A strong beginning for a new Regency mystery series that is not centered in the sparkling ballrooms but deals with the uglier sides of society. Emmeline St. Germaine is determined to try to save working women from sexual predation in the splendid houses of the elite but her crusade is threatened when the man she threatened hours earlier while rescuing a scullery maid is found murdered and her secret identity, The Avengeress, becomes the prime suspect. Emmeline will need her friends to bring the real murderer to justice or she might end up at the end of a noose and so many people left unaided...

This is a strong mystery. What it does even better is show how frustrating it is to be a woman living in a society that is filled with hypocrisy, denies a woman a brain, constricts her ability to determine her own future and even common choices, gives her fewer choices about how to live, and yet does not protect her from predation. I still love the Regency period but living the life of an aristocrat woman would not be easy if you had a brain and/or some sensibilities. But it would probably even be worse to be a poor woman and try to make your way. Some parts are a little bit unrealistic with what Emmeline is able to get away with without being discovered but most is realistic, particularly the intellectual and emotional responses of the women in this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Stories of masked avengers sweeping to the rescue of the unfortunate bring to mind swashbuckling heroes and adventure as they take down dastardly fiends. A genteel young woman in London circa 1810, as such, makes the premise all the more intriguing.

Victoria Hamilton’s A Gentlewoman’s Guide to Murder delivers adventure amid the most treacherous of characters.

Our protagonist, Miss Emmeline St. Germaine and a like-minded group of women set out to rescue young scullery maids from the hands of their lecherous employers, at a time when women had little voice or power in Regency society.

After a masked Emmeline rescues one such child just as her employer - a well known knight - is about to rape the youngster, she becomes an unnamed suspect in the man’s murder.

Emmeline’s investigation into finding the real murderer(s) are paramount before she and her mission are exposed. The investigation and subsequent discovery will change her life forever.

This is no cozy lighthearted read. It’s sad and at times difficult to read not just because of the subject matter but also the pace, which can drag on at times. The first in a new series from Hamilton, AKA national bestselling author Donna Lea Simpson, I’m hopeful the next installment isn’t quite so heavy.

I received a free egalley of A Gentlewoman’s Guide to Murder courtesy of Beyond the Page Publishing, through NetGalley. This review is fair and impartial.

I had so much trouble with this title. I felt little sympathy on the personal level with Emmeline St. Germaine.
Oh, I’m completely fine with her aims, her chasing down paedophiles and others of this ilk but it just wasn’t credible. Her actions lost so much in the execution. Convoluted to the point I could barely finish reading.
I admire Victoria Hamilton and her writings, but I failed with connect to this work.

A Beyond the Page ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Beyond the Page Publishing for this Advanced Reader Copy and the opportunity to review “A Gentlewoman’s Guide to Murder.” All opinions and comments are my own.

First off, a disclaimer; I need to include a trigger warning here: the story line involves pedophilia. That is what our heroine, Emmeline St. Germaine discovers as she conducts her “Robin Hood” campaign for the poor and downtrodden of London, especially the young women she is trying to help. Masked, she removes these girls from the mansions she enters and spirits them away. Only this time, the master of the house is murdered soon after, and “The Masked Avengeress” is accused of the crime. What’s a young gentlewoman to do? Solve the murder, of course, so that she can continue to save these young girls from a horrible life.

It's not easy going. Emmeline has to maintain her real identity as a member of the gentry, keeping her family from wondering what she’s doing with her days. And then there’s that other side gig as the gossip columnist The Rogue to cover up, too. If she’s discovered, it will be her ruin in society. This is one busy lady, and author Victoria Hamilton involves a lot of scenes and a lot of people (including a male doctor who would like to be more than a friend to Emmeline, but she’s not buying it). The pacing could have been better in the middle, and we do get a lot of editorializing about the plight of women. Remember that subject matter I mentioned.

The quest to bring justice and resolve a whole bunch of wrongs beyond the one murder becomes very personal for Emmeline. It comes at a cost, but she does accomplish what she set out to do, and that is all to the good. And sets up readers for another book.

This is not a happy story, not with this plot line. It’s not something you’d want to read as a happy go lucky pick-me-up for a few hours. It will make you angry. The author may have intended that. If so, she accomplished her purpose. Just be prepared for some graphic explanations of a sordid subject.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Victoria Hamilton for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for A Gentlewoman’s Guide to Murder coming out September 29, 2022. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I will upload my review to Goodreads and link it to NetGalley. I will upload my review to Amazon once the book is released.

Set in 1810, A Gentlewoman’s Guide to Murder follows the life of Emmeline St. Germaine. She’s a strong-willed heroine who has taken it upon herself to rescue the victims of London society. She comes from a wealthy family, but can’t stand by while powerless women are taken advantage of by wealthy, predatory men. Hours after she visits a prominent knight, he’s found murdered. Did he have enemies? Does anyone know Emmeline visited him?
Before she is ruined by scandal, Emmeline must solve the case. She can’t afford for anyone to find out the work she does. But there are elite men who will want to silence her. Can she solve the murder in time before someone silences her for good?

I loved this story! Historical murder mysteries is one of my favorite genres. This book was well-written and fun. Emmeline was such a strong character who didn’t put up with anything from anyone. I love that she tried to uplift women who were abused or didn’t have a voice. She used what resources she had to do good in her society. I saw there was going to be a second book, so there’s a bit of a cliffhanger ending, but I’m definitely interested in reading the next book.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys regency murder mysteries featuring a brave heroine!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is a good start for a new historical mystery series and I enjoyed it even if deals with quite disturbing facts.
The heroine is a strong woman, not conforming to the norm, and fighting for the underdogs.
The plot flows and the mystery kept me guessing.
If we want to define it cozy I would add "dark cozy.
I liked it and it's strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I found this disappointing. and I had so been looking forward to reading it. I wasn't able to find much that was identifiably of the Regency period and they character's didn't behave as they would have had it been set in that time. I also struggled to like or identify with the character's at all and Emmeline did nothing to help me like her with her constant whining about her lot in life despite the fact she was left to run her life as she wished. Her lady's made and coachman were the best of the bunch with her possible love interest? Woodforde being ok but putting up with way more that I would expect. All in all I cant recommend this book I did finish it but found the ending as unsatisfactory as the book as a whole. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I didn't realize when I requested this on NetGalley that it's a re-release of a book that I already attempted -- and failed to finish -- a few years ago. Thankfully it didn't take me very long to realize my mistake and remember just how much I did not like the main character. Who the heck waits to rescue a child they KNOW is going to be assaulted until the act is already in progress??? I mean, seriously. That's just so wrong on so many nauseating levels.

The description of this novel really attracted me but I think I was probably expecting a lighter read. I did finish it but I found the writing style did not really flow for me and I struggled with the characters. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me access to an early copy of this book.

A Gentlewoman’s Guide to Murder by Victoria Hamilton

This book is about a woman wishing to write about some of the wrongs in society to do with people abusing their power. In doing so he ends up being the main suspect of the gentleman’s murder.

A reasonably well written book. Although it was very repetitive in parts. Furthermore my biggest gripe in this book is it ends on a cliffhanger forcing the reader to wait for the following book. Unfortunately it does tend to put me off buying any further book by authors who do this.

"Scandal and slayings among Regency London's elite... Refusing to stand by while the wealthy men of London prey on their powerless scullery maids and other young women, Miss Emmeline St. Germaine has made it her mission to rescue the victims and threaten the men at dagger-point to cease their depravities. But mere hours after she pays just such a visit to a prominent knight, he's found murdered and all of London is aghast. Did the man-or woman-who murdered the knight know of her visit? Facing scandal and the ruination of her family, Emmeline must solve the crime before she and her work are exposed. But there are powerful forces at work to silence her-or worse, lead her to the hangman's noose for a crime she did not commit..."

Because who doesn't like a lady dealing out some back alley justice?

I DNFd this book at 11% for horrifying fatphobia. There's no excuse for Hamilton to explicitly tie the murder victim's horrifying pedophilia to his body size, and to use his fatness as a shorthand for his evil. This book had such an interesting premise, but it's unreadable.

This book started so well, with promise of a rich storyline full of details and dismay at the predations that this, and other eras, visited upon children. There was so much that could have been discussed from female education - bible study and general ability to read and write being all that a girl needed; chimney climbing boys; apprenticeships and masters who preyed upon their staff; and so much more.
But it got bogged down about a quarter to halfway way through and further. Too much repetition of events and too much 'musing' on how they could have been committed and who was involved. The denouement was almost expected and did not surprise the reader who'd paid attention to hints.
A sharp editor's pen would have helped immensely.

I enjoyed this book very much, however as I hate cliff hangers, I can’t fully recommend it. The story is set in regency times and is about a woman who’s part of a group rescuing women from bad positions. There is a man taking children as servants and sexually abusing them, so our heroine rescues his latest victim, but when he turns up dead later the same night, she’s the prime suspect so has to clear her name. The mystery was well written, and seem authenticity accurate for the time period, but my only complaint is it left on a cliff hanger so you have to wait for the next book to answer that

A Gentlewoman's Guide to Murder is a nice start of the series by the same name by Victoria Hamilton. I enjoyed it and will be looking for book two. Four stars.

A Gentlewoman’s Guide to Murder by Victoria Hamilton
I found this a little hard to get into at first but eventually it did draw me in. It is a little heavy handed in the way the main character seems to expect all men to be evil doers, even her good friend who helps her at every turn and is in love with her.
The ending is appropriate and seems to indicate a following story. The original publication date for this book was 2019 so maybe it is being reissued so the author can pick it up again and continue it with a series.
I would try another book with the same characters but would enjoy it more if the main character softens her stance a bit and learns to differentiate between good men and bad ones.

While I appreciate the opportunity to read and review this, I'm unfortunately unable to finish this one. I got about a quarter of the way through the story and I just can't get into it.

"A Gentlewoman's Guide to Murder" is the tale of one Emmaline St. Germaine, aka the Rogue (gossip columnist) aka the Avengeress (rescuer of abused child workers). It starts with a rescue, and quickly turns into a murder mystery. The murdered person is Sir Henry Clayborne, pedophile. He's certainly not worth mourning, but because Emmaline is suspected of killing him, his murder must be solved.

Author Victoria Hamilton takes readers on a windy road to discover who the murderer is, but along the way, you get a crash course on how life was for women, particularly those of the upper and upper middle classes. Not having control over your life unless you were widowed, which seems to be the only time these women had some modicum of independence, is crazy to me as a 21st century woman. But as a student of history, I understand it better than some would.

One of the characters who shocked me was Emmaline's uncle Sir Jacob. He doesn't initially strike one as being part of the group of men procuring and molesting young girls. It was sad to see how hurt she was to realize what he had been doing, and then to realize that he inflicted his perversion on her younger sister and his cousin. Having the good image of someone you love shattered because of that person's disgusting behavior is never easy. He deserved what happened to him in the end, even though I think he got off light.

I also detested Emmaline's brother. He is utterly reprehensible, and I'm hoping something awful happens to him in a future book. How he could be more concerned with appearance over finding out their uncle molested his baby sister is just unbelievable.

This was a good book, though at times troubling. But it is necessary to touch on these issues, because sadly, things like child trafficking and domination/subjugation of women still happen. I'm anticipating Emmaline's next adventure.

Thanks to NetGalley, Victoria Hamilton, and Beyond the Page Publishing for this advanced copy, which I voluntarily read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The author gave me an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review, thank you Net Galley for giving me a chance to devour this book. The opinions are strictly my own.

Sadly, this is not going to be a happy and exciting one, as I found that while the book had magnificent prose to draw a reader into the fantastic world of Ms. Emmeline's mission. It missed the mark on driving the plot through due to the mass amount of misandry coming from the main character. I am for standing up for equal rights and treatment of women and saving children, however--the unstable rage the character kept shoving at me as I tried to read the story was horribly unbearable.

I wanted to love this series, as I've loved Victoria Hamilton's The Vintage Kitchen Series, but I couldn't grasp how some of the passages were overkill--I found myself trying hard to finish to get to the end, and neither was it enjoyable to try and figure out the whodunit. Emmeline is a strong character, with a very well-written background for her to be an unlikely heroine--yet her manhating was extreme. She was constantly picking fights with random men, and somehow all the men were two-faced in the novel, including the KIND gentleman who is her childhood friend WHO LOVES HER.

With the utmost sadness, this book did not work well for me. I felt that there should have been more focus on proper character development and staying on point with the plot. The novel has potential, but I feel both writer and editor lost the purpose of the story as it felt that it was more directed to push something else that I felt was unnecessary.

class-consciousness, murder, murder-investigation, amateur-sleuth, England, downtrodden, secrets, lies, women-s-rights, scandal, first-in-series, rescue, resilience, false-information, falsely accused, false-identities, friendship, drama, sensation-press, social-injustice****

Emmeline is the most daring of a group of ladies who work together to rescue young girls who work in homes where the wealthy man of the house puts them at risk. She also is the one with the poorest leash on her tongue. The publisher's blurb is a good intro, so no need to recap or do the spoiler thing. Looking forward to the next in series to see further development of the characters. A good start!
I requested and received a free e-book copy from Beyond the Page Publishing via NetGalley. Thank you