This one was a little bit of a slow burn, but the ending was pretty satisfying. It's almost like a cross between Agatha Christie and Downton Abbey...so Gosford Park? I would recommend it to fans of any of those three things.

This is another one of those books I am torn about. Enjoyed the writing, the mystery and the class difference but.... I was never gripped by the plot. I found it to be a bit too convoluted. Too many characters with old grudges and not always likable secondary characters (family members).

This is what a Victorian mystery should be, well done historical setting in London, interesting characters and a complex story.

RATING: 3.5 STARS
2016; Random House Publishing Group - Alibi
(Review Not on Blog)

This is Karen Odden's first novel, and my first novel by her. I really liked the way Odden describes the setting - you really get a sense of the time as much as the place. Her characterization was pretty good, although at times minor characters seemed a bit overly cliched. I liked that this historical mystery was gritty and realistic. The novel starts with a bang but is a slow burn overall. While it appears that it took me a long time to read that was more during to time and other commitments. I am looking forward to my next Odden read, which is another historical mystery set in Victorian times but is a series.

***I received an eARC from NETGALLEY***

Lady Elizabeth Fraser is on her way home, after finding her fourth season in London another disappointment, when she is involved in a train accident. As a result, she meets young doctor Paul Wilcox, who saves her mother's life and makes his way into her heart.
The train crash was no accident and Elizabeth finds herself involved in the search for the truth behind it. Perilous times are ahead, which will involve Elizabeth and Paul in danger - including Paul being arrested for manslaughter.
Time is running out, for Elizabeth to ensure justice is done.
This is a great Victorian novel, full of secrets, drama, romance and conspiracy. A fine historical read.

These two would never meet, but for the railway accident - as Elizabeth is an Earl's daughter and Paul Wilcox is a railway surgeon. But they have met and have recognized a kindred spirit in each other.
But this is not just about two young people in socially impossible situation - this is about greed, crime, murder and justice. Does Elizabeth have it in herself - to fight for the justice, to see the truth for herself and to be able to give up her life for love?

Sure she can. And while we do not expect anything else in the romance mystery novel, the execution to the solution is what matters for a reader. And this one is a solid, well-researched debut. While after reading hundreds of novels I can recognize that this novel was not written by an English writer but by an American one (the devil is hidden in the details, like a lady would never call a man by his first name so soon), I can also see a profound knowledge and a well-read writer. Ms Odden is using all the common props in the romantic literature with love, her hints and nods to the great English writers are done with deep respect and tastefully and her writing skills are good.

I would love to have more mystery than manners here (as I am a mystery lover), but on the other side I have quite enjoyed the passages with emotional and psychological deepness (like Elizabeth's relationship with her mother and the background for her mother's state).

All in all, this is a good debut novel. Fingers crossed to more of them coming!

A nice little Victorian mystery sounded right up my alley last week so I was happy to try A Lady in the Smoke by Karen Odden. The lady referenced is Lady Elizabeth who, while traveling to her country home, is involved in a terrible train crash. Injured and attempting to care for her ailing mother, Elizabeth is informally introduced to Paul, a train surgeon who has come to help the survivors. In all the bustle, Elizabeth conceals her rank and takes advantage of the chaos to do whatever she would like. With her newfound, and brief, freedom, Elizabeth chooses to help the doctor as he desperately tries to keep more people from dying and to ease the pain of as many people as he can. When Elizabeth overhears Paul talking with a friend about the suspicious nature of the train crash, she inserts herself right into the mystery, partially out of curiosity, but also because her fortune is dependent on the success of the railroad. When Elizabeth finds herself falling for Paul, she is not the least bit put off by their difference in station, but how could it ever work between them?

This book was a fun, absorbing mystery that kept my attention. Set in 1874, it is historical fiction just as I like it- the right amount of description without becoming overbearing while still making me feel like I could see the characters. Also, unlike SO many historical fiction books of late, it wasn't set during World War II, which in my opinion has been overdone. This was a quick, light read and I think you'd like it. Give it a shot and tell me what you think.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for my review. Here is that review:

I tried. I REALLY tried. And I am not sure why, but this just didn't grab me. I kept going back and reading a chapter or two but finally gave up. I don't LIKE these people, don't care about them, and, frankly never quite understood what the "big mystery" WAS!

There are so many books in my TBR pile that wasting more time on this one would be a crime in itself. I hope other people get through it and enjoy it, but I didn't do either.

Riveting characters and story. Grabs you from the first word! Hard to put down. Interesting and intriguing characters! Well done story flow! Would recommend!

I received a free copy of this novel from the publisher, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"A Lady in the Smoke" is an absorbing and entertaining historical mystery/social commentary/romance set in 1870s England. It's a time when the rules of class and society governed and restricted every movement, no matter what class you belonged to. Lady Elizabeth Fraser is fleeing rumours of financial ruin when the train she and her laudanum-dulled mother are travelling on is involved in an horrific accident. She receives minor injuries, and after being attended to by handsome and efficient Doctor Paul Wilcox, she spends the rest of the night assisting him to treat other more severely injured passengers.

Lady Elizabeth and Doctor Paul hit it off very well, but she's a Lady and he's only a surgeon, so they can never be together, and Elizabeth is in constant danger of her reputation being ruined which would render unsuitable for marriage by someone of her own class. This would consign her to the fate of living as a burden to her relatives for the rest of her life. So was life for upper class women in Victorian times.

This is a satisfyingly long novel. The author has been allowed to fully flesh out the story and characters, which drew me in and made the pages turn at a very rapid pace. I loved Elizabeth and Paul and their romance was realistic and believable. The mystery was plausible and very well thought out and I loved the picture the author painted of society at that time. I also learned a lot about the establishment of Britain's railways!

I would highly recommend this novel to anyone who likes an intelligent mystery, authentic historical fiction and a splash of believable romance, from a time when merely touching someone's hand could be more thrilling than any bodice ripping ever could be.

This was a great debut mystery set in Victorian England. Lady Elizabeth Fraser is on her way to her ancestral estate when the train she is on derails and bursts into flames. Injured herself, she drags her mother to safety and is then assisted by a young surgeon, Paul Wilcox.

When it is found that the train wreck was not an accident and the investigator mysteriously dies, Elizabeth begins an investigations that leads back to secrets within her own family. As the surgeon, Paul, is arrested for manslaughter, Elizabeth digs into a conspiracy that has lasted for years and puts her in imminent danger.

I love historical mysteries, and this was a good one! Great characters, an intriguing mystery, and plenty of action make this one not to be missed!

A train goes off the rails in 1874, and the aftermath brings together people who ordinarily would never have crossed paths. I think I expected this to be much of a muchness with other Victorian-set novels, but very quickly learned how wrong I was. From the very beginning, as the horrors of the accident are detailed, it was pretty clear that this would be blazing its own trail.

Elizabeth Fraser, fresh from her fourth disappointing London Season, has her hands full and more than full with her addicted mother, and there's another point of difference for this book. Partly to escape the oppression of looking after the woman, partly because her assistance is genuinely needed, Elizabeth lends her aid to the doctor (Paul Wilcox) who follows the casualties placed, along with her and her mother, in a boardinghouse, and then goes with him on his other calls.

That actually annoyed me a little. Whether or not Wilcox has any idea that Elizabeth is a capital-L Lady, or just a young lower-case-L lady, it seemed like a remarkably bad idea for him to allow her to go with him to the much more desperate neighborhoods he has to enter. She gets an education that night.

And, of course,she begins to fall in love with one of the more inappropriate men to cross her path.

I liked her; I liked him. I did not much care for the fact that Paul joins the ranks of Regency, Edwardian, and Victorian novel characters to have as a sidekick a young street urchin who once tried to pick his pocket. There seem to be a lot of them out there. It would be kind of nice to think that in the 1870's a young man's first impulse would be to put such a boy, caught in the act, to work – but I don't have much faith in the vision.

I'm not entirely sure the whole motivation behind the mystery – this train crash not being the first of its kind of late – is entirely logical – it seemed to me that the plot would end up costing more money than it saved or earned – but then, major conspiracies (either in theory or practice) aren't always logical. But the investigation – in which Elizabeth only takes part in ways that actually make sense, which is refreshing – <i>is</i> logical, and ties together quite nicely.

Though there were some hiccups in the writing – a bit of a tendency toward Recapitis (<I>Yes. I know. You just told me that a few pages ago</i>), a little bit of ponderousness at times – on the whole I enjoyed the plotting and the writing. The acid test for a book in a series that is new to me, by an author new to me, is whether I'll look for more – and in this case I believe I will.

The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.