Kelley Armstrong can do nothing wrong in my book! I love her A Rip Through Time series and Schemes & Scandals is a wonderful, riveting, and gripping addiction to that addictive series. I love the characters, the Victorian time period, the atmosphere, the time travel aspect and the mystery in this series (and this book.).

Some background:
Mallory Atkinson was a modern-day homicide detective who found herself transported back in time and into the body of a young woman living in Victorian, Scotland after an attack. Now she is employed by Dr. Duncan Gray and becomes his assistant.

In Schemes & Scandals, Mallory will experience her first Christmas in Scotland (which isn't celebrated at that time) Hogmanay is the holiday that is celebrated and Gray's gift to her is seeing Charles Dickens (yes, that Charles Dickens) doing a reading. There they are approached by Gray's former lover, Lady Inglis, who informs them that she needs their help as she is being blackmailed.

As I mentioned I love this series. I have enjoyed watching as Mallory attempts to adjust to the Victorian time period, and how the Gray household copes with her being outspoken and clever. The mystery in this book was interesting and I enjoyed watching as Mallory and Gray did their best to uncover the identity of the blackmailer.

As with the other books in this series, this book was atmospheric, gripping, tense, wonderfully written, well thought out, and captivating. The characters are well fleshed out, likeable, and interesting.

If you have not read this series, what are you waiting for????? Seriously, it's a wonderful historical mystery series! I love going back in time and being with Gray, Mallory, and everyone else in the Gray household. This book was a joy to read and has me looking forward to reading what comes next for Gray and Mallory.

Thanks to Netgalley, I received an ARC of this book but the opinions expressed here are my own.

I love this series. It's one of my favorites, not least because here is a series that doesn't shy away from the grosser parts of time travel to the past. I'm so grateful to be born in a time of indoor plumbing and sewage systems.

In earlier books, I wasnt always sure I could get a good feel for Mallory. The other characters yes, but her? She could be anyone. Here, I don't know, it feels like we connect to her better, see her fight her misconceptions, fail at history, and maneuver her world with the ease of someone who has been there for long enough to learn a good deal of it. Her relationships are maturing and she's learning to understand other people's motivations better.

Unlike a lot of the previous stories, this is more detective story than thriller, and I enjoyed it. I think we get a better picture of society, good and bad, and the literary and art scenes. The interactions with a certain famous figure are poignant and yet I'm grateful there aren't more of them. I prefer watching her deal with the people closer to her level than the cameos.

I'm so invested in this series, can't wait for more!

Schemes And Scandals by Kelly Armstrong is the new book in her rip through time series and although just a novella it totally has everything I’ve come to love the series for. Opening up a new book in beloved series is like visiting old friends and that is the feeling I get when opening up a rip-through time book this one has Mallory investigating a black male case for grays ex girlfriend and despite wanting to celebrate Christmas with her new Scotland family she’s excited to hear they mainly celebrate Hogmanay we also get to see more of my new favorite character Jack as she helps Mallory investigate the blackmail case that Mallory is taking the lead on. This is an action packed time travel mystery series it’s well written with great characters who we get to learn more about in every book it’s a series I cannot recommend more. Despite the books being able to be read as stand the loans it is a much better in fuller picture when reading all the books in order but if standalones are your thing they do recap at the beginning of each book it should be easy to catch on as you read. #NetGalley,#SubterraneanPress #KellyArmstrong, #RippedThroughTime, #SchemesAndScandals,

This series is one of my favorites and I highly recommend reading the whole series first. This novella lives up to my expectations. I devoured it immediately and in one sitting.
In this story Mallory and Dr. Gray are looking for a blackmailer on behalf of a wealthy widow previously involved with Gray. The relationship between Mallory and Gray remains professional and collegial with the hopes of something more in the future.
Mallory is a strong, insightful, mature heroine. I love that she is smart and professional and not prone to the kind of frustrating and out of character choices that some authors write their heroines into to cause drama or advance the story.
The world building immerses readers in Victorian Edinburgh. Mallory’s commentary on Victorian life is a highlight and provides a way for readers to make connections by highlighting contrasts/similarities with modern life.

I love Kelley Armstrong’s books and this series is one of my favorites (how could I not love a series with a heroine that shares my name?). My only problem with this one is that as a novella it was too short because I could stay in this world for ages. I liked the Hogmanay information and the unique take on a book for the holidays (befitting of a Holiday type book that comes out on Halloween). Mallory and Dr. Gray have a new case although this one is filled with awkward. Dr. Gray’s former lover has requested help as she has a blackmailer in possession of some salacious letters that would ruin her reputation. I liked this investigation very much and found this one going by super quickly. While you could probably get by reading this if you haven’t read the others there’s no reason for that. If you haven’t read the A Rip Through Time series go get them right now.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

I absolutely love this series! This is book 3.5, a short story featuring our beloved characters from a "Rip Through Time" series. I implore you to start at the beginning or you will regret missing out on the entirety of this worthwhile series.

I enjoy the flashes of historical information scattered throughout. I had never heard of Hogmanay and was surprised to hear about the legality of celebrating Christmas in Scottland! This novella takes place during the holiday season. This installment has Charles Dickens among its pages, giving a true historical fiction feel. The focus of our detectives this time around is unravelling a blackmailer as well as a murderer. The person being blackmailed is an ex-lover of Gray's which adds another dynamic to the story.

We get the same camaraderie and teamwork from our characters. Throw a couple of sweet, personal scenes and the usual witty banter. My only complaint is I was hoping for something romantic and more intimate for the holidays...still holding out for Gray and Mallory's relationship to go to the next level! Pretty please with sugar on top!! :)

I can hardly wait for the next in this series!!

4 stars

Book Review
Schemes & Scandals
Kelley Armstrong
reviewed by Lou Jacobs


readersremains.com | Goodreads


Enjoying this novella is like eating dessert before the main course—the next full-length novel in this delightful series, A Rip Through Time. This nicely adds to the lore of Vancouver police detective Mallory Atkinson, who has been ripped into Victorian Scotland. This is her first Christmas spent in 1869 Scotland.

She finds herself stranded in a time period where Christmas is not celebrated and is considered a pagan holiday, virtually banned. The locals instead celebrate Hogmanay, the last day of the year. This New Year’s celebration involves similar traditions of gift-giving, parties, and festivities.

Mallory was originally thrown into these circumstances on May 20, 2019. The police detective ran into an alley where she heard the screams of a woman. Suddenly, a rope noose is thrust around her neck. Even though she struggles valiantly, she starts to pass out. Just before losing consciousness, she “sees” an optical illusion of “a young woman with honey-blond hair, in a cornflower-blue dress, as a shadowy figure has his hands wrapped around her throat.”

The world goes dark. She awakens confused and startled, and suddenly realizes she is inhabiting the body of an eighteen-year-old blond girl, Catriona Mitchell, in what is obviously Victorian Edinburgh, Scotland. Somehow, through a “rip in time,” she has traveled from May 20, 2019, to the same day in 1869.

Kelley Armstrong crafts a delightful tale combining elements of historical fiction, time travel, and a convoluted police procedural. Walking a dangerous tightrope, Armstrong expertly blends lengthy internal dialogue from Mallory/Catriona with the development of interesting, multi-dimensional Victorian characters. Catriona is a housemaid in the unique household of “undertaker” Dr. Duncan Gray and his half-sister, Isla Ballantyne. Dr. Gray is much more than a funeral director and is actually a trusted consultant of Detective McCreadie, examining murder victims. His studies and methods are the forerunners of modern forensic science. Isla is an exceptional variant of the women of the time—highly educated, but forced to work as a herbalist rather than a chemist, due directly to her gender. Dr. Gray, despite being highly educated, is dismissed as irrelevant and somewhat of a charlatan because he is Black. Through perseverance and guile, Mallory eventually proves her worth, gains Dr. Gray’s trust, and becomes his true assistant in his investigative endeavors.

In the spirit of the upcoming Hogmanay, Gray presents Isla and Mallory with tickets for a special reading at the music hall by the popular writer, Charles Dickens. His performance delights Mallory, as it’s not a mere author reading but an actual performance, with Dickens acting out the different characters. Mallory arrives at the reading with a copy of her favorite Dickens book, hoping to obtain his signature. However, this is not common in Victorian times. Dr. Gray is approached by an “old flame,” the widower Lady Patricia Inglis, a family friend of Charles Dickens. Lady Inglis offers to introduce them to Dickens for a possible signature. At the same time, she confides in them and requests their aid. She is being blackmailed. She has been sending intimate letters to a long-time lover, a dear friend of her husband’s, with whom her friendship blossomed into intimacy after her husband’s passing.

Her lover has informed her that the letters, stored in a locked box, have disappeared. This was not discovered until he received a threatening letter stating the letters would be sold to a publisher of ill repute unless a sizable ransom was paid. When Mallory first arrived in Catriona’s beautiful and fetching body, she realized her murky past as a con artist and a thief, possibly using her “feminine wiles” for illicit purposes. Mallory discovered that Catriona had in her possession a similar letter from Lady Inglis to Dr. Gray. She burned the letter after disclosing its existence to Gray. Mallory eventually agrees to help Lady Inglis uncover the blackmailer and hopefully recover the letters. Dr. Gray quickly agrees to help in the investigation, despite his past relationship with Lady Inglis. The dynamics between the main characters continue to evolve based on past and present motivations. There has been a slow-burn romance between Mallory and Dr. Gray, somewhat threatened by the current circumstances.

Kelley Armstrong proves to be a marvelous storyteller as she weaves multiple twists into the plot, escalating suspense and intrigue into a thrilling denouement that is satisfying while leaving many unresolved questions, knowing there is more to come. Armstrong explores themes of women’s equality, racism, immigration, and even homosexuality. It has been a pleasure to see the character of Mallory unfold, with her intelligence and determination, while being adaptable and resilient. While this can be enjoyed as a standalone, I would encourage reading the previous entries in the A Rip in Time series to fully enjoy the experience of Armstrong’s conjured world of Victorian Edinburgh.

Thanks to NetGalley and Subterranean Press for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review. I truly cannot wait for the fourth installment to be released.

I absolutely love these novellas while waiting for the next one in the series. They feel a little less serious and a bit more fun adventures. I feel like they also give a bit more background on some other side characters that the main novels might not get the chance to do. This one was a perfect look in what Christmas was like in those times. I like the look at what it might be like to meet someone’s work you loved but weren’t ever able to meet because they have been gone from this world for a long while.

This was a fairly short novella that takes us to Mallory's first Christmas season in her new time of the year 1869. This is not a stand alone book, it is the continuation of the story of Mallory - a US police detective from the 21st century - who somehow finds herself in a different body, and back in the year 1869. Oh, and she is now a chamber maid for a coroner in Scotland.

In the prior 3 books, we have gotten to know the other characters in this world - Dr. Gray and his sister Isla, along with Hugh and Jack. This short story takes us on the journey as Mallory and Dr. Gray take on a new case involving the theft of some intimate letters and the subsequent blackmail of the writer.

It is a quick and easy read, but even though it will probably make sense if you have not read the prior books, I would recommend reading them first. I have enjoyed this entire series and it is definitely worth the time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Subterranean Press for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. The opinions above are mine and mine alone. This book will be out for publication on October 31, 2024.

I was so happy to get to spend time with Mallory and Duncan again. This is a fun short Novella that lets us see Mallory spend her first Christmas season with the Gray's. It is a more laid back story since we are not dealing with murder, but blackmail. The client that they are trying to help is someone from Duncans past and it gives us a little more insight into him. I highly recommend this series. If you haven't read any of it yet you should go pick up the first book and give it a try. If you have read the other books in the series you will want to get this one to read, too.

The first book in this series, “A Rip Through Time” began in May 2019 in Scotland.

Canadian police officer Mallory Atkinson, aged 30, had traveled from Vancouver to be with her dying grandmother in Edinburgh, and took a jogging break from her hospital vigil.

In the Grassmarket, former site of executions, she was attacked by someone who showed signs of being the serial killer recently reported about in the papers. She only escaped death by somehow falling through a rip in time. She ended up in May 1869 in Victorian Scotland in the body of 19-year-old Catriona Mitchell, a maid in the house of an undertaker, Duncan Gray. Catriona had been strangled and left for dead exactly one hundred and fifty years before Mallory was strangled and left for dead in the exact same spot.

Mallory now passes as Catriona, but she has convinced Duncan, who is 31 and quite handsome, his sister Isla, and a few others, including a police detective Hugh McCreadie, that she is actually Mallory, and that Duncan can benefit from using her as an assistant in solving crimes. (To help her adjustment, they agree she should go by the name Mallory Mitchell.).

At first, Mallory wanted to get back to her own time, but she grew closer to Duncan and Isla - especially Duncan, and he grew closer to her. She also got more accustomed to life in the Victorian Age, with frequent musings about how things were that help readers understand the period better as well.

This novella takes place during Mallory’s first Christmas in the past. She discovers that Christmas isn’t observed there like it is in the future because celebrations were banned after the Scottish Protestant Reformation in 1560. As the BBC points out, “People bringing in religious changes didn't approve of all the partying and they banned or strongly discouraged feasts that were associated with Catholicism, including Christ's Mass - that is, Christmas. By 1640, an Act of Parliament had officially banned the Christmas break, so it is believed that this is what pushed all the partying and fun to New Year instead.”

Hogmanay is the Scots word for New Year's Eve. Armstrong takes the opportunity to acquaint readers with its various customs. [It has now evolved into a huge party time - four days of processions, concerts and fireworks. As Wikipedia notes, “The Edinburgh Hogmanay celebrations are among the largest in the world. Celebrations in Edinburgh in 1996–97 were recognized by the Guinness Book of Records at the world's largest New Year party, with approximately 400,000 people in attendance.”]

Gifting was deemed appropriate for Hogmanay if not Christmas, and Duncan presented Mallory and Isla with tickets to see a Charles Dickens reading, along with him and McCreadie. Mallory not only got to meet Dickens, but they also picked up a new client, Lady Inglis, for their criminal investigation work.

Lady Inglis was the lovely widow with whom Duncan had a previous relationship. She told them she was now being blackmailed after another amorous affair. She had written sexy letters to her lover and they were stolen, with the thief threatening to publish them if a sizable ransom was not paid.

Armstrong conveys a lot of interesting information about the state of knowledge in science in that era, as well as how policing was done. Working together, Mallory, Duncan, Isla and Hugh solve the crime and cement their interrelationships even further.

Evaluation: This book is very entertaining, and chock full of romance as well as suspense. Armstrong always tells a good story, and I can’t wait for the next book in the series!

This was a fun, short entry in the 'A Rip Through Time' series with Mallory spending her first Christmas in Victorian Edinburgh. Mallory and Duncan take up a blackmail case involving Duncan's ex-lover and a salacious letter. I flew through this and enjoyed its Christmas charm, as well as the lower-stakes investigation (no murders!). Fans of the series will definitely enjoy this novella. Thank you to Netgalley and Subterranean Press for a digital review copy.

Another fun installment to this series
Loved getting more of Gray's history and some Jack shenanigans are always fun
The mystery was fun and I really do enjoy these novellas

Thank you NetGalley and Subterranean Press for this early review copy.

This was a quick and fun read by one of my favorite authors! I truly enjoy this series and look forward to many more of Mallory and Duncan's adventures! This was a quick holiday novella that had a nice lighthearted crime they were trying to solve rather than their typical murder. Anyone who enjoys Kelley Armstrong's books and hasn't given this series a try yet, I highly recommend it!

Kelley Armstrong combines a mystery and a time travel aspect in a historical setting in this novella in the Rip Through Time series which fits between books three and four. If you’re in the mood for a historical mystery that doesn’t involve murder and that is set in December, then look no further than this one.

Mallory is a character with plenty of depth over the course of the series. She’s hardworking, kind, relatable, curious, impulsive, and makes for a strong female protagonist that readers can cheer on. However, she is also an independent thinker unafraid to speak her mind which isn’t normal for women in Victorian times. Her bluntness and intelligence are highlighted in this novella. Gray is passionate about his work, enthusiastic, confident, and occasionally relaxed and teasing. He is forward-thinking for Victorian times and that is the aspect of his personality that comes through in this story-line. Since this is so short, many of the regular characters only show up briefly. However, readers get more insight into Jack, who is working for Gray’s household.

I enjoy returning to these characters and the setting with each book in the series. This well-paced story is atmospheric. The world-building was wonderful and felt accurate for the times. I also enjoyed learning more about how holidays have changed over time and gained some knowledge of printing in Victorian times. The mystery was somewhat straightforward with a twist or two, but the culprit was a little too easily discerned.

Overall, this was an entertaining and engaging historical mystery with diverse characterization. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series. Understanding how Mallory gets to this time in history is explained in depth in book one so I recommend starting with it. This is one of my favorite historical mystery series.

Subterranean Press and Kelley Armstrong provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. The publication date is currently set for October 31, 2024.

This is one of my favorite series, and I couldn't be more thrilled to revisit it with some of my favorite characters! Mallory Atkinson's first Christmas in Victorian Scotland is full of charm, intrigue, and just the right amount of holiday spirit—though in true historical fashion, it's all about Hogmanay. The historical details are spot-on, and I adore the dynamic between Mallory and Dr. Gray, which just keeps getting better and better!

This novella takes place shortly after Disturbing the Dead, and it's the perfect holiday treat to tide fans over until the next full-length book. The mystery is engaging, the writing is witty, and the interplay between the characters is as delightful as ever. The appearance of Charles Dickens is a fun bonus, and the blackmail plot adds an exciting twist. Armstrong’s 1869 Edinburgh is as richly detailed as ever, and the historical accuracy makes the setting come alive.And I have to say that I absolutely love the cover—seeing Mallory in her dual roles as both herself and Catriona is a fantastic touch!

I highly recommend this to anyone who loves time travel, Victorian-era stories, and well-crafted mysteries. If you haven't read the previous books, do yourself a favor and start from the beginning—you won't be disappointed!

A very cute holiday story in the Rip through Time world. A fun mystery. I always enjoy short stories in worlds I enjoy.

I loved it! This is my favorite author! This novella feels like a full novel since it has everything It's exciting to see Mallory witnessing historical events with modern eyes and deciding what to share with Gray. This is an excellent series!

I found myself really enjoying this little Christmas/Hogmanay novella. Sometimes this series can get a bit tedious, but this one was just a fun story that moved quickly.

I love this series, I can't get enough of it or any of Kelley Armstrongs books actually.  I haven't really found any I haven't liked. Mallory is celebrating her first Christmas in Victorian Scotland. Her employer Dr. Gray has gifted her and his sister tickets to see Dickens, where not only does she get to meet a dead man, but also is asked to help discreetly find a blackmailer. 

Filled with mystery, schemes and interesting observations about the differences between modern and victorian era ideals.  I love the characters and the quirkiness of life in the Gray household. Jack the new maid wearing dresses while working and dressed as a boy to navigate the streets at night. Gray's sister who is particularly gifted with poisons and Gray who is supposed to be an undertaker but dabbles in police investigation and forensics. 

You can find a little bit of romance, a scandalous mystery and a whole lot of fun in these pages.