The Return of Hester Lynton is a delightful find for any fan of British mysteries, and not necessarily the cozies. The book is subtitled “Ten new Victorian detective stories by a female sleuth” and so expertly does Evans write Victorian England that I actually flipped to the description a few times to confirm this is a new publication and not a newly discovered classic.
Evans’s sleuths, the titular Hester Lynton and her friend and sidekick Miss Jessop, are cast like a female Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Miss Lynton is the brilliant but taciturn lead detective who loves a big reveal, and Miss Jessop is the more practical assistant who ensures all the trains run on time, even as she is often bemused at her boss’ prowess.
In addition to the obvious Holmes/Watson comparison, the format of the book reminds me strongly of James Runcie’s Grantchester series. The setting is over a hundred years off and a gentle village rather than gritty London but, like Evans’, Runcie’s books feature several chapter mysteries in each book and a crack crime-solving team (in Grantchester’s case, Sidney the vicar and Geordie, his policeman friend). I would love to learn as much about Miss Lynton and Miss Jessop as we learn about Sidney and Geordie, but there are several Hester Lynton books, and perhaps those fill out the characters. I will certainly be reading them to find out.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lume Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to read it before the archive date, so am unable to offer an accurate opinion on it.

Apologies for the inconvenience, but I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim through it and write a rushed review. I am assigning the average star rating given by those that have a reviewed the book, so that my lack of review does not negatively affect the rating. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

I didnt realize this was the 4th in a series of books, but despite coming in late to the game, I really enjoyed this installation of Hester Lynton stories. I enjoy a good detective mystery (or 10 as is the case here). A play on Sherlock Holmes that still maintains originality, The Return of Hester Lynton is a solid choice for mystery lovers alike.

This is a delightful collection of short stories in the style of Arthur Conan Doyle featuring consulting detective Heser Lytton and her companion & assistant Ivy Jessop. The mysteriess cover a variety of crimes, not just murder, including fraud, blackmail, and theft. I raced through them and long for more.

A great book of 10 cosy mysteries. This was a lighthearted cosy mystery from the Victorian era and a nice tribute to Holmes.⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is the first book I read in this series and it was one of those eye opener that makes you wonder why you never read it before.
Ten short stories featuring a women detectiver and her assistant: they are entertaining and well written.
I liked the characters and the historical background is vivid. The solid mystery kept me guessing.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

If you love historical-mystery short stories. This is the perfect book for you. Very classic whodunnits with a female detective and sidekick.

Hester Lynton is such an enjoyable detective archetype to read with the perfect amount of mystery and clues compiled into ten short stories, each as enjoyable as the last. I look forward to reading many more stories of Hester’s investigations.

The stories were engaging and easy to read and blended mystery with history really well. It was a very classic Sherlock archetype with a mastermind private detective sharing a unit with the narrator set in London in the late 1800s. I also loved the female representation in this book and how they respond to sexist mindsets. The only thing lacking was a bit of ethnic diversity. Although, most characters are described ethnically so I guess they could be more diverse.

I enjoyed all the stories. They are quite quick and not very suspenseful, and some clues are conveniently found but I find this is often the case for short stories. I look forward to reading a full novel staring Hester and Ivy sometime in the future. I liked how the first story was a bit different then traditional detective stories, it was a little more riddle-like making it easier for readers to try and solve. The other nine stories are a lot more traditional whodunit, which I also love. And I also love how there was such a diverse mix of different crimes to keep it interesting.

As much as I love Hester for being such a smart and strong detective, I did find her a little too perfect. Everyone trusted her and had no doubt in her abilities at all and she never made a mistake or fell for a red herring, it would have been nice if she was a little more human. I really liked Ivy as a narrator and the book was well-paced with enough clues to keep it interesting.

I can’t wait to read about Ivy and Hester’s next adventure.

I absolutely love mystery books and this one is definitely one I will read over and over. Such a great book jam packed with lots of murder and mystery. Absolutely loved it!

I read some stories in this book but it just didn't do it for me. The stories, writing style and dialogue was stiff and uninteresting. I just couldn't finish because there is so much else out there to read! The idea is nice of a female detective and a female sidekick but this was boring for me. Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read this book for an honest review. I'm just sorry it wasn't a better experience.

My thanks to Tony Evans, Lume Books and Net Galley for the ARC of THE RETURN OF HESTER LYNTON.
This novel is a collection of short stories set in 1800’s London with Hester Lynton and her close friend and companion Ivy Jessop as the main protagonists. Hester is clearly an experienced detective who one cannot help comparing to Sherlock Holmes with his great friend, Watson, by his side. I very much liked their friendship and the way they conducted their investigations.
The stories are all very different and in the cosy historical fiction genre which I love and I really enjoyed reading. I read this one at a gallop.

I really enjoyed this book. All of the stories were just the right size, they were entertaining, and had a lot of “girl power!” If you’re a fan of Sherlock Holmes, you’ll enjoy this book, there are a lot of similarities.

Consulting detective, Hester Lynton, and her loyal companion, Ivy Jessop, are back once again. An array of cases challenge their wits and it will take all their skills to catch these criminals.

Having recently finished the first collection of short stories, it was fun to pick up this new collection. The cases are varied with no one like the other. This made for an entertaining read. A few were straightforward and easy to solve, and others were more “twisty” in the solution.

The very first case was my favorite because although I am bad at them, I do enjoy a good puzzle to solve!

My biggest complaint for the previous book was that the narrator felt off, being told by Hester. Although that changed in book two, with Ivy being our narrator for the collection, it didn’t feel like a change. There was nothing different about how the stories were told, and I think that’s what bothered me the most. There was no real sense of character. I can’t pin down anything about them beyond Ivy being a secretary and loyal. We are told more details about Hester, that she is kind and intelligent.

Still, this was a fun read. Those who enjoy a Victorian female detective may enjoy this one.

I was very intrigued by the premise of this book. It has everything that I should love: a feminine retelling of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson, cameo appearances by Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde, and are mystery short stories. As with any short story collection, I enjoyed some short stories more than others (I particularly enjoyed Chapter 5), but overall I didn't enjoy this book as much as I hoped I would. The main thing that didn't draw me in was that I had no sense of who Ivy and Hester were as people. There were no identifying features in their speech, interests, dress, or mannerisms that helped me develop a full picture of who they are, as I have of Holmes and Watson. I also found that the mysteries moved very quickly, with very little satisfying description of how Hester used her clues to move from one step to another. This made a lot of the mysteries very forgettable, as I, the reader, was not invested in solving these mysteries with Hester. I also feel like the stories could have made more of their celebrity cameos, as well, The stakes of Wilde's homosexuality in the final story are implied, but I feel that it could have been highlighted even more. I also found at least one typo that must have slipped by the line editor. None of this is to say that the stories are badly written, I just feel that all of the elements of them were underdeveloped and could be so much fuller than they are.

At 12 Newsome Street, Hester Lynton, a consulting detective is aided by her associate , Ivy Rogerson. These ten cases include returning stolen items, helping to find missing persons, and kidnapping, with historical figures that play a part in some of them.
Charming historical cozy mystery stories with Ivy playing the Watson part to Hester's Holmes.
Thank you NetGalley and Lume Books for this e-galley of "The Return of Hester Lynton".

An enjoyable exploration of 10 cases set in Victorian England similar in style and substance to the cases of Sherlock Holmes but with female character's. They are short and sweet and I would have preferred them to be full length individual stories.

I received this from netgallery in exchange for an honest review as given above

The book is okay. Most of the mysteries are not that original. In fact the first one is quite a bit like a mystery I ready many years ago. I did not even finish that story. The other short stories are okay but predictable.

1. The Case of the Fanshaw Inheritance - 1882 - The first cousin to decipher the clues will inherit. Albert Fanshaw asks the help of Hester.
2. The Case of the stolen Leonardo - Who did steal the painting, and how and why.
3. The Case of the Missing Professor - 1885 - Professor Ambrose Dixon has gone missing with a sensitive document belonging to the War Office.
4 The Mystery of the Locked Room - 1891 - Miss Adeline Cormac is discovered dead, in a locked room at the family home. Her sister Mrs Lucy Millar is not convinced that it is suicide.
5 The Adventure of the Damond Necklace - 1895 - Unfortunately the diamond necklace given by the Duke of Walton to Lady Ellen Talbot has been stolen. She has her suspicions and approaches Hester for help.
6 The Case of the Kidnapped Schoolboy - 1888 - Nine year old Daniel Arnold has been abducted and a ransom note sent to his parents. Can Hester find the boy.
7 The Puzzle of the Whitby Housemaid - 1890 - On holiday in Whitby, they are approached by Bram Stoker to help his landlady, Mrs Veazey, as she is concerned about the health of an ex-maid, Lucy Dillot.
8 The Case of the Russian Icon - Mrs Eliza Ward, publican, has been selling her dead husband’s collectables and believes she has been defrauded, morally but not illegally.
9 The Case of the Naked Clergyman - 1897 - Miss Harriet Dowson of Ledbury Grange is concerned about the behaviour of her father, retired Reverand Alfred Dowson.
10 The Problem of Oscar Wilde - Friend of Wilde, Edmund Trilling has been burgled and letters from Wilde to Trilling have been stolen. A request for money for their return has been received.

Ten short historical stories written from the point of view of Hester Lynton's friend and former employee, Ivy Rogerson. The stories are a mixture of danger, playful exchanges and the portrayal of strong women, set in Victorian England.
An entertaining and well-written collection of short historical mysteries, with its likeable main characters
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.



READING PROGRESS

The 10 stories in this book occurs in 1800's London. We have two main characters , Hester Linton and her associate Ivy Jessop. We find them cracking interesting cases with dedication and wit. One may compare them with the likes of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, but they are unique and have the personality of their own.
Most of the time , the outcomes were predictable and plot dragging. Nevertheless enjoyed the book very much.

A collection of 10 short stories set in 1800’s London. Consulting Detective Hester Lynton and her sidekick and companion Ivy Jessop (the narrator of the stories) will obviously be compared to the Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, but our female detectives have their own methods of deduction. Regularly called upon to deal with the more unusual cases they make a great team. Hester is the brains of the team, a strong, direct woman, retired but still needs to use her skills and Ivy is a perfect foil.

Briefly, the various cases are all totally different. Ranging from stolen letters to a missing professor and from a body in a locked room to a kidnapped schoolboy. All cosy historical fiction mysteries that lovers of Conan Doyle and other similar authors will love.

The cases are pretty straightforward with few twists and turns, but although I pretty much guessed the outcomes they were still enjoyable. I particularly liked the inclusion of real life characters from the era. I can’t pick a favourite story as they are all enjoyable; a good, lighthearted read ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Blog review links to be added 3rd December

A brilliant alternative to historical fiction crime thrillers. Having the main characters as lady detectives makes for an entertaining change, in normally a male dominated era. There are similarities between the dynamic of Holmes and Watson but Evans has given them their own style.

A great read for a cold wintery afternoon infront of the fire.