Anyone who enjoyed Bridget Walsh’s first Variety Palace Mystery, The Tumbling Girl, will want to return to Victorian England for the second historical mystery, The Innocents. Readers really should pick up the first book before this one, though, with the return of so many of the same characters who are still dealing with the aftereffects of murder.
Although Albert Easterbrook asked Minnie Ward to be his partner as a consulting detective, she has too much on her hands. She’s managing the Variety Palace music hall, struggling with debt, while coping with her fears. Ever since her best friend was killed, and she faced down a killer, she’s scared. She tells Albert she doesn’t have tine, but nine months after the murders, she’s still frightened when someone accosts her on the street.
But, Minnie is at Albert’s home when a client insists she wants a woman’s help. Judge Eddings died of asphyxiation in a trunk in his house, and his widow insists he was murdered. Suddenly, Minnie is thrust back in the world of investigation. Eddings’ business partner is also dead. The brother of an actor at the Variety is missing. There’s a missing monkey at the Variety as well. Despite threats, Minnie has no choice but to join Albert in his search for answers. It takes a while, though, for them to realize the current deaths in 1877 all have a connection to a tragedy at another music hall in 1863 when almost two thousand children attended a holiday pantomime, and 183 children died.
The Innocents and The Tumbling Girl are unusual Victorian mysteries. I can’t think of another series that takes readers behind the scenes at music halls, and introduces readers to working class characters. Most Victorian mysteries deal with members of the upper class, members of society. Walsh skillfully introduces readers to another world that is usually forgotten. The Innocents manages to succeed as a historical mystery with a little humor and a great deal of the grit and grime of working life in Victorian England.
Bridget Walsh’s website is https://bridgetwalsh.co.uk/
The Innocents by Bridget Walsh. Gallic Books, 2024. ISBN 9781913547523 (paperback), 296p.
FTC Full Disclosure – The publicist sent an ARC, with no promise I would review the book.
