It is 2019 and thirtyish Mallory Atkinson is in Edinburgh to be with her dying grandmother. Late one evening she goes for a jog and hears the sounds of a woman in distress coming from a dark alley. As a Canadian police detective she naturally goes into the alley to help but ends up being attacked, strangled and passing out only to awaken in 1869 as an 18 year old housemaid, Catriona, in the household of Doctor Duncan Gray. Catriona has a checkered past and present, she bullied the young housemaid and regularly steals from her employers. When Mallory/Catriona begins to act differently, doing her chores promptly, being able to read and write and showing interest in Gray’s moonlighting as a medical examiner for a police detective everyone is somewhat suspicious even as she claims to have turned over a new leaf after her near death experience. When Gray’s widowed sister give her an ultimatum - return a piece of stolen jewelry or leave the house - Mallory is attacked again and begins to fear that the maniac killer who attacked her in 2019 has also been transported to 1869 and is determined to make a name for himself as a murderer. As Mallory helps Gray and his friend Detective McCreadie on the murder cases she hopes that finding the murderer will also help her find her way home to her own time.
This is the start of a new series, part mystery, part romance and part time travel fantasy. The characters are well thought out and multi-faceted. Gray’s investigative techniques are the beginnings of what will become basic forensic science in the future though officials do not take him seriously as he is both illegitimate and has an Indian mother. Mallory has to tread carefully to not seem too knowledgeable about crime investigation while also paying the price for Catriona’s many misdeeds. Gray’s widowed half-sister Isla is a talented chemist constrained by Victorian mores and laws to hide her talents. Even the minor characters - the groom Simon, the housemaid Alice and the housekeeper Mrs Wallace are fleshed out. This was a truly enjoyable read and I look forward to the next entry in the series

Kelley Armstrong has always had a way with words and world building, and a way of getting you attached to her characters. This book isn't any different. I highly enjoyed this book.

Kelley Armstrong does it again with her latest work. She proves that she is able to write about any subject and do so with a flair. With her latest book she takes on the challenge of a time travel book. Now when I heard that is the main plot point of this book I was a little nervous and excited. I know that if anyone can do this properly it is Kelley Armstrong but I also know that there is just so much that can go wrong or make it super confusing. Luckily for me Mrs. Armstrong avoids all of those traps and puts out a book that is not only well laid out and very explanatory, but also one where the plot grabs you and the characters keep you hooked. The book is all about our main character Mallory. She is a young woman who has returned to her family home in order
to be there for her grandfather's last breaths. When Mallory hears a crime in progress one night, her detective instincts take off and she runs over to help. However when she gets there she is pulled into a time portal and transported to the 1800s. Confused and unsure what is going on she witnesses another attack in the same spot she was in prior. Now it is up to Mallory to solve the crime that happened hundreds of years ago if she has any hope of returning back to her own time. I found it very clever writing to make the main character from our time but having her try to fit in, in the 1800s. It was funny to see all of the mistakes she makes on references and etiquette that have people confused. While this book was very different from anything Kelley Armstrong has written previously I couldn't get enough of this. I loved our main character and how she was shown to be a very strong woman and between her and the fast pace of this novel I couldn't put it down.

"In this series debut from New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong, a modern-day homicide detective finds herself in Victorian Scotland - in an unfamiliar body - with a killer on the loose.

May 20, 2019: Homicide detective Mallory is in Edinburgh to be with her dying grandmother. While out on a jog one evening, Mallory hears a woman in distress. She’s drawn to an alley, where she is attacked and loses consciousness.

May 20, 1869: Housemaid Catriona Mitchell had been enjoying a half-day off, only to be discovered that night in a lane, where she’d been strangled and left for dead...exactly one-hundred-and-fifty years before Mallory was strangled in the same spot.

When Mallory wakes up in Catriona's body in 1869, she must put aside her shock and adjust quickly to the reality: life as a housemaid to an undertaker in Victorian Scotland. She soon discovers that her boss, Dr. Gray, also moonlights as a medical examiner and has just taken on an intriguing case, the strangulation of a young man, similar to the attack on herself. Her only hope is that catching the murderer can lead her back to her modern life...before it's too late.

Outlander meets The Alienist in Kelley Armstrong's A Rip Through Time, the first book in this utterly compelling series, mixing romance, mystery, and fantasy with thrilling results."

Time-Slip crime solving? YES PLEASE! Also, can I do this myself because it's kind of a dream of mine to solve the greatest unsolved mysteries of the past...

I ate this book up. I admit it took a few pages for me to get into, but once I did I couldn't put it down! I have yet to read a Kelley Armstrong novel that I didn't thoroughly enjoy, and A Rip Through Time was no exception. Mostly set in Victorian Scotland, Mallory must quickly adjust from life as a modern day detective in Vancouver, to a housemaid in the house of an mortician who enjoys the forensic sciences, in Victorian Scotland. She must decide whether it's more important to find her would-be killer and potentially save other victims, or try to find her way back home, or just maybe the two are intertwined. Can she fit in, or will her modern speech and behavior make her stand out too much? I truly cannot wait for the second book in this series! Highly recommended! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I used to read a lot of Kelley Armstrong books but have lost track of her over the past few years, so I was happy to jump in with the first book in a new series. This book has time travel (via switching bodies) and is a murder mystery/detective story.

Mallory and Catriona, 150 years apart, are strangled on the same night in the same location, and Mallory finds herself transported to 1869 and into the body of Catriona, a 19-year-old housemaid to Dr. Gray, an undertaker who also examines bodies to help with police investigations. Not only does Mallory have to navigate "being" someone else, she also has to deal with the poor choices Catriona had been making (mostly involving theft and selling of information). Above all, Mallory wants to find a way back to her own time and body, and maybe solving the mystery of Catriona's attack (as well as another murder) might help.

The story gets into the time travel pretty quickly, so we don't have much chance to get to know Mallory before she's in Catriona's body and time. I didn't mind the quick action, but I have to admit that I didn't remember Mallory's name was Mallory for quite a while as she had to become Catriona as much as possible. As the story progresses, she allows more of her actual self out in her actions and personality. Where the story really picked up for me was when Isla came into the narrative because I really liked the interactions between Isla and Mallory/Catriona. There's also a hint (just a hint at this stage) of potential for a romance plot between Dr. Gray and Mallory (perhaps something that will further develop as the series progresses).

I found the resolution of this book's story arc to be satisfying, and this book is a great setup to what promises to be a good series. I will definitely read the next book in this series when it comes out.

A new series by Kelley Armstrong is always something to look forward to. A Rip Through Time is a murder mystery involving time travel. Mallory Atkinson is a fascinating character, a detective in her own time (2019) who is thrust back in time right into the middle of an investigation into a murder in 1869 in Victorian Scotland. How she works together with Dr. Duncan Gray, Detective Hugh McCreadie, and Duncan's sister, Isla Ballantyne, to help solve the mystery is the crux of the story. Her dilemma: how to offer assistance without revealing her "secrets" . . . that she is from the future and that she is a detective in her own right, with all the knowledge that entails. Ultimately, Mallory, acting as Catriona, realizes that "We may keep secrets to protect others, but they will only ever feel that we didn't trust them enough to share."

There's a bit of a cliffhanger ending that has left me totally frustrated that I will have to wait at least a year before the next novel in the series is released and I can find out how everything works out. Kelley Armstrong has hit it out of the ballpark with this new, intriguing series.

Kelley armstrong is such a versatile writer. I loved this new entry into her time stitch series. Great characters, good mystery. It was a really fun read, pulling you back into the world of her other books.

Wow! Just WOW.

This book was so OUTSTANDING!

At first it seems like it’s moving a wee bit slower than I’m used to. But there’s a lot to set up. Once you really get into it, it moves at lightening speed. And I assumed everything would be ‘fixed’. So I was a bit thrown off. But man this is going to be some series. I can not wait for book 2. I need more.

What an amazing concept for a plot with characters that are complex and wicked smart. This author is so versatile. I have read most of her books and her talent blows my mind! This is a MUST READ!

A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong

Name of Book: A Rip Through Time
Author: Kelley Armstrong @kelleyarmstrongauthor ⁣
Publisher @stmartinspress @minotaur_books #stmartinspress
Pub Date: May 31, 202


A thrilling And Enjoyable Historical Crime Tavel

We follow thirty year old Vancouver detective Mallory who is in Edinburgh Scotland to by her dying grandmother side. When an unbelievable event occurs. Mallory goes out in a jog to clear her head. When she hears an urgent cry for help by a woman in an alley. Mallory goes in detective mode an approaches the young woman to offer assistance only to be attacked, strangled, to the point she looses consciousness. When she finally wakes up, she finds herself in the body a nineteen year old Catrina Mitchell in Victorian Scotland. She steps into the body of a housemaid who was discovered strangled and left for dead in an alley exactly 150 years before Mallory was attacked in the same spot.

Catrina employer Dr Gray, happens to be an undertaker who interest in forensic science. Highly captivating the doctor personification is definitely Holmes-esque. Which adds so much to the reading experience. Mallory struggles getting acclimated with the speech and manners of the Victorian timeframe she finds herself in.

This was fast paced engaging read, and I am patiently waiting for the next installment by this talented author.
#aripthroughtime #murdermystery #timetravel #scotland

I love this author, so I was excited to read this book. I really enjoyed reading this book. The main character Catriona/Mallory was very compelling. Though the idea of time travel is fantasy, the character's actions felt realistic and kept the mystery she is solving believable. I anxious for the author to write the next book in the series so that I can read that one!

I was unable to finish this book and thus will not be posting a full review on my blog. While I love this author's Rockton series, I found this to be unreadable. The book was all over the place and I lost interest quickly. Thank you for the opportunity.

I received an advance review copy from the publisher, through book netgalley.com and I am writing this review voluntarily.

I'm a big Kelley Armstrong fan so when I saw she had a new series I jumped at it.

Mallory is a police detective in Vancouver, visiting Scotland to be with her dying grandmother when she is attacked in an alley and wakes up in someone else's body 1869. Not sure how she got there and not sure how to get home Mallory has to try to figure out who attacked the girl whose body she now inhabits, not be discovered to be a time traveler and attempt to stay employed by the strange and quirky house she finds herself in.

Dr. Gray has a funeral home where he moonlights in forensics to help his friend in the police catch killers. His sister who lives with him is a chemist, and Catriona is their maid, who Mallory has taken over and Catriona has a lot of enemies including the head housekeeper. Just keeping her job is going to prove difficult for Mallory in the face of such obstacles but ultimately she finds her way.

I really liked this story. It is a fun read, as Mallory stumbles through Victorian Scotland as a modern day Canadian. She finds herself biting her tongue quite a bit and she is learning that they weren't as backward as she believed. Living with Dr. Gray is also providing her with knowledge of the beginning study of forensics, which is fascinating to read.

The characters are interesting, there are social class issues, racial issues, feminism, and the ever present police corruption that Mallory and the other characters wade through. It was a delightfully fun book that left me wanting more.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and St Martins Press for providing an ARC to review.

In this series debut from New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong, a modern-day homicide detective finds herself in Victorian Scotland—in an unfamiliar body—with a killer on the loose.

I read some of Kelly Armstrong's books a few years ago and enjoyed them. However, A Rip Through Time is on a whole other level of enjoyment. Mallory is both resourceful and all-around brilliant when it comes to solving crime. Not only is she able to hunt down the killer, but she can also do it while being in the body of an 18th-century maid. I won't go into great detail since I don't want to spoil anything, but this was the epic female sleuth novel that I didn't know I needed. I can not wait for the next book in the series, and I highly recommend giving this book a try.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: May 31, 2022
Canadian author Kelley Armstrong brings a time travel murder mystery for the ages with her new novel, “A Rip Through Time”.
Detective Mallory Atkinson is at her dying grandmother’s bedside in Edinburgh, hoping to be able to be with her beloved Nan when she passes. Taking a break from the hospital sights and smells, Mallory decides to set out on a jog, and when she hears a woman in distress she can’t help but investigate. Mallory sees a young woman in dated clothing, faded and ethereal, but she disappears just as Mallory herself is attacked and left unconscious. The next thing Mallory knows she is in the early 19th century, in the body of the young woman she saw in the alley. Desperate to return home, but also to keep her true identity a secret, Mallory finds herself involved in an unrelated murder investigation. As a present day detective, Mallory has some skills that could help in finding the killer, but is she willing to reveal her secrets to solve the crime?
Obviously, any novel that involves traveling through time gets an immediate association with “Outlander”, but Armstrong’s novel is an entity all on its own. Without the romance and steamy sex scenes, “Time” brings police investigation across the centuries, bringing with it the challenges of being a female detective in a time where women are expected to be “seen and not heard”.
Mallory is a determined detective, proud granddaughter and brave woman. I was impressed with her fortitude, and the fact that her immediate goal was to find a way to return to the bedside of her dying grandmother. She is an impressive character, and I bonded with her right away.
Of course this novel is the first in a series, and the ending hints very obviously that more books are yet to come. I enjoyed the way that the initial crime was solved, while still leaving enough open questions so that the reader was satisfied, and yet left craving more.
I loved Armstrong’s criminal investigation components (even Victorian-era style!) and how both Duncan and Mallory attacked the murders with gusto. A perfect police procedural in a time before police investigations had any science involved (let alone DNA) and it still managed to captivate me from the beginning.
This is definitely a series to watch, and I will keep a close eye out for book number two from Armstrong.

This was an intriguing beginning to a new series, with a great main character! Overall, I would definitely recommend to anyone who thinks it sounds good!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

The first in a series A RIP THROUGH TIME places Mallory, a modern day detective, back in Victorian times in a different body with a different murder to solve. Author Kelley Armstrong does a good job of creating characters and places so that readers get lost in her story. It moves quickly and there is enough suspense to warrant future tales. It is a good beginning to a series. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

I enjoyed Armstrong’s Rockton series so much, I thought this new series featuring a lady detective sounded pretty good, especially with the time-travel angle. It didn’t grab me as much as the Rockton books did, but it grabbed me enough that I blew through it in a couple of days and was sad there’s not more. It didn’t end on a cliffhanger, but things were just about to get extra interesting where it left off.

Mallory’s a decent character. Because she’s navigating what she can and can’t say in 1869 Scotland, she’s in her head a lot, which results in her explaining her thought process and well, thinking about thinking. I don’t know if Mallory’s overthinking is a character trait Armstrong likes to inject into her cop characters or if maybe Armstrong is an overthinker herself, but it was a lot. Not necessarily in a bad way, but sometimes a little excessive, like when Mallory catches herself making wrong assumptions about the people she meets. I’m glad Armstrong was avoiding stereotypes, and I liked the characters a lot, but I didn’t think it needed to be pointed out quite so often in Mallory’s internal dialogue.

I like that Mallory’s memory for history isn’t any more exceptional than your average college graduate. She’s regularly feeling her way in conversations to figure out if a phrase is used yet or if something has been invented yet. Dates and timelines aren’t easily accessed, and I liked that detail.

Armstrong is good at writing thoughtful, perceptive characters who have a good deal of empathy. It was true of the characters in Rockton and it’s true of the characters in this new series. It’s refreshing to see characters acting like considerate adults, even when the cynic in me starts doubting how realistic it is.

It’s a good start to a promising new series, and I’m eager to see what happens next for Mallory and her new friends.

I received A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong for free through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was so excited to be selected as all books by Kelley Armstrong are a "must buy" for me. This was a different genre than her usual-- a time travel mystery set in Victorian Times. I loved it!!! I stayed up late into the night to get it finished and was sad when it was done. I hope there are more in this series as I really enjoyed it and cannot wait to see what happens next. NOTE: This did NOT end in a cliff hanger, though the story is not "complete" with all of the storylines wrapped up. The ending was satisfying though. I hope Kelley Armstrong continues to write for many many years!

As a long-time reader of Kelley Armstrong, her debut book in this new series did not disappoint. I have always enjoyed a good time travel novel and Armstrong does a great job blending the fantasy and the reality. Mallory is a great main character who instantly pulls you into caring about her plight after being strangled and waiting up back in the Victorian era. I appreciated the humor and wit that Armstrong brings to the story, and the plot is extremely interesting and fast-paced. I found myself devouring the book trying to determine if she would find the murderer and discover a way back to her time. I highly recommend this book and it kept me guessing the whole time. I will be keeping a close eye out for further books in the series. I appreciate getting to read this ARC for my honest review.