Review: A Murderous Malady by Christine Trent

For fans of Charles Todd and Deanna Raybourn comes Christine Trent’s second Florence Nightingale mystery.

 Cholera has broken out in London, but Florence Nightingale has bigger problems when people begin dying of a far more intentional cause—murder.

The London summer of 1854 is drawing to a close when a deadly outbreak of cholera grips the city. Florence Nightingale is back on the scene marshaling her nurses to help treat countless suffering patients at Middlesex Hospital as the disease tears through the Soho slums. But beyond the dangers of the disease, something even more evil is seeping through the ailing streets of London. 

It begins with an attack on the carriage of Florence’s friend, Elizabeth Herbert, wife to Secretary at War Sidney Herbert. Florence survives, but her coachman does not. Within hours, Sidney’s valet stumbles into the hospital, mutters a few cryptic words about the attack, and promptly dies from cholera. Frantic that an assassin is stalking his wife, Sidney enlists Florence’s help, who accepts but has little to go on save for the valet’s last words and a curious set of dice in his jacket pocket. Soon, the suspects are piling up faster than cholera victims, as there seems to be no end to the number of people who bear a grudge against the Herbert household.

 Now, Florence is in a race against time—not only to save the victims of a lethal disease but to foil a murderer with a disturbingly sinister goal—in A Murderous Malady.

Publication Date: May 7, 2019

Crooked Lane Books

Hardcover & eBook; 336 Pages

Genre: Historical Mystery

***

A Murderous Malady is the second book in the A Florence Nightingale Series, it definitely works fine as a stand-alone.

With so many contemporary mystery’s out there it’s a treat to read a historical one for a change.  Though I am not overly familiar with the life of Florence Nightingale I enjoyed her portrayal here. With the story equally divided between the mystery and the cholera epidemic/hospital duties it was easy to get a feel for her talents.

A Murderous Malady was an interesting story, tagging along beside Florence (and Mary, I really like Mary) as she dawned her sleuth hat unraveling clues. There were times it was a little slow but all in all I was kept guessing and ultimately enjoyed a satisfying ending.

My thanks to Amy from HFVBT and the publisher (via Netgalley) for an advanced copy in exchange for honest review.

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Christine Trent is the author of the Florence Nightingale Mysteries, the Lady of Ashes historical mystery series, about a Victorian-era undertaker, and three other historical novels. Christine’s novels have been translated into Turkish, Polish, and Czech. She writes from her two-story home library, where she lives with her husband, four precocious cats, a large doll collection, entirely too many fountain pens, and over 4,000 catalogued books.

 Learn more about Christine at www.christinetrent.com.

You can also follow her on Facebook and Goodreads.