Full of history and detail, this book had intrigue and promise. However, there were questions remaining at the end of the story that left me looking for more.

What a fascinating, well written and macabre account of a true Victorian crime. I found it to be well researched, with excellently developed characters and an entertaining plot. I definitely recommend this read.

Number 4 Euston Square was a respectable boarding house, well-kept and hospitable until the corpse of former resident, Matilda Hacker, is uncovered by chance in the coal cellar. "Number 4, Euston Square, seemingly so prosperous, well-run and attractive, was a boarding house filled with unease; a house that was restless at night; a house with secrets, soon it would seem like some gigantic goll's house, open to examination by the entire nation."

Victorian-era London + murder + multiple admissions to Colney Hatch asylum. This is 100% the kind of book I want to have approved via Netgalley but has, sadly, not lived up to the expectations and hype I created for it in my head. I keep typing and deleting the explanation for why I'm going 3 stars because there are so many facets in McKay's work that could push it to 4 stars, but I sound mean in trying to explain them.

McKay has a sensible writing style - it isn't overwrought and isn't dry (though there are moments when the style starts to deteriorate). It is obvious that McKay is a talented writer, but the story itself and the remaining available information is scant. The lack of information is often the downfall of those of us researching this era (and earlier) and in this case, it has undermined the project. So much of what readers want to know cannot be obtained and shared and so the mystery remains unsolved. I'm grateful for the work McKay has done and this should be celebrated. I also know, from personal experience how infuriating it can be to have the answer lie a few lost documents away.

Readers should be aware that "Murder at 4, Euston Square" and "The Lady in the Cellar" are the same title.

Thank you to Netgalley for approving me for a free copy of this title in return for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book so much so that I purchased copies and gave them as presents. Based on a true story, it keeps your interest until the end and you cannot wait to find out “whodunnit”. The author has done a great job tying together the lose ends and keeping the reader intrigued to the point it makes you feel as though you are part of the story. I really enjoyed reading this book and would love to read more by this author.

Thank you to netgalley as well as the author/publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

A fascinating study of a notorious Victorian murder mystery. This true crime book gives a vivid background to a Victorian murder investigation.

An intriguing telling of a true crime. Initially, it felt like a story, but quickly lost that feel and became more like the reading of a police file. This is neither a compliment or criticism, only a description of the feel of the book’s flow.
Fans of true crime will enjoy reading it. The writing is intelligent and engaging, organized and… procedural. In all a good relating of the case. McKay relates the case and its investigation in a forthright manner, looking for explanations and answers beyond those unearthed at the time. It is well written and well-staged. A great read.

This book was a great read. It was set in the late 19th Century, the year 1879 and it is really very good. It is far fetched and a little unbelievable at times when compared to today's true crime novels but it is actually based on fact. It is slow paced but doesn't stall and really kept me interested right until the very end. The life of Londoners (where the book is set) in the 19th Century is very well portrayed and a huge amount of investigation went into the accurate portrayal of the police organisation and their methods of investigation during that era also. I found the court details and newspaper reports dating from that era absolutely fascinating and I felt they contributed hugely to the novel. All in all this was a very entertaining read. I give this book 4 stars.

I enjoyed the tone and background of 19th century London and the old timey, fun timey atmosphere but the narrative was bogged down in repetition. I was hoping for a true crime recap about the lady in the cellar, but this read more like a sociological study.

This case was indeed a crazy one. Definitely a case of truth being stranger than fiction. However, I found the storyline a bit slow and I got a little tired of all the tangents. With that said, I only gave it 3 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book, which I voluntarily chose to review.

Ok so when I read the description of this book I thought human sounds intriguing but what I didn’t realize was that it was based in real life. As I sat and read I soon came to realize this and thought well this one isn’t up my alley as I thought it was a good old mutter mystery which it is. But it’s a case study in a sense: a recreation of events to figure out The Who what and when. I’m not saying it wasn’t interesting because it was but it wasn’t for me. If you like true crime then this will be right up your alley

Thank you very much for allowing me the opportunity to read this book! I appreciate the kindness. <3

Everything a true crime investigation should be, an interesting style, well researched and funny, tragic and gothic in places. Very well done.

I enjoyed this book overall, as I usually like true crime type things. There were plenty of twists and turns to keep me guessing. I did find it somewhat hard to get into, however. I've found that the best narrative version of true crime that I've ever read was Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, as it makes you forget you're reading true story and not a novel. This book fell a little short of that and I would have liked it to be made a bit easier for the everyman to engage with and read.

As a lover of true-crime narrative non-fiction, I jumped at the chance to read The Lady in the Cellar, because what is better than true-crime? Victorian true-crime, of course. The image that I have crafted in my mind of the time-period (the grey, smoggy one) just lends itself so easily to the genre - all dark corners, shadowy alleyways, eyes always watching...
I mean, what could be better?
Living in the period must have been like constantly living in an episode of Scooby Doo. But, one in which the monsters were real and the chance of dying from a cold was astronomical.
In The Lady in the Cellar, Sinclair McKay turns his expert eye onto the case of Matilda Hacker: a rather scandalous woman (although, who wasn't in this time period?) who disappeared from the London boarding house that she was staying in, only for her skeletal remains to reappear in the house's coal cellar. What followed was an utterly beguiling investigation by Scotland Yard that completely lends itself to true-crime non-fiction: the evidence, witness accounts and the court transcripts are entertaining beyond belief and, at some points, they read more like a soap opera than something that really happened.
People do say that the truth is stranger than fiction and the murky details surrounding the death of Matilda Hacker only cement that and, despite the fact that some of the facts remain unknown to this day, the case loses none of its appeal.

Well researched and written. There is no conclusion to the murder although a couple are suggested. I especially appreciated the way Sinclair deals with some of the books he found useful and other methods of following up the book.
An enlightening and interesting read.
I was given this book by Netgalley and the publisher. This is my voluntary review.

A remarkable and grisly story of London boarding houses and the mysterious goings on that happen in them. This is a historical true crime novel featuring intriguing characters, lies and murder. The body of a woman is found in the cellar of a boarding house in a well-to do boarding house. The owners and staff have no idea who it is or how it got there, but the reader soon finds out that many secrets are hidden within the walls. McKay brings the story to life. I highly recommend this to book lovers of history and true crime.

This book was a tough read for me. The story sounded interesting because I have never heard of the case before. However, I thought that the author paid more attention to tiny and irrelevant details instead of the mystery. Still, the writing is very eloquent. I recommend this for fans of true crime and Victorian England.

This was a really mixed read. There were times were this was pure true crime and a historical non-fiction. For me, I was looking more for the pure true crime element but I still enjoyed the book. The one downside I had was due to pacing and it felt uneven in several places. It's a fascinating case but the amount of historical information was slightly overwhelming at times.

A body is found in the cellar of a house in Victorian London. McKay has done an extensive amount of research into the true case of the murder and the lawsuits that resulted from it. Beginning chapters ended with a sense of foreboding.

McKay relates many details about wallpaper, gas and oil lighting, furnishings, clothing, streets, etc. in setting a scene. Perhaps too much. The story starts to lag, as there are no interesting characters to follow. Or perhaps it is the extensive use of passive writing. "The strain upon Bastendorff, his wife Mary, his young children and his brothers was increasing by the hour. The publicity would surely only lead to any further possible tenants shunning the house. There were also crowds gathered at all hours of the day...." I understand that The Lady in the Cellar relates historical events,' but the unending use of passive and past tenses wore me out along with lengthy quotes from the trials and newspapers.

The writing was too ponderous with boring characters and overwrought descriptions for me to enjoy the book. - OR - The ponderous writing, blase characters, and flowery descriptions squashed my enjoyment of the book like a heavy OED volume ; )

A true crime novel that turned into one of the many cold crimes of the 1800's. A boarding house filled with many immigrants that move in and out quickly is the scene of the crime. A woman's body is found under the coal in the cellar. She's been there two years while life in the boarding house went on unaffected by her disappearance. Without modern forensics, even figuring out who she was is a hard task. The book covers the police investigation and the trial of a suspect that was not convicted. The crime has never been solved but that does not keep this reader from enjoying this book. The author included many of the events that happened around the crime so it's fixed in the reader's mind. The investigation and subsequent trial are a fascinating look at police procedurals in history. Both true crime and mystery readers will enjoy this book.