mystery behind the gruesome murders were somehow at the background althoguh it was quite well presented.

It is February 1918. Somewhere in the bayside suburbs of Melbourne, the Death Mask Murderer is lurking, engaged in a ritualistic killing spree: shaving the heads of young women, strangling them and creating a gruesome memento of each in the form of a death mask.

As a wild storm batters Brighton, Emma Hart, an aspiring artist, and Max Rushforth, a shell-shocked ex-soldier, take refuge in the cellar of a derelict mansion, the killer’s lair and home to his sinister collection of plaster casts. With Max under the spotlight of the police investigation, Emma calls on the expertise of crime reporter, Reggie da Costa, and Dr Silas Bacon, an expert in death masks, to prove his innocence, unaware that she, too, is in the killer’s sights.
A gripping read

Sheltering during a storm Emma Hart mets Max Rushforth a Shell-shocked soldier from WW1. While recovering in the basement of an old mansion they find a horrible discovery of 3 death masks. During the investigation Max will become a suspect and it’s up to Emma and her aunt to save him. A story that shows you the underlying emotion that War brings to its survivors. How the effects of war was treated as a mental illness with all the outdated methods of the time. Max’s experience will help uncover a serial murderer with a tense finale.
I was given an arc of this book by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This story takes place in Melbourne, Australia during the tail end of WWI. I love the early 1900s so I'm often drawn to stories that take place in that era.

Emma Hart is a young girl who has suffered great loss when her fiancé is killed in Somme, France during WWI. She has been sent to live with her Aunt Florence, a wealthy widow with no children of her own, that lives in Brighton. Emma can often be found sitting on the beach, sketching the scenery, it is on one such occasion that she is caught in a violent storm and is subsequently rescued by a stranger, Max. Max takes Emma to an abandoned mansion where they end up having to take shelter in the cellar. Once down there, they discover the death masks of three young women. Emma is fascinated with these, who are they? And where did they come from? Even more disturbing is who created them and why?

Soon, Emma, Max and Aunt Florence are embroiled in the events that unfold surrounding the discovery of the death masks and who they belong too. They have a local hot shot reporter to thank for it, Reggie Da Costa. All four team up with a doctor, Silas Bacon who discovers that his past is about to collide with his present. Sadly, Max is arrested and thrown in jail in connection with the death masks. Can they figure out who the perpetrator really is and in time to save Max and clear his name?

This story was fantastic. It was a quick read with great pacing and I loved the in depth backgrounds that each character has. There is also an underlying theme of how largely mistreated mental illness was back then. Specifically in regards to PTSD, which Max suffers from. It was considered embarrassing and he was labeled unstable and at times, dangerous. There is also mention of largely outdated and harmful treatments like lobotomies and cold baths and even shock therapy. One question asked "can someone be born evil?" As a lover of true crime and stories like those, this is something I have often pondered and honestly I have no answer.

This appears to be this authors debut novel and I have to say that I am most definitely excited to see more from her. This is an impressive story and a great read!

Three storm fronts converge in a section of Melbourne, ravaging the neighbourhood and almost killing young Emma Hart. She is rescued by a stranger and carried to a close-by abandoned house where, sheltering in its cellar, they discover the gruesome death masks of three young women.

This is the beginning of a captivating historical mystery, set in 1918 Melbourne. Its main protagonist, Emma Hart, is the companion of her rich and resolute aunt. She is determined to prove the innocence of Max, her rescuer, who is now under suspicion for murder. Emma, her aunt, Max’s friend, as well as crime reporter Reggie Da Costa do their utmost to prove Max’s innocence and find the real murderer. A lot of tension is created to a large extent by the author’s gift in describing situations and mood.

What interested me most was the focus on society’s attitude towards mental disorders. It seems that mentally ill persons, such as Max with his ‘embarrassing’ or ‘frightening’ PTSD symptoms were either shunned, or labelled as irrational, unstable, even dangerous. It made me think of the prejudices still rampant today, and how little has changed in the past 100 years. Another ‘bite for thought’ was the mention of treatment methods like lobotomies, ice baths and electroshock therapy, some still in use, and the occasional rise of pseudo-sciences that find avid supporters and practitioners on the unsuspecting and equally misled. In this instance it was phrenology through which immense damage was wrought by a well-meaning doctor who focused so much on the technique that he never listened to the individual. One question remains open: What is evil? Is it somehow taught throughout life, or is it a birth-defect?  

So, it is small wonder that I really, really enjoyed this book. A tense plot, a great variety of characters, excellent prose, learning about phrenology and mental treatments as well as bonus ruminations about the public’s (and my own) attitude towards unusual behaviours that will keep me busy for a while. This is an impressive debut novel of an author I am sure to read again.

Taking place in Melbourne in 1918, the Death Mask Murders follows young Emma Hart recuperating in her wealthy aunt’s home after the two-years previous death of her fiancé in the War.
Emma’s reluctant to return to living, but her aunt, Mrs. Darrow, won’t take no for an answer, and insists Emma get up and out of the house for her own good. At the book’s open, Emma is sketching on the beach; when a vicious storm comes in, Emma is caught in it and hurt. Thanks to the help of a former soldier, Max Rutherford, the two take shelter in an abandoned mansion’s cellar, where they find three death masks. Emma is both repulsed and fascinated, returning to sketch the masks the next day.
Local crime reporter, the callow, egotistical and shallow Reggie da Costa and the police become involved gradually, with more women missing and found murdered.
Max quickly becomes a suspect to the incompetent investigating detective, because of his unreliable and supposedly shifty behaviour (he’s suffering from “shell shock”, or PTSD as we know it now.
Emma has a gut feeling Max is innocent, and convinces her aunt and a reluctant Reggie to help.
A friend of Max’s, Dr. Silas Bacon, is drawn in also, and the group chases down leads in the hope of finding the real killer.

I’m fascinated by the time period, and though I knew Australia had sent men to the trenches , I had no idea of the numbers of men (some of whom were indigenous) lost to the criminally huge waste of life that was WWI. Also, the reactions of those at home to soldiers returning seemingly uninjured but damaged psychologically was very similar to that in other countries: a disgust and lack of sympathy, and willingness to see these men as shameful problems, and likely criminal.

My reactions to this book:
-As this is a first in a series, I was willing to let some of the telling versus showing pass, though I failed to see how the author could persistently define Emma as “feisty” when I saw no evidence of it.
-I particularly liked the no-nonsense Mrs Darrow, and her willingness to help a man wrongfully accused of murder.
-I don’t know what the streets of 1918 Melbourne looked like, but sure there must have been Indigenous people (those not massacred by white settlers) about in some capacity?
-And calling the series the Reggie Da Costa Mysteries means his sexist, self-centred self will be present for more books, which is a bit of a pity, as he’s mostly irritating.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for a review.