I'm loving this series and thoroughly enjoyed this well plotted and solid mystery
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I gave the first installment of the Oxford Mysteries, A Bitter Remedy, 5 stars, and I was close to giving The Skeleton Army the same.

Basil and Non, the invert academic and the bluestocking mathematician, once again find themselves at work to solve a murder apparently political in nature: it looks as though Ernie Ayott, a member of the Salvation Army, has been made an example of by the Skeleton Army, an anti-Sally organization affiliated with Oxford's breweries and pubs. Of course the personal is political, and vice versa: for one thing, the police aren't terribly interested in investigating Ernie's death, because he was poor and a drunkard, and Oxford University as an institution is mainly concerned with its own dignity, which is a problem for pretty much all the characters, in various ways.

The Skeleton Army of the title was, the author's afterword informs us, a real anti-Salvation-Army organization in Oxford during the 1880s. Something I both appreciated and struggled with in this book is precisely that historical context. To be in the US in the 2020s is to be in a place where evangelical Christianity is almost entirely associated with white supremacism, misogyny, and You Know Who; the Salvation Army of nineteenth-century England -- at least, as depicted here -- is concerned for the poor and institutionally accords women more power than the secular world (or, of course, the C of E). The Salvation Army captain in Oxford is a former actress -- that is, barely a step up from a "prostitute," and accorded just about that much respect -- and she shocks Basil by both spotting his queerness and being apparently unbothered by it. The Sallies are also a hell of a lot more fun, what with the music, the singing, the marching, and the dancing, than the C of E and the Oxford U worthies. And as for "temperance," they weren't wrong about alcohol abuse being prevalent and ruinous, and not only among the poor.

And, on the other hand -- though The Skeleton Army doesn't make much of this -- there's the evangelizing, and the refusal to distinguish between convivial drinking and habitual drunkenness, and that extremely long list of Thou Shalt Nots which a couple of characters are reluctant to pledge to, for, you know, some reason. Still, I do appreciate Hawkins's refusal to portray the 1880s Salvation Army as if it existed in a 21st-century context, or to have her characters take a 21st-century view of it.

Many readers of the first book found Non too irritating to like -- she was irritating then, but I liked her anyway, and I liked her even more now that she's done some growing up. But what's going on with her and her dead twin sister, with whom Non holds frequent silent conversations? Bafflingly, this is the only supernatural element in the book -- this doesn't seem to be a magical universe -- which makes it impossible to tell whether Non's aware of imagining the conversations, or whether they're delusions, or whether an otherworldly dimension will come to the forefront in future books. I get the feeling Alis Hawkins might not know, either.

Basil's a more complicated character and thus more interesting: a queer man, a stuffy academic, a person too principled to allow the man he's in love with to cheat on his wife, a person helplessly still in love with someone who mocks his steadfastness and loyalty, a person who lives in fear of having his sexuality discovered but who in solving the mystery risks losing everything. I really, really wanted the ethical printer from the first book to reappear and help ease Basil's broken heart, but no such luck; instead The Skeleton Army ends on what you might call an emotional cliffhanger that simultaneously frustrates me (view spoiler) and leaves me eager to read the next in the series.

The narrative here is, as other readers have remarked, somewhat slow-paced. It is, I guess, but I didn't mind that, because I was happy to get such a full picture of Oxford: town, university, poor, rich, social rules, celebrations, riots.

Thanks to NetGalley and Canelo Crime for the ARC.

The Skeleton Army is the second book in the adventures of Non Vaughan and Basil Rice in Victorian Oxford. This time they're investigating the new organisation that's just arrived in town, the Salvation Army. The Sally Army are being beset by virulent and violent opposition to the evangelical temperance movement by a masked gang calling themselves the Skeleton Army. When a member of the Salvation Army turns up dead outside his home with a note pinned on his uniform from the Skeleton Army, the battle is joined.

Another really interesting and well-researched mystery book by Alis Hawkins. Highly recommended.

‘The Skeleton Army’ is the second instalment in the Oxford Mysteries series. My feelings about the story are mixed; the characters felt one-dimensional. Maybe if I had read book 1, the characters would have been more compelling. Unfortunately, I won’t know because I have too many books to review. The Salvation Army and their enigmatic foe, the Skeleton Army, were subjects that I hadn’t explored before, but I found them fascinating.

2SLGBTQIA+ Historical Mystery set in 1882 that follows a welsh aspiring journalist and Oxford student as she works with a Jesus College fellow to investigate a murder linked to the Salvation Army.

4/5 stars: This is the second entry in Hawkins' Oxford Mysteries series, which is a 2SLGBTQIA+ Historical Mystery that takes place in Oxford, England 1882 and features an aspiring journalist and great hope of the Oxford women’s college movement and a gay Jesus College fellow and union-sanctioned guardian. With plenty of twists and turns, Hawkins has crafted a mystery that deftly balances the suspects, clues and red herrings and will leave you pondering the whodunit until the final reveal. Told in dual narrative, Hawkins' writing and character work is stellar; the characters are well-rounded and complex while remaining incredibly likable. Non's tough and determined and I really love her friendship with Basil and it's great to see the two of them back sleuthing together again. Additionally, I really appreciated reading Basil's life as a Victorian era 2SLGBTQIA+ man. And it's great reading about the struggle women experienced gaining entry into higher education during this time period. The topic of the Salvation Army and it's shadowy enemy, the Skeleton Army, isn't one I'd read about before but found fascinating. While you could read this as a stand-alone, you'll gain so much more by reading the series from the beginning; so be sure to pick up book one, A Bitter Remedy.

I received this eARC thanks to NetGalley and Canelo in exchange for an honest review. Publishing dates are subject to change.

I’ve enjoyed spending time with the characters in this series. In fact I’d actually like more in depth character and relationship development alongside the mystery plots.

The premise of this one really appealed, but it didn’t quite live up to the expectation in my head. The discoveries and conversations about potential theories started to feel a bit repetitive and I guessed a lot so nothing much surprised me in that aspect. I found myself way more invested in Non and Basils’ personal lives and ambitions than the main investigation.

One of my favourite things about this and the first book is the way the author intertwines real people and events with fiction. I particularly like that Alis Hawkins chooses perhaps lesser known people and events, things that might not be obvious choices to write about. It’s fun to highlight some social history as well as creating a fictional mystery.

I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for the next one after that ending!! And even though it’s probably not the main intention of this series, I really want to see how things pan out for Non and Basil!!

I loved the first book in this series and gave it five stars on GoodReads. My experience with The Skeleton Army was completely different. I spent three days on it, but found it such a slow read that I only hit the 61% mark. The pace just wasn't there—I felt like getting to each new plot point was a slog.

I had genuinely been looking forward to this title. First, because of how much I enjoyed the previous volume. Second, because I found the tension around the emergence of the Salvation Army in England fascinating.

I still have hopes for this series and will definitely seek the next volume out in hopes that it will be more like the first in terms of pacing and engagement.