In Place of Fear is a well written historical mystery thriller by Catriona McPherson. Released 28th June 2022 by Hachette on their Mobius imprint, it's 352 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats. Paperback due out in late second quarter 2023 from the same publisher. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

The author is quite adept at both setting and characterization and the book is redolent of post-WW2 Edinburgh with dialogue and vernacular from the place and period. She's included a helpful glossary for some of the more impenetrable words and phrases, though its location at the back of the book was slightly less convenient for quick-lookups. One reason that some readers may prefer the electronic format; it makes lookups painless. The phrases likely won't be problematic in most cases for most readers because McPherson is talented at context setting, so most of the time the meanings are clear.

The plot arc is tightly controlled and well measured; there's a distinctly thriller-ish vibe in many places. The characterizations are believable (in some cases all-too-sadly-realistic), and the protagonist is likable and idealistic. The author has clearly done a prodigious amount of research on the time period and place, because there's a vast amount of interesting minutiae on the nascence of the NHS in Scotland and general public perceptions of class and gender roles as well.

Four stars. Engaging and satisfying thriller(ish) read. Recommended especially to fans of Anna Lee Huber and Nicola Upson. It should be noted that this book is -not- in any way the same as the author's excellent (and hysterically funny/campy) Last Ditch Mysteries, which also come very very highly recommended.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I was excited for this book because I have heard great things about the author. However, this novel disappointed me. The story was very slow-paced. There was not much focus on the mystery. Still, I found it interesting about learning about hospitals in Edinburg. The setting was the best feature in the novel. Still, I feel that the author is a talented writer, and I’m curious about her other works. I recommend this for fans of Jacqueline Winspear, Tessa Harris, and Tessa Arlen!

This one really tried me. One, I wouldn't really call this a mystery; it's a mystery in the same way that some of say, the Quirke mysteries work. A crime occurs but it's secondary to an exploration of the hearts of man, if you know what I mean. And, fine, maybe I feel a little tricked because of that.. Second, the phonetic writing of a Scottish accent took a lot. It just takes a lot of mental work of a type that I don't think this book really needs to ask of its readers. Finally, GD this is bleak. Maybe if I read it when the sun was shining I'd feel better, but waiting until the grey of January to dive into this one was perhaps a mistake. Ms. McPherson is clearly a talented writer with a gifted mind but this one was not my cup of tea. A recommendation, if a kind of "meh" one.

Helen “Nelly” Crowther, over the fervent objections of her mother, starts a new job as an almoner, a sort of medical administrator who helps patients navigate the health benefits available to them under the new NHS in 1940’s Scotland. I was used to the author’s breezy, humor-filled mystery series featuring a Scottish woman in present-day California. This historical standalone is entirely different in tone, with a determined heroine from a poor family making her way with little support. Despite her insecurities, various efforts to undermine her, and being kicked out of her mother’s house for taking the job, she forges ahead and figures out how to help her patients and get the word out to others. Some of her efforts involve as sort of social worker role, with home visits and various kinds of persuasion to get people to use the new benefits to help themselves. Eventually a mystery presents itself when a body appears in a shed-like shelter at Nelly’s new home. It takes a while for Nelly to have doubts about what she has been told about the body, and still longer for her to launch any sort of investigation. In the second half of the book, things turn into more of a mystery novel, where previously this was more of a historical novel about a fascinating time in Scotland. It’s not a super-quick read, because in addition to the abundance of unfamiliar Scottish vocabulary (with word meanings easily inferred from context, but still requiring a little more attention than usual), a lot of the speech is rendered in dialect, which I always find to be slower going. As a mystery, once it gets going it’s very nicely done, with a sympathetic protagonist and a good plot featuring little surprises and reversals all the way to a most satisfying ending.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hachette Book Group for a digital advance review copy.

Helen Crowther is from the slums of Edinburgh, Scotland in 1948 and has to deal with the wrath of her family and the others of her peers when she becomes a medical almoner for a doctor’s office. Since Scotland has now joined the National Health Service the poor of Edinburgh are skeptical about how the new medial system will work. Helen is determined to do the best she can at her job and on her first day she is filled with pride. All is well until she returns to her new home at the end of the work day to find a dead body in the building behind her home. She immediately recognizes the murder victim and sets out to determine why someone would want to kill this young lady. When it appears that the local police and government officials are engaged in a cover up, Helen cannot let things be and she sets out on a course to seek justice for the victim.

I enjoyed this book and while I don’t think the author plans to make it a series, I would be thrilled if she went on to write other books about Helen. I will say that it was hard to understand some of the words being said as the author used Scottish slang in her story. Of course, due to this being an advanced reader’s copy, I noticed at the end there was a glossary of Scottish slang to help the reader understand what is being said. Which is helpful of course, just wish I would have seen it at the beginning instead of the end of the book as that would have been so helpful. I am hoping that the final print version will do this for readers as it will really go along way.

I read this book pretty quickly as it was hard to put down. There was a shocking twist at the end, and I am curious to see how that would play out if the author continued the series. This book has a lot of potential to be a historical mystery series that readers will come to love. A fantastic read for lovers of historical mysteries that is a little different from the norm as it features Scotland in the late 1940’s after World War II and how Scotland was trying to differentiate itself from England and make its own way in the new world. Loved this book and have my fingers crossed for more in the future.

Overall Rating: 4 stars
Author: Catriona McPherson

Series: N/A

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Publication Date: April 14, 2022

Pages: 337

Genre: Historical Mystery

Get It: Amazon

Disclaimer: This book was given to me by the publisher, through NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review. I reviewed this book without compensation of any kind. All thoughts and opinions are solely mine.

I hadn't read anything by Catriona McPherson, and as a standalone, this sounded like a good introduction to her. Unfortunately, I was never able to get into this story. It's solidly researched historical fiction but never seemed to hit a groove with me. I'm not giving on McPherson, however, and will try one of her other books.

If you like historical mysteries, particularly those in the post-WW2 era, you should give this a try.

Thanks to Hachette Book Group for providing access to a digital ARC on NetGalley.

In Place of Fear had me reading about a topic I didn’t even realize I wanted to read about, the NHS, or National Health Service, of the United Kingdom. I’ve heard how fantastic it is for those I know in the UK to obtain health care without worrying about what it costs. And, in reading this book, I discovered what it was like in its infancy. The disbelief of the UK’s citizens that their healthcare was free took some convincing. Those of us who are ardent fans of Catriona McPherson and in particular her stand-alones will experience a different kind of story in this book. In her previous stand-alones, the creepy factor has been fully engaged, but in this tale, the sinister is disguised as business as usual. And, of course, the cleverness is as evident as it always is in a book from McPherson.

The main character of the story is an “almoner,” whose job it was to get people signed up, to start a file for them where their health problems could be on record and their care could be better coordinated. Of course, paperwork and getting people signed up was only the beginning. Her job included providing nutritional information, pre-natal and post-natal care, ensuring people had proper housing, visiting patients in their homes to assess needs, and keeping the doctors she worked with apprised of her findings. She first, of course, had to convince those who couldn’t afford healthcare that it was free. So, readers will enjoy a well-researched piece of history told through the story of this almoner who is on the front lines of the NHS’s inception. However, this is Catriona McPherson, and readers will also get a first-rate crime/mystery as well.

Life is looking up for newly appointed Medical Welfare Almoner Helen (Nelly) Crowther in Edinburgh. Her new appointment means that she won’t have to follow her mother Greet and other women in her community to work in the bottling factory. Nelly’s father works in the slaughterhouse, and the family barely gets by. Their apartment houses Nelly and her husband, Nelly’s little sister, and Nelly’s parents. It’s a poor existence and one hard to climb out of, but Nelly was noticed by Mrs. Simpson at an early age and came under her tutelage. So, Nelly can work doing something she is passionate about. Greet is adamantly against Nelly taking the job, as there is that odd notion of not rising above one’s station prevalent in their community, and Greet objects to her working with two male doctors. Also, Greet thinks Nelly should be concentrating on getting pregnant and having babies, the normal course of their lives.

Nelly has been married two years to her school days sweetheart Sandy when the story opens. Sandy had been a POW during the recently ended war and they were married when he returned home. He works as a street cleaner because he says he can’t stand to work indoors. There are problems between Nelly and Sandy, but with the new job has come a house of their own, so Nelly is hopeful that being out from her parents’ watch will solve her marital troubles. However, the move to their own home has a most inauspicious beginning. Nelly discovers the body of a young woman in the yard’s Anderson shelter, the lifeless form clothed only in a dirty hospital gown. The doctor declares it a suicide, but Nelly has seen the body up close and is convinced that death was at the hands of another. Thus starts Nelly’s personal investigation and vow to discover who the young woman was and how she died.
One of the overriding themes in the book is women’s health, especially having or not having babies and the care for both. Choices were mostly in the hands of men what happened there, and it couldn’t be a timelier theme. Nelly is the outlier in 1948, loving her job and the independence that came with it. Through Nelly’s cases she works, McPherson does a great job of taking us into the lives of the underprivileged (impoverished) Edinburgh women in the years after WWII. And, the marked distinction between the poor and the rich is all too evident in how lives are lived and problems are handled. The lines of social class are just beginning to blur after the war, and Nelly represents that force of change that is coming. She isn’t content to conform to the traditions of her poor community of repeating one’s parents’ lives. She wants something of her own and isn’t afraid to fight for it. She has a voice and uses it. By the end of the story, readers will understand just how unconventional Nelly is for her times.

In Place of Fear is a historical fiction murder mystery, but I think that even in the murder mystery part, the historical takes precedence. Well, it’s probably more accurate to say the two aspects of the story depend on one another. What happens to the victim and the coverup afterwards is a part of women’s history, what it was, what we were able to change for the better, and the threats that still exist to women’s health. I enjoyed the mystery, as it had me guessing until the end, and I always enjoy being proved wrong about who I think the villain is, and, of course, if not for the investigation into the woman’s death, the unsavory history would not have been uncovered. But, for me, the history in the mystery and the history in the rest of the story is what was so powerful.

A quick word about the Scottish dialect used in the dialogue. I enjoyed it because I love hearing people talk who are from Scotland, like Catriona McPherson. I think there was just enough though, as a whole book of it might have been distracting instead of enriching. I’m familiar with a lot of the words, so I only looked up a few. There is a handy glossary at the back of the book if you’re not familiar or you can’t understand the word through context clues. I think the choice of characters whose conversations use the dialect, Nelly and Sandy and Greet and others in their social circle, adds to the authenticity of their street cred and brings the readers into their world.

Catriona McPherson has given us yet another fascinating narrative in which to immerse ourselves, continuing her brilliance in unique storytelling. Thanks to NetGalley and Hatchette Book Group for an advanced reader’s copy of In Place of Fear.

For anyone who enjoys historical fiction or mysteries, Catriona McPherson's In Place of Fear is a delight of a read. (The introduction below is a bit lengthier than I sometimes provide, so I want explain that it focuses on the context of the novel. It doesn't contain spoilers. It doesn't sketch out the full plot of the novel.)

The novel is set in 1940s Edinburgh the day before Britain's new National Health Service (NHS) begins. Helen Crowther, the central character, is starting a job as a Medical Welfare Almoner, a position that's been created as part of the new NHS. Her job involves everything from running post-natal nutrition classes to seeing that items like wheelchairs and accessible housing are provided for those who need them to making home visits. Setting a novel during this particular historical moment strikes me as absolute genius: the author can explore post-war life during which rationing still exists and the shift from private to "socialized" medicine.

Helen's grown up in a working-class family that's just managing to hang on. The most obvious position for her is in the bottling factory where most of the women in her neighborhood work alongside her mother. But Helen was spotted young by Mrs. Simpson, one of those wealthy, do-gooding women committed to telling the lower classes how they should improve their lives—though "improvement" mean cleanliness or thrift, not help with significant upward economic movement.

No one, expect for Helen herself, is happy she's taken the NHS job. Her mother thinks that she's getting "beyond herself" and that the fact that she's working at a small clinic run by two male doctors will ruin not just her reputation, but the family's as well. Mrs. Simpson thinks she's ungrateful because she'll no longer be devoting her life to helping Mrs. Simpson continue to improve the poor and to share their plight with her wealthy peers.

Unexpectedly, Helen is offered use of an an apartment in a small home near her clinic that is owned by one of the doctors she works with. She and her husband move in gladly, having spent their marriage up to this point sharing a box bed in the main room of the apartment Helen's family lives in—not a great setting for a pair of newlyweds who could use some privacy. The home has an Anderson shelter (an improvised bomb shelter) in the back yard, and when Helen opens it, thinking she'll use it as a gardening shed, she finds a dead body inside—one that looks like a daughter of Mrs. Simpson.

That's the set up. From that point, the novel offers intertwining threads: Helen's determination to find out who the dead girl is and what's happened to her; her experiences taking on the demands of her new job; the continuing class conflicts that apparently drive Edinburgh at this time; and getting to know her husband again, a childhood sweetheart who's just spent six years in a German prison camp.

All this could easily become soppy or stentorian, but it doesn't. McPherson knows exactly how much information to give—and how to give it—so that readers can share Helen's journey. If you're looking for a good novel for yourself or to give as a gift, In Place of Fear should prove an excellent choice.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from NetGalley; the opinions are my own.

Set in 1940s Edinburgh at the birth of the NHS, In Place of Fear is a gripping new crime novel perfect for fans of Dear Mrs Bird and The Ninth Child. Newly appointed Medical Welfare Almoner Helen Crowther who, when a young woman mysteriously disappears, stumbles across something dark in the heart of Edinburgh's medical community. This was a fascinating historical mystery. At this point this reads as a standalone but with all the interesting characters I would love to see another to make this a series. It was so interesting to learn about how the NHS came about...almost as interesting as the misery story itself. This was a thoroughly enjoyable read. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

You may know Catriona McPherson’s name from her Dandy Gilver mystery series (entertaining and comical with excellent plots; highly recommend), as did I before reading In Place of Fear. Now I have a totally different novel and heroine to attribute to her, and they were just as excellent. As far as a standalone mystery goes, I’ll happily give it five stars.

At the beginning of the NHS in Edinburgh, newly appointed medical almoner (social worker) Helen Crowther has escaped her future as a worker in a bottling factory and been given her own office at a popular medical practice. She and her new husband have been given a little cottage as part of the deal, and are happy to get out of Helen’s family apartment. However, their excitement is short-lived when Helen discovers a body in the shed belonging to one of her mentor’s daughters. Convinced that the death is not as straightforward as they claim, she makes two vows to the girl: that she won’t let her charges feel as endangered as she felt, and that she’s going to find out what really happened.

If you’ve read any of McPherson’s other work, you’ll recognize that her writing is not very direct and that you have to do a bit of reading between the lines to find out what characters are seeing or what they mean. While this might not be everyone’s cup of tea, it’s really engaging for me as it makes me pay attention more (I read really fast and sometimes infer rather than read things) and challenges me to explore the material. It can’t be easy to put innuendo into the written word, yet McPherson does it with aplomb.

In terms of a murder mystery, In Place of Fear had everything I was looking for. Helen is an intelligent hero, the secondary characters were quirky and interesting, and the plot was really well done. The weaving of the mystery with the events in Helen’s life and job was excellent, and I was just as interested in Helen’s family dynamic as I was with the case. In fact, I’m not sure that the book would have been half as interesting without them.

I just had the thought that this novel reminded me of the show Call the Midwife; it’s in the right time period with the NHS just being formed, and I can picture the squalid housing situations in the show when Helen goes to visit some of her patients. I feel like the rhythm of the novel is kind of on par with Call the Midwife as well, with a lot of different scenarios requiring resolution. Of course, a major difference (and bonus!) is that this novel also includes a murder mystery. See? Total package.

Is there anything I would change about this book? I don’t think so. It was so crafty, and altogether very well rounded. I’m not sure if McPherson would develop a series off of it, the epilogue seemed to suggest not, but it certainly has potential as Helen’s job could take her into all kinds of situations. If you’re looking for a good standalone mystery full of Scottish dialogue and drama, pick In Place of Fear up. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

In Place of Fear, a stand alone novel, takes to the dawn of the National Health Service in Edinburgh, Scotland. Nell is a medical almoner tasked with getting her poor, working class neighborhood to sign on with the NHS while balancing her angry family and her non-consummated marraige to her old beau who spent several years in a POW camp.

To make matters worse, she finds a corpse in her gardwn bomb shelter, and the victim looks like the daughter of her old mentor.

Full of rich detail, an unflinching eye for post-war poverty, the story moves along at a great clip, punctuated by Scots dialect, this is a stellar historical mystery.

3.9/4

Perfect for fans of Call the Midwife

How appropriate to write a novel about the opening of the NHS just as the pandemic was straining it at the seams. The protagonist is a newly-trained "almoner" or medical social worker who sets up her practice with two physicians in Edinburgh. The story takes us on many of her field visits as she brings together medical care with human kindness and understanding of working class lives. There is also a mystery - a young girl is found dead on the premises of the home Helen and her husband have been provided, and she is the spitting image of the daughters of a nosy philanthropist who had taken Helen under her wing (but represents a pre-NHS approach to public welfare). All of this is told in a rich Scots narrative which can slow the reader down a bit puzzling over the unfamiliar words and phrases, though there is a glossary in the back. I felt it both slowed me down at times but also added a rich dimension to the story.

There's something of an uneasy balance between the mystery and Helen's story (which, frankly, I found more interesting than the whodunnit) and the pacing is uneven as a result and the mystery relatively underdeveloped or scattered. But the setting and subject matter and the exploration of what it takes to do social services well, with acceptance and understanding, was rewarding. Fans of Call the Midwife will be pleased.

"A gripping new crime novel set in 1940s Edinburgh at the birth of the NHS, In Place of Fear is perfect for fans of Dear Mrs Bird and The Ninth Child. We follow newly appointed Medical Welfare Almoner Helen Crowther who, when a young woman mysteriously disappears, stumbles across something dark in the heart of Edinburgh's medical community."

Catriona McPherson always has the best covers. Just look at that cover! LOOK AT IT!

This was my first time reading anything by Catriona McPherson so I’m not sure if it’s typical for her style of writing, but it didn’t work for me. It read like a stream of consciousness narrative, which I don’t care for.

While a vivid portrayal of the realities of life amongst the Edinburgh poor in the years following WWII and the intriguing beginnings of the NHS, the entire story felt convoluted and haphazard. There were aspects of Helen’s character that I really loved — her empathetic drive to genuinely help those in the community needing health services, her tenacity and backbone — yet she alone couldn’t carry the book for me. The mystery itself was at times gripping, but mostly jumbled and rushed, with Helen routinely hurtling in where angels fear to tread without thinking through the consequences. I’d figured parts of it out in advance and as a whole it didn’t mesh well. Too much confusion and rushing about, not enough ‘aha!’ unfolding.

Without giving too many spoilers, I really didn’t like how Helen’s marriage evolved and what transpired at the conclusion of the book. It was frustrating and selfish and lacked a satisfying resolution. Speaking of the ending, the author abruptly switches to a postscript chapter to tie up loose ends, but with a jump forward in time and a sudden addition of a new character with no explanation of who this person is. I stopped and reread the previous few pages to see what I’d missed, then realized I hadn’t missed anything. Strange.

Some were put off by the Edinburgh dialect being a large part of the narrative. This didn’t bother me — I enjoyed the words and phrases — but it definitely makes for a bit of a challenging read at times. The glossary of terms could benefit from being at the beginning of the book and not the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I'm a little torn. If I had gone into this novel expecting historical fiction rather than a historical mystery I would have been much more satisfied. As historical fiction, this book is very interesting and is on a topic I haven't read about before. It is set in 1948 Edinburgh and the main character is a medical almoner at the establishment of the National Health Service. Her job in getting people signed up etc. is interesting, and the author does a great job in describing the time and place with its poverty, unsanitary conditions, post-war malaise, etc. The mystery aspect of the novel wasn't as dominant as I expected it to be. I am American and had trouble understanding all of the Scottish words and phrases, I'm not sure if they would be more familiar to modern Scottish and British readers.

I had not read anything by this author before so don’t know how typical this one is, per other reviews. It’s a fascinating setting and lots of insight into very complex characters, especially Sandy. I like that book spends a lot of time exploring the lingering after effects of his war service in a way a lot of other WWI or WWII-set books don’t. The mystery itself isn’t really the main focus as these characters try to come to grips with their experiences and expectations, so if you’re reading for the mystery, you might find it slow going. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

Catriona McPherson's psychological thrillers are often deliciously creepy. In Place of Fear is delicious in a different way.

It's 1948, and Helen is excited to take on a new job of almoner, or welfare officer, in the office of two Edinburgh doctors on the very first day of the National Health Service of Scotland. The daughter of parents working in a slaughterhouse and a bottling factory, Helen is also a new bride. Her husband, Sandy, has returned from six years in a prisoner of war camp and has taken a job as a street sweeper, so her wages will be most welcome. Neither expects that an actual house to live in--and get away from Helen's parents and younger sister--will a benefit of her job. But the house holds secrets, and the dead body of a young woman found in the shed is just the beginning.

I loved the character of idealistic, spunky Helen, who is determined to help people who previously couldn't afford medical care, and who are suspicious of the new system. She is especially sensitive to the needs of women with reproductive issues and difficult husbands. Helen is at the center of every aspect of the plot, and as she tries to figure out the details and the reasons for the young woman's death, I never stopped rooting for her.

The story is peppered with Scottish dialogue--I wish the glossary had been moved from the end of the book to the beginning--but it isn't a problem. It only enhances the atmosphere and authenticity of the characters. Finally, the ending of the book absolutely blew my mind. I couldn't believe how McPherson had created such a unique, suspenseful story while retaining the humanity and spirit of the central character. More, please!

My thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Book Group/Mobius for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

I don’t know if my issue with the book is more with the book itself or with the marketing - I was promised “a gripping new crime novel” when the mystery isn’t even the main focus of the book. It’s very slow-paced, and I would not have finished it had I not received an ARC. Also, this is more of a personal preference, but I really hate when dialogue is written in an extreme way that highlights the speaker’s dialect or accent. The Scottish dialogue really slowed me down even more and took a lot of brain power to understand.