This was an ambient murder mystery taking place in 1930s London and on a ship from London to New York. It evoked the setting well, and for readers who like to read historical fiction/mysteries from that period, this will be a fun read. I'm less enamored of the tone and style of that period as others so it was 3-stars for me. It was compelling enough that I kept going, but ultimately I found the reveal to be rushed and a little unsatisfying. I always hope for a mystery's reveal to put pieces in place that I'd missed and not require too significant a suspension of disbelief. In this case, I didn't quite get the ending I'd wanted.

Lena Aldridge is a woman with ambition. However, being of mixed race back in the 1930s limit her opportunities. Her career in London comes to a screeching halt when her boss, the husband of her best friend, is poisoned while in the audience. Lena may indeed be a suspect, but she does have a chance to get away because she gets offered an opportunity to appear in a show on Broadway. Lena takes a first class ticket ride on the Queen Mary that might open many doors of opportunity for her.

However, things do not go as planned. In fact, there is a murder on the ship. More than that, someone is not happy with Lena‘s presence and various scenarios occur that make her life very difficult and it is questionable whether she will even make it to Broadway. The transatlantic cruise is not one of pleasure, even though Lena has a first class ticket. Instead, she is often accosted, accused, and judged by her race and sex. While on the ship,Lena gets the opportunity to learn more about her past and the book shows how she was sometimes able to pass as white and how she played on either side of race depending on how it would benefit her.

In addition to the problems that Lena is having on the ship, yet another murder occurs. Considering that this book is written in first person narrative, as well as by means of a diary, we just are given privy to Lena‘s thoughts and concerns while she is on this trip. Is Lena guilty of these murders or is her situation one that makes her a likely suspect? She’s definitely not an innocent woman because she had been sleeping with a married man. Does this mean that she is a woman that does not have a good character or does this mean that she is a woman who dealt with living a double life and took whatever she could to get by? The dynamics in this book take on quite a few different directions, which include morality, alcohol and drugs, racism, class distinction, the unfairness that some women face and much more.

Considering that this book is not just a historical fiction but a historical mystery, it is definitely a well-layered book that has a lot of intrigue as well as drama. In fact, this book reminded me of Agatha Christie’s book Death on the Nile as the second murder happened while they were on the ocean so it was more than clear that the murderer was on board. That definitely increased the tension and danger in this well-written and captivating read.

Many thanks to Berkley Books and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. These opinions are my own.

Lena Aldridge hasn't been as successful as she hoped in becoming an actress. When offered the chance to head to Broadway to star in a musical by a friend of her father, she jumps on it. However, she quickly learns that all is not as she expected.

I would classify this much more as a mystery/thriller than as historical fiction. Though set in 1936 on the Queen Mary as it crossed the Atlantic from London to New York, it didn't include many details about the historical period. The most interesting aspects were about the racism that Lena faced as a mixed race woman and the ways in which the wealthy people she interacted with viewed Hitler.

This is a locked room mystery where I suspected everyone and didn't like anyone. To be honest, I didn't particularly care who the murderer was. I only wanted to finish the book to learn what happened to Lena.

TW: drug abuse, sexual assault

Miss Aldridge Regrets was an exciting historical mystery, filled with mysterious characters, and glamorous setting, and a thrilling mystery.

Days after Lena’s best friend’s cheating husband is murdered, she sets sail on the Queen Mary for a leading role on Broadway. She soon meets the wealthy, but cruel Abernathy family, and becomes entangled in a series of murders on board the ship.

The writing in this book was so sharp, and the plot moves quickly. All of the characters are a bit morally gray, but I also found them interesting, and in Lena’s case, endearing. I hope there will be another book in this series because the ending definitely left some things unresolved! Miss Aldridge Regrets was a fresh and fun book, that I recommend to anyone looking for a new historical mystery.

Miss Aldridge Regrets is a locked-door mystery but there isn't a sleuth. The book is very atmospheric with the setting aboard the Queen Mary crossing from London to New York City in August 1936.

Lena Aldridge is a mixed-race jazz singer whose big break never seemed to come. Then shortly after her father dies, living her alone in the world (she never knew her white mother), opportunity comes knocking. An old friend of her father's from New York City is opening a Broadway show and wants Lena as the lead. It sounds too good to be true, but when the owner of the Canary Club, the cellar nightclub she sings at in Soho is murdered that same night she starts thinking that it is fate. Fleeing one murder scene, she boards the Queen Mary with great hope for a new beginning. Unfortunately, her dinner companions, a wealthy family from New York, start to drop dead. Who is behind these murders and is she next?

When no detective magically appeared to be on board the ship, I thought Lena would become the amateur sleuth with perhaps Will, the ship's jazz pianist, as her co-sleuth. But that wasn't the case. Outside of asking a few questions, Lena is only concerned about not being the murderer's next victim.

The story moves kind of slowly. There is some talk about racial issues as Lena may not pass for white quite as easily in America. Most of the action is just the everyday variety aboard a luxury liner crossing the Atlantic. Lena does some shopping, there's a movie night with Eliza (the daughter of the wealthy patriarch Lena is seated with at dinner), she goes to the pool with Carrie (Eliza's daughter), and of course, there are plenty of drinks and dinners.

The story is told from Lena's point of view and she is a likable character. It is because of her that I was able to finish the book - I wanted to make sure she didn't take the fall for all the murders in the end. There are a handful of diary entries from the true murderer sprinkled between chapters and I wished there had been more. They added the only tension to the story and provided clues for the reader to figure out who the killer was.

I really liked Will too and wished there had been a bit more of him in the novel.

If you are looking for a light mystery that isn't a cozy, then you should try this novel.

My review will be published at Girl Who Reads on Saturday - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2022/07/2-books-for-fans-of-historical-mysteries.html

Short synopsis: Lena Aldridge receives the chance of a lifetime to go to America on the Queen Mary to fulfill her dreams of being on Broadway. When a Murder on the ship is eerily similar to another Murder she witnessed, Lena must protect her life.

My thoughts: The glitz and glamor of the ’30s set the perfect tone for this book. It was mostly set aboard the Queen Mary which is now rumored of being haunted. The dips back in time helped the story unfold so nicely to give us a better idea of the complicated past Lena had to work through including racism and class.

This was a fun “who done it” with major Agatha Christie vibes with a little “Titanic” flare sprinkled throughout. It had the “closed” murders on a ship and Lena being framed, with secrets everyone in the Abernathy family are desperately trying to keep hidden. This one will keep you guessing until the very end.

Read if you’re a sucker for:
* Cozy mystery in a closed setting
* Glitz and glamor of the wealthy
* Underground bars and dancing
* “Who done it” murder mystery

This is a historical mystery set in the 1930s and set mostly on the Queen Mary luxury liner headed to NYC. It does give off lots of Agatha Christie vibes but it also has some additional layers like racism added in to make this an extremely engaging read.

This is about a singer running away from England to what she thinks will be her big ticket on Broadway and a very wealthy family that she meets on the Queen Mary. There is dysfunction and murder on this luxury vessel with a whodunnit I didn’t figure out!

Thank you Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for access to this arc.

From the blurb I knew that this would be more of a mystery and historical fiction. That turned out to be the case. I will admit that I found myself guessing and second guessing who I thought the murderer was and it wasn’t until fairly late in the book that I had a firm villain in mind. Well, even with that, there was still a final twist I didn’t see coming so well done on that. But … there are things that happen in the book – actions that various characters take that do make sense but in many cases aren’t savory. Not at all. The final outcome and fallout might leave readers shocked and unhappy.

The plot moves back and forth between the events that took place in London the week before Lena leaves and the Atlantic crossing. Most is told from Lena’s first person POV though some is told by the villain. There are a few clues dropped here and there during the killer POV sections that can be used to try and sort out who this is. Given some things that happen over the course of the book and some red herrings, it should have been easier to figure out whodunnit but it’s not until the end and some final villain exposition that things all make sense. Clues are there and I wasn’t totally surprised but human nature has to be allowed for to account for the motivation behind the murders.

Most of the characters are not good people. Just about everyone has things they’ve done, or not done, that will make readers pull back frowning from having sympathy for them. Some of them were faced with hard choices up to and including “that person or me” survival situations. That being said, I read the final 20 pages in a bit of shock. “No!” I thought. “Really? Wow. Huh.” I won’t say more than that.

The depiction of life among the struggling in London was well done. The shipboard details were good but I didn’t connect with these sections as much. There are class and racial divides all over the place and just another warning – some racial and ethnic slurs are in the book as well as a privileged class viewpoint of Hitler. One character tries to impress some hard truths upon Lena as to what she, a mixed race woman, might encounter in NYC. I found it hard to believe that she would be as naive about this as she is depicted as being.

The moral ambiguity of so many of the characters is probably realistic but it does make it hard to care about what happens to some of them. Even using the excuse that this person was a slime didn’t make me willing to just write off that they’d been killed. In the end, I enjoyed the historical details, the self discovery, the locked room feel, and was glad that one person survived but whoa, there isn’t much moral redemption to be found here. B-

Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare had an air of promise about it. It was a breath of fresh air in a genre first populated by Agatha Christie, and is thus, filled to brim with the white upper-crust of British society, usually set on one of their sprawling estates. But here, we have a female protagonist who is British, yes, but is also straddling the world between black and white--you see, she is the product of a short affair between a white woman and her black father, though she easily passes as "Mediterranean", if she so pleases. And another change comes in the setting--all the mystery takes board upon a ship. I wish I could say the promise paid off, but for me, it did not.

Lena Aldridge has known hardship all her life, being the daughter of a black musician in England, and never knowing her mother. All she dreams of is making the big-time and escaping singing in smoke-stained bars like the Canary, which is owned by her best friend's philandering husband, Tom. But fortune seems to have been tipped in Lena's favor when an American by the name of Charles Bacon offers her the deal of a lifetime: come to star in a brand new show on Broadway. It seems that Charles' employer knew Lena's father and feels as though he owes him, and since he is now gone, sees the only opportunity to make amends is though his daughter. After the untimely death of Tom in the middle of the club right after her friend, Maggie, fiddles with his drink, Lena is need of a new job and sees no other course than to agree to the arrangement. But death is following close on her heels, and will claim many more lives on board the Queen Mary. And Lena will find out more about her past than she ever intended to, or even wished.

I loved the setting of this book, and the time period is one that is always fascinating, but Miss Aldridge Regrets was rather lackluster. The writing, I felt, was its chief fault, and at times I found Lena's decisions, especially when it came to trusting some people on the ship, a little hard to follow. And the climax, along with the discovery of the culprit, left me cold and not at all in a good way. The book ended abruptly and I wished we had had a bit more of it, to perhaps smooth away any bumps with the characterization. All in all, it was a solid three stars, middle of the road novel that could have been much better.

Set mainly on the Queen Mary, Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare brings mystery to life in this historical mystery set in 1936. The book was engaging and held my attention throughout. I was eager to find out who had it in for Lena and why. The plot has a murder-mystery feel. Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for sharing this digital reviewer copy.

Delighted to include this whodunit title in the July instalment of Novel Encounters, my regular column highlighting the month’s most anticipated fiction for the Books section of Zoomer magazine. (see review at link)

Lena hides in plain sight. Hiding who she is, especially her racial background, is essential for career survival. Even with the benefit of her disguise, she ekes out a living as a lounge singer on the fringes of society. She is constantly evading unwanted attention from men who think she’ll be an easy target, making herself smaller to fit into the tiny spaces they expect her to occupy.

When her best friend Maggie finally decides to off her abusive, controlling husband, Lena gets caught in the crosshairs of the murder investigation. Salvation comes from an unlikely place – a miraculous offer to star in a Broadway show because of a distant connection to her deceased father.

Before she knows what’s happening, Lena is bundled up and finds herself on a steamer headed for the United States. The luxury aboard the ship is like nothing she has ever been exposed to, and she’s lured into a world of decadence and temptation and overindulgence. She’s the decoy for convincing wealthy patrons to sponsor the show she’ll be starring in.

But nothing is what it seems. Lena is playing an essential role in an elaborate plot designed by the most unlikely of villains.

This gritty portrayal of the underbelly of the cabaret entertainment industry in the ominous dawn of the era of Hitler was impossible to put down. Lena’s character is nuanced, fully fledged and riveting. Her struggle to forge a place for herself outside of the confines of a world determined to stifle her is heartbreaking and relatable.
The mystery at the core of the story is intriguing and was completely beyond my powers of deduction. The plot revelation and resolution are completely unpredictable.

If you are looking for a complex historical thriller told from the perspective of a narrator whose story is rarely told, this book is for you.

A huge thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Miss Aldridge Regrets is instantly enthralling, opening with murder and then showing our protagonist, Lena Aldridge, throwing away incriminating evidence on her first day aboard the Queen Mary. It seems that she knows something… yet she doesn’t seem like a killer. In fact, she’s a mostly likable character, if rather morally gray.

Early on, Lena meets numerous other characters, most of them part of the Abernathy family. There’s the elderly patriarch, Francis Parker, his daughter Eliza and her husband Jack Abernathy, and their children, Frankie and Carrie. They’re accompanied by Mr. Parker’s nurse Daisy and his personal doctor, Dr. Wilding. Lena is also getting to know Charlie Bacon. Meanwhile, she’s recalling everyone she left behind – her late father Alfie, her best friend Maggie, the murdered husband Tommy, and more. It’s a lot to take in at first, but the characters are distinct and well-developed, making it easy to quickly get to know them.

The novel also has a non-linear timeline. Most of it is told from Lena’s point of view while aboard the Queen Mary, but some chapters look at the week before, when Tommy was murdered. There are also brief interjections from the point of view of the real killer… though figuring out who that is will certainly leave you in tangles!

The characterization in Miss Aldridge Regrets is wonderful. Each character is so vivid that I could easily envision each one. Lena in particular is a fun and engaging protagonist. She’s likable – opinionated, intelligent, thoughtful – yet also troubled. She uses substances to excess, has had relationships with the wrong people, keeps secrets, protects herself above all others. For all her faults, though, she felt human and real. I especially liked how close she was with her dad, Alfie, and her friend, Maggie.

Indeed, Miss Aldridge Regrets is multilayered, also weaving in deeper themes of racism and addiction. Lena is biracial, the daughter of a black man and the white mother she never knew. She’s light enough that she can pass as white, but she also acknowledges how difficult it is to straddle both worlds and to feel that she constantly has to choose between black and white. Lena finds herself part of a few uncomfortable conversations, with some espousing racist and antisemitic views. The book does take place during the rise of Hitler and Nazism, and some discussion of that comes up.

Other thorny themes also arise over the course of Miss Aldridge Regrets: Prostitution, cheating, excessive drinking and smoking, drug use, family issues, and, of course, murder. And true to the title, Lena Aldridge does have a lot of regrets – things she turned a blind eye to, secrets she kept, lies she told. She is certainly the victim of something on this ship, but she’s not entirely innocent, either. As she starts to realize the danger she’s in, Lena does consider the mistakes she’s made. But does she deserve this? Is she really that bad?

Throughout the novel, I kept puzzling over the different murders and how they could possibly be connected. Moreover, why was Lena the target being set up for their murders? I suspected nearly everyone at some point, but I never did get the whole picture until the final reveal. There are certainly some surprises, and I doubt most readers will unravel the entire mess!

Nearly the entire book is set on the Queen Mary over the five days it takes to get across the Atlantic. The ship setting is well done and adds to the claustrophobic feeling of the novel. I also loved the element of music here: Lena is a singer, her dad played piano, and she has a tentative relationship with the pianist of the ship’s band. This added to the mesmerizing quality of the novel.

Miss Aldridge Regrets is a captivating and hazy novel, full of morally gray characters and cold-hearted misdeeds, all aboard an opulent ship. It’s an engaging historical mystery that weaves in racism, sexism, and the intersection of different classes. This is a perfect summertime read.

Special thanks to the publicists at Penguin Random House and to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Review: I hadn't heard about this book until Berkley reached out to me about reviewing it, and I'm so happy they did! I really enjoyed this historical mystery. I'm definitely going to keep an eye out for more books from Louise Hare! Overall, I would definitely recommend!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

What a fun historical mystery!! I loved the ship setting and all of the opulent descriptions! The mystery was well plotted as well! My one criticism is that there were a lot of characters and I had a hard time keeping track of all of them. Overall a fun, refreshing read!

This historical mystery proceeds telling its story in alternate time lines and locations - set about a week apart. Lena is fleeing a so-so life in post WWI London where she performs as a nightclub singer, after the death of her single father, Alfie. When the owner of the club where she works, who happens to be the estranged husband of her best friend, is murdered with poison, and she is offered the chance of a lifetime to star in a Broadway musical, she accepts the offer and boards the Queen Mary bound for New York. Another murder, with the same method, occurs on board and sends her new life plans reeling.

It was an enjoyable read, but overall too much was going on - the dynamics of Lena's mixed race, a sham marriage of her friend and the first victim, her sudden opportunity, her father's past life and her unknown mother. With all that, I felt that the time and place setting - what attracted me to the book - were given short shrift.

Miss Aldridge Regrets
by Louise Hare
Berkley Publishing Group, Berkley
Pub Date: July 5

A gripping tale set in London, 1936, when Lena -- a biracial nightclub singer who passes as white -- sees her poisoned boss die in front of her. Losing her job, she tries to uncover his killer, and accepts an offer to sing in a Broadway musical in NYC.

But on the transatlantic trip aboard the Queen Mary, murder and chaos follow her. Who is the real killer? Can Lena herself be trusted? A must-read for histfic mystery lovers who adore complicated MCs and stylish period pieces.

Thanks to the author, Berkley Publishing Group, Berkley, and NetGalley for the ARC. Opinions are mine.

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#LouiseHare #lourhare
#berkleypublishinggroup
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#histficnovel #1930s #queenmary #goldenagecrime #historicalcrimefiction
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Stars reflect disappointment in ending.

Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louis Hare checks a lot of boxes. Historical fiction with a mystery, racism, classism, friendship and parentage. Lena Aldridge is a singer at a dive club in Soho, London. She's mixed race and recently lost her Black father to tuberculosis. Her father had raised her on his own and made his living as a pianist.

When Lena receives an offer to voyage on the RMS Queen Mary and star on Broadway, she sees it as her only option to a life going nowhere. She questions the offer but not enough to turn it down. Her boss had just been poisoned while she was on stage and she wonders if her best friend and the club owner's wife was responsible.

I really enjoyed most of the book, taking place on the ship during the five day trip to New York. I think Hare tackles tough subjects well and really shows the difference in not only race but class. Unfortunately, I wasn't as thrilled with the "who dunnit", because there was not only the murder in London but there was another similar poisoning on the ship. Someone is out to lay blame on Lena. I just had a hard time buying into who was this mastermind, a person who arranged for Lena to be on the ship.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for this honest review.

So much promise. Well written. But fell kind of flat.

Agatha Christie-esq murder mystery with a biracial woman passing. Coming to terms with her racial heritage. Family secrets...there was a lot here that was promising.

The book was well written and captured me right off. However about 50% through I was ready for it to pick up. Characters weren't as well developed as Christie does, but then no one can be her. I give it 3 stars because it's well written, but honestly I feel sort of blah about this one.

Thank you netgally for the free arc, my review was freely given.

If you loved Agatha Christie’s “Death on the Nile”, then you will love this book!!
Lena Aldridge is a nightclub singer in London. Lena is struggling with her identity. Her dad was Black, her mom was white. She passes as white in London to help her get jobs more easily.
Lena gets an invitation to star in a Broadway play from a man who says he was friends with her father in New York. Lena leaves drama in London only to meet more drama onboard the ship.
Suddenly, dead bodies start piling up around Lena. Who is behind these murders? And is Lena the next victim? This is a quick, engaging read that will keep you guessing until the end. I want to thank the author, Berkeley Books and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.