A wonderful historical fiction that has a large mix of topics! Class difference, sex traffic, betrayal, cheating and racism! And to top it all off a gripping whodunnit and a forbidden romance! With so much going on I can't think of a moment that I wasn't entertained! There's two timelines the sea voyage on the Queen Mary in 1936, and events from a week before. It does take a little to get going but the tension and adventure builds and builds the close they get to New York. It was entertaining and the writing was wonderful!

The book has some notable interest, such as the hidden desires that some of the characters have for one another. There are secrets to be uncovered regarding noticeable non appearances of people of importance. And there are mysteries to be unraveled by people who are up to no good, hidden by their giggles. I like that the story was narrated by the lead character.

Thoroughly enjoyed the settings of pre-ww2 London and life aboard the Queen Mary. The main characters intrigued me enough to want to find out what happens to them as the deaths start to pile up. However, the end of the book lost me completely. No spoilers, let’s just say I enjoyed 80% of the book. Still, I look forward to seeing what else this author writes next. Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a preview copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for an ARC of Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare in exchange for my review.

If you're someone who skips prologues, don't skip this one! It makes a promise of mystery and murder for the rest of the novel.

I loved seeing the 1930s from a different view point. Lena is a mixed-race Jazz singer, heading to America with the promise of a role in a Broadway production.

The opening scenes on the ship were a little slow for me. But once things get moving, I felt like I was in an Agatha Christie novel. The deceit and family secrets are thick among the rich. I was intrigued by this dysfunctional family as well as Lena, wondering how she would wriggle her way free of their machinations.

If you love historical novels and mysteries, this is your ship to a great read.

A novel with surprise after surprise that ends in a way I don't count on as being happily ever after. A well put-together story; characters and plot so well crafted.

Abandoned by her white mother in infancy Lena has been raised by her black father Alfie,, a pianist for London theaters. Lena, now 26,supports herself as a torch singer in a London nightclub owned by her best friend Maggie's husband. Still grieving the loss of her beloved father's death from consumption she is astounded to witness her boss's poisoning death from the stage. . She had just been approached by an old friend of her father's from New York with a job offer of a part in a new Broadway musical. The next week she boards an ocean liner for New York. What ensues is a Golden Age locked room mystery. Her meals at table with the Abernathys, a wealthy family lead to some unlikely companions and unexpected revelations. . Soon two guests are murdered and another goes missing. Lena was a compelling character and the author addresses the social issues of racism, prohibition, and organized crime realistically. The plot teams with suspicious characters, all who could have been the villain, but unmasking caught this reader completely off guard. This is a solid historical mystery laced with period detail with a unique intrepid female lead.

Miss Aldridge Regrets
by Louise Hare
Pub Date: July 5, 2022
Berkely books
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I love the cover!!
MISS ALDRIDGE REGRETS is a mystery and family drama all rolled into one. This author is new to me so I wasn't sure what to expect. It took a little for me to warm up to the storyline, but as secrets unfold, you will quickly be turning the pages and enjoying the hustle and bustle.

Those readers who enjoy books set on ocean liners and this time period will definitely enjoy MISS ALDRIDGE REGRETS.
4 stars

"The glittering RMS Queen Mary. A nightclub singer on the run. An aristocratic family with secrets worth killing for.

London, 1936. Lena Aldridge wonders if life has passed her by. The dazzling theatre career she hoped for hasn't worked out. Instead, she's stuck singing in a sticky-floored basement club in Soho, and her married lover has just left her. But Lena has always had a complicated life, one shrouded in mystery as a mixed-race girl passing for white in a city unforgiving of her true racial heritage.

She's feeling utterly hopeless until a stranger offers her the chance of a lifetime: a starring role on Broadway and a first-class ticket on the Queen Mary bound for New York. After a murder at the club, the timing couldn't be better, and Lena jumps at the chance to escape England. But death follows her onboard when an obscenely wealthy family draws her into their fold just as one among them is killed in a chillingly familiar way. As Lena navigates the Abernathy's increasingly bizarre family dynamic, she realizes that her greatest performance won't be for an audience, but for her life.

With seductive glamor, simmering family drama, and dizzying twists, Louise Hare makes her beguiling US debut."

Strip it down and it's a locked room mystery, ON A BOAT! YAS!

Lena is on a cruise to get to New York. Supposedly, she is going to have a show on Broadway. While on the voyage, she befriends a wealthy family. Then the patriarch dies in the way that her friend's husband died, leaving Lena to find out who the murderer is before anyone thinks it's her.

This was a fun murder mystery to read. What made it fun was that all of the characters had no morals, including our main character. As soon as she started snorting coke and revealing that she was having an affair with a married man, you know this won't be the usual mystery. There are secrets everywhere and even from Lena that keep you guessing. Even though there was a plot twist that I thought Lena should have seen coming.

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

Fairly quick read, I think this those who like Agatha Christie or Jaqueline Winspear type books would enjoy this. More of a cozy mystery feel than a full on suspense I think. Nothing over the top with mystery or suspense but if looking for an easy read that it’s ok to stop and come back to this would be it.

From a murder on land to murders at sea.

Lena had been there for them. One she thought she was responsible for, and the others she was set up for.

We meet Lena in a seedy nightclub in Soho where she sings and where she doesn't want to be.

Luckily a friend of her father's finds her a job ,and she makes her way from England to New York in first class on the Queen Mary.

She meets a family who shares their table and stories with her.

Something is wrong with this family, though, but perhaps they knew to invite Lena to their table.

Poor Lena gets drawn into the family's nightly dinners and also gets pulled into being questioned about the murder of the family's matriarch.

We follow Lena as her life before getting on the Queen Mary and during her time on the Queen Mary is revealed

I really liked Lena, but the poor girl was always in the middle of something. Someone was trying to harm her, and she had no idea why.

I enjoyed most of the characters even though they were a bit on the eccentric side.

MISS ALDRIDGE REGRETS is a mystery and family drama all rolled into one.

Who was the “real” murderer on the Queen Mary…we know who it was in Soho.

And who was trying to murder Lena?

Did they think she knew something?

It took a little for me to warm up to the story line, but as secrets unfold, you will quickly be turning the pages and enjoying the hustle and bustle.

Those readers who enjoy books set on ocean liners and this time period will definitely enjoy MISS ALDRIDGE REGRETS. 4/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

This book was a quick, fun read, reminiscent of an Agatha Christie. Did not see the doer of the dirty deed coming at all! Enjoyed the fact that the heroine was, atypically, mixed race; though her personal reflections about herself in this regard were not the focus of the book, they were not just "by the way," either. The author kept the action rolling, not dwelling overlong on descriptions of dresses or scenery -- which can make some historical fiction terribly dull. None of the characters were trite, and the action veered from a luxury liner to a crummy East End London bar with nefarious upstairs carrying-on. I enjoyed the fact that the romantic scenes were not described in vivid detail -- if I wanted pornography, I'd read pornography -- but handled gracefully and well, romantically! If I were a public librarian, I'd be getting the eBook, for sure.

It’s 1936, and after a series of unsuccessful auditions, Lena Aldridge has resigned herself to earning her living singing in a sleazy bar in the Soho region of London. Times are tough all over, with the Great Depression still underway. But life is about to get a lot tougher for Lena. On the night the novel opens, the bar owner keels over and dies halfway through her performance. It soon becomes clear that he has been poisoned with cyanide.

Even before the police reach that conclusion, as readers we know he’s been murdered, because we see his death from the killer’s point-of-view, told in the first person. Most of the rest of the narrative is also in first person, but Lena’s voice. For a moment, this shift confounded me, but once I figured out what the author was doing, I realized how much the setup added to the story. Every so often as the book progresses, the murderer returns in excerpts set off by italics, creating an ongoing tension that in part sheds light on and in part obscures the solution to the crime.

Meanwhile, Lena—bereft of employment by the death of her obnoxious boss—accepts an offer to travel from London to New York to star in a Broadway show. She knows the offer may be too good to be true, but her limited options make it an acceptable risk. Once on board, she runs into the Abernathy family, rich New Yorkers whose patriarch soon meets his end under circumstances eerily reminiscent of the bar owner’s death. As the local authorities start questioning passengers, Lena increasingly fears for her future. The hunt is on, not just to prevent another killing but to identify the murderer before Lena finds herself under arrest. Along the way, long-buried family secrets and recent indiscretions intermingle, driving the search first one way, then another.

I will be hosting a written Q&A with this author on my blog (linked below) in July.

London 1936. The offer of a job on Broadway comes just in time for Lena Aldridge as she watches her boss and husband to best friend Maggie die at the Canary Club. But was it murder. But once on the Queen Mary deaths start occurring.
For me it was just too slow paced and overly long to keep much of my interest though I did finish the story. Also none of the characters were that interesting or likeable, and Lena herself not particularly intelligent. I did find the guilty party somewhat implausible.
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

After watching her boss die in front of her Lena is grateful to accept a job offer on Broadway from an old friend of her father and boards the Queen Mary to start her new life. Unfortunately Murder follows her and someone is plotting against her.

I have not read the author’s previous work, so I didn’t know what to expect. It had a slow start but once I got in to it, I really enjoyed it.

The novel is excellent in its setting, characters and social issues. It strikes all the right notes from white and rich privilege living in luxury on the boat to the struggles of the poor to make ends meet. The characters seem authentic in their basic make up, i.e. products of their upbringing and social milieu, although some of their secrets push the boundaries of credibility.

I loved this book and recommend it highly to those who want a period murder mystery with plenty of surprises. You'll find yourself cheering on Lena, even as she makes some naive and morally-grey decisions, and will love exploring the 'Queen Mary' with her. The social context adds an engaging dimension and takes the book out of the truly comfortable cozy crime genre - but it is all the better for it.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

This was a fast moving mystery. I enjoyed how the author built the tension and kept me turning pages to discover the guilty party. My only problem with the book was that the end was...really anticlimactic. She did all of that great building of tension and then it all just seemed to fall flat. Good book, fun read, but could have been better.

Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare is a murder mystery that takes place during a two week period during the 1930s. It starts in London and continues aboard the Queen Mary during a transatlantic voyage.

Lena Aldridge is a mixed race singer performing at a sleazy nightclub in London. The owner of the nightclub is the husband of Lena’s best friend. Upon his sudden death and with Lena now out of a job, she receives an offer from a stranger she can’t refuse, a transatlantic trip aboard the Queen Mary to star in a Broadway musical in New York. And there the murder and mayhem continues.

It had all the elements to be an enthralling murder mystery but it seemed to fall just a touch short. The pace seemed to drag at times and the characters were just a little off. The story line tried to hit on some of the social issues of the time but just kind of skimmed the surface. A little romance was thrown in towards the end which was nice but didn't add much to the plot.

Overall, I am glad I read it. I would recommend it to readers who enjoy the “locked-room” or cozy mysteries, especially on ship voyages or the era of the 1930s.

London and Aboard the Queen Mary - 1936

Lena Aldridge, singer and wannabe actress, is not thrilled about where her life is going. For the present time, she's singing in a trashy nightclub run by her best friend's low-life husband. Her budding career in the theater has gone nowhere, and now with her father dead, Lena wonders what's next. But everything seems to come to a head when, as she's singing on stage, she watches in horror as her boss drops dead in the front row. And then, as if by magic, a stranger who claims to represent an old friend of her father's offers her the opportunity of a lifetime. She suddenly has a job on Broadway in New York, and a first class ticket on the Queen Mary. Lena, who is of mixed race, and has been passing for white in London, isn't sure what to do. Should she trust this guy?

Lena's best friend, Maggie, who just lost her finagling husband under strange circumstances, urges Lena to take the job in New York. With the investigation into the death under way, it may be a good idea to get out of England, even though Lena had nothing to do with the man's death. She does wonder whether Maggie did, however.

Boarding the Queen Mary with the man from New York, Lena is assigned a posh cabin. Charlie, her escort, gets them seated at a table with the Abernathy family, and he urges her to be friendly to them since their money could help with the play on Broadway that her new boss has hired her for. Confused, Lena reluctantly goes along with the plan, but feels very uncomfortable with the scrutiny by some members of the family. Especially the old man in the wheelchair who suddenly begins to stare at her intently.

It's only when the old man suddenly collapses and dies at the dinner table one night, that Lena begins to worry. But then another member of the family is found dead in her cabin, and she is attacked. Things go downhill after that.

MISS ALDRIDGE REGRETS is an Agatha Christie type mystery with any number of suspects. Told in the first person by Lena, as well as the killer, the story moves from the present to the past, with hints about the real reason for the murders, and the accompanying charade. But get ready to be surprised when the culprit is revealed.

A thoroughly entertaining tale, MISS ALDRIDGE REGRETS is terrific.

This semi-cozy offers a morally gray heroine in a morally gray world. I enjoyed the traditional closed circle of suspects onboard a luxurious ship crossing the Atlantic. The dual timeline dissecting two murders was an interesting feature. I look forward to more from this author.

Well, well this is thrilling mash up of Woman in cabin 10 meets Titanic with Agatha Christie vibes ( it reminds me of Death on the Nile without its brilliant Belgian detective )

A glamorous historical fiction consists of class differences, raising of Nazism, hard competition at Broadway world, sex traffic of underaged girls, betrayal, cheating, racism, mansplaining mixed with gripping whodunnit mystery takes place in RMS Queen Mary. And of course beautiful forbidden romance was also thrown into equation.

Lena Aldridge, at the age of twenty six, mixed race girl who is a quiet fighter, slowly losing of her hope to have a brighter future as she barely lands on theater roles, singing at a night club her best friend’s scumbag husband is owned, having a relationship with a married man, living in a shoe box room in Soho.

The book opens she is on stage, singing when her boss/ her best friend’s husband Tommy Scarsdale dies in front her eyes. He’s poisoned and she might be involved with the murder.

Luckily Charlie Bacon: ex police officer, look alike Clark Gable with strange last name appears out of nowhere at the right name in the right place, making her an offer she cannot reject. He offers her to be a star in a Broadway play and she has to board on a ship to travel to big Apple in a few days later.

Lena has nothing to lose and this offer can save her from her biggest predicament ( a person of interest of a brutal crime)

During her journey, she finds herself at the same table within Abernathy family: ultra rich, sophisticated and also very dysfunctional family: each of them keeps terrible secrets and one of them is a killer who plans to put blame on Lena for his/ her own misdemeanors. But who and why?

I kept guessing the identity of culprit: it was not so foreseeable! Mostly I liked the characterization! Lena who is resilient, determined, doing her best to survive in jungle as a mixed race, penniless, hungry, ambitious girl with pure talent.

It’s such an exciting, riveting historical fiction meets thriller- whodunnit mystery that fully enjoyed and devoured in one sit that I highly recommend!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.