As I said in my reviews of the previous instalments of the Dread Penny Society series, I usually love Sarah M. Eden books but I am a bit less fond of this series. It's my personal taste, as I'm not too keen on mysteries and books taking place in dark alleys. I've even thought about not finishing the series, but it has grown on me, and so I couldn't resist reading the final instalment in the series, "The Queen and the Knave".

I have to say, it was a good conclusion to the series. Fair warning — one really needs to have read the other books to understand "The Queen and the Knave" as it cannot be read as a stand-alone. I hadn't re-read the previous books very recently so struggled a bit to make sense of all the secondary characters, though this didn't spoil my enjoyment of this novel.

Here, we finally have our dear Móirín Donnelly's story. She is a really great character — strong, determined and selfless, she is an admirable heroine and a great role-model. This novel might officially be shelved as a "romance", but as sweet as the romance was between Móirín and Fitz, it was definitely in the background compared to the rest of the story, which was really more of a mystery. Fitz was an equally good character, and I appreciated how he quietly supported Móirín while completely letting her have the lead.
It was good to see the protagonists from previous books making multiple appearances, even though their fates at the end of the book are mostly up to us to imagine — what will they do next in life, where will they go ? It kinda makes sense not to have to much focus on them though, as the novel is mostly plot-driven.

I find that the author did a good job of writing the mystery overall, especially considering it's not her main genre. The mystery developed in interesting and surprising ways over the 5 books of the series, and especially in this last book, all elements came together for the big finale. I was kinda let hungry for a bigger, flashier final resolution, while at the same time I appreciated that the final "battle" didn't last overly long.

As before, I wasn't the biggest fan of the dread penny stories inserted throughout the books. Although they run parallel to the main story and have similarities, I didn't like that it interrupted the main novel. The dread pennies were good, but I didn't find that it added much to the novel, I would have preferred to have them separately. (P.S. I read Posie and Pru's voices with Philomena Cunk's voice in my head and it was kinda hilarious!)

Sarah M.Eden has a way with words — we forget *how* the book is written because the writing is so fluid, we only concentrate on *what* it says. That I can only applaud! And she used cockney and London slang and old, funny phrases so well that you really hear the characters talk with their accents in your head.

Each instalment in the series has its own particularly flavour because it focuses on a specific theme and place (forgery & print shop, resurectionist & cemeteries, etc.) and this worked really well all along, with this book taking place in gloomy safe houses.
I found the title of the book worked great with this particular story and the colour red matches perfectly! Absolutely gorgeous cover!

*I received a free eARC and this is my honest opinion*

I loved this installment of the DPS. It was an amazing conclusion and I didn't know what to expect. I couldn't put it down. I'm excited to go back and reread the others!