Bridie Devine has a talent for examining corpses and furthering criminal investigations. She works for Inspector Valentine Rose when he calls on her, but unofficially, as this is London 1863. She has learnt her skills as laboratory assistant in various posts from an early age and now her objective is to fight the battle of good over evil.
Bridie and her right-hand woman, her rescued maid Cora, together-with ex-boxer Ruby Doyle who has recently made an appearance in her life, set about her latest investigation – finding a kidnapped child. The journey to discover who has abducted Christabel and where they have taken her contains many twists and turns, with more questions than answers initially, as Bridie comes face to face with ghosts from her past and Cora becomes captivated by Euryale, Queen of Snakes.
This is a book I could finish and then just re-read again and again. The historical setting feels genuine, the characters complex and varied and the complicated plot threads resolve beautifully and with ease. But it’s Jess Kidd’s delight in and skill with language and storytelling which makes reading her work such a pleasure. There is nothing here too farfetched for me, its just perfect.
With thanks to Netgalley and Canongate Books

There is no doubt that Jess Kidd is a brilliant writer and I liked this book but I did not love it like i loved the Hoarder. There were a couple of things in the book that bothered me (one of them just bothers me in general) and I got to be vague because both are spoilers. Still, if you like Victorian Gothic Type books, then this is great: witty, pacey and chilling in equal measure.

Things in Jars is populated by an outstanding cast of characters. Bridget (Bridie) Devine is fantastic. “A small, round upright woman of around thirty” she is a female detective, and I was instantly smitten with her, and I loved her bold and no-nonsense attitude. A small number of chapters are given to Bridie’s backstory, explaining how she left Ireland and eventually came to London. These chapters, though brief, give wonderful insight into her character, and show how she came to acquire her knowledge of science and medicine, as well as her earliest attempts at finding and using evidence to solve a mystery. Her role as a detective, taking on the cases that the police don’t have the time or desire to investigate, seems a natural outcome for this inquisitive child.

The mystery at the heart of the novel is a fascinating one, but one that comes as a surprise to Bridie when she is hired to investigate the disappearance of Christabel Berwick. Bridie is still reeling from what she considers to be a personal failure in her last case, and she is determined to do better here. Even for nobility – Christabel’s father is a baronet – Christabel’s childhood is a strange one, and before her kidnapping she was kept under lock and key, with very few people aware of her existence. Ostensibly, at least. Keeping a secret in a houseful of servants is nigh on impossible, and Bridie very quickly uncovers rumours as to Christabel’s unusual nature and why she was kept isolated from the rest of the house. I like that, throughout the novel, Bridie keeps an open mind. Some of the tales she is told are fantastic – in the fanciful sense of the word – and yet she is always willing to listen, despite her scepticism, seeking out the grain of truth in the tales she is told.

The Victorian era was a strange one, and Kidd has perfectly captured the juxtaposition of science and superstition of the time. The reader hears of Darwin, and witnesses the latest developments in science and medicine, and yet throughout the novel this comes up against the folkloric elements that are a trademark of Kidd’s novels. The inequalities of the time are also apparent, with her strong female cast largely ignoring what is expected of them. Bridie often masquerades as a man in trousers and whiskers to gain entry to places where women aren’t welcome, and it’s clear that women are beginning to demand more than tradition grants them.

Kidd is rapidly becoming one of my favourite authors whose work I would pick up with little knowledge of the contents. With Things in Jars, she has shown that she can turn her hand to different types of novel, yet still deliver an enchanting story in her beautiful prose. More, please.

This is the first book I have read by Jess Kidd and I loved it from start to finish. The story was fast-paced and thrilling. The character of Bridie Devine is wonderful. The writing was refreshingly original in it's use of imagery. I can't wait to read her previous books and I'm so looking forward to her future novels.

I have read both of Jess Kidd’s previous novels and I was delighted to interview her for NB issue #90 following the publication of her debut. It was this book “Himself” (2016) that I expressed a slight preference for – a novel set in 1970s Ireland which absolutely fizzled throughout although both books have been very strong. “The Hoarder” (2018) had a modern West London setting and like its predecessor combined a good mystery with vibrant language, colourful characterisation and a supernatural element.
All of these factors are present in her third novel, with its setting always of particular interest to me, Victorian England, yet it is not just for this reason that I think that Jess Kidd has written her best novel to date and all that potential she has shown up until now has come into fruition with this hugely entertaining novel.
Like all of Kidd’s main characters to date Bridie Devine can see ghosts but here it’s just one, a half-naked ex-boxer she encounters in a churchyard who remembers her from her past. This supernatural touch is something which obviously means a lot to the author and I felt in “The Hoarder” it did not work as well as it had in “Himself” but the pugilist Ruby is a great character and becomes Bridie’s sidekick on some private detective work.
A child has been kidnapped from a country house in Sussex but it is soon apparent that this is no ordinary child and a gallery of rogues, richly-drawn characterisations worthy of the best of Dickens, seem to be involved in her disappearance. Bridie enlists the help of her seven-foot maid Cora, the spectral Ruby and crossing-sweeper Jem to locate the child.
I do read quite a few of these gutsy Victorian set novels and I’m aware that when they are done well they are likely to feature in my end of year Top 10. The actual case within the novel recalled for me another female amateur detective Heloise Chancey in MJ Tjia’s series of novels but here with greater depth and the sheer vivacity of the language reminded me of Michel Faber’s “The Crimson Petal And The White” and (although set in late eighteenth century London) within its themes of “The Mermaid And Mrs Hancock” by Imogen Hermes Gower- both great favourites of mine, but this novel certainly has a life of its own.
I particularly like it when the history of a historical novel is incorporated seamlessly. Here we have the Victorian love of the unusual and freakish and the developments in medicine which attracted the honourable and the disreputable sitting beautifully in with what becomes a gripping mystery peopled with characters about whom I wanted to know so much more. I hope this novel will be the making of Jess Kidd and will get readers discovering both her other publications. The effervescence of her writing will stay with me for some time.

Oh, I like this a lot. A bit gothick, a bit magical, and a fabulous cast, including a ghost, a seven foot maid, an evil villainess, and a thoroughly nasty golden boy. The lead character, Bridie Devine is a wonderful heroine, and I enjoyed spending time with her. The writing is great, too, mellifluous, rolling, really distinct.

There are a number of worlds conjured up here - an orphanage in a windmill, a circus with delusions of grandeur, a vicar who has given up on humans - all of them could be books in their own right. It has the feel of a real world, where you catch glimpses through doorways of places we don't have time to linger in. It's really rich.

So, yes, I loved it.

What a revelation this book has been! I have already purchased several earlier novels in my enthusiasm for Jess Kidd's exquisite writing. This has more than a hint of Dicken's prose though entirely 21st century. The narrative is enthralling, magical and utterly convincing, a plot to have you rapidly turning pages and neglecting the real world. Sensitive and at times brutal this book has much to say about the nature of acceptance and the celebration of difference. I reread it as soon as i had finished it. An absolute must read.

An utterly brilliant and very unique Victorian detective novel, that i found utterly thrilling. This is the first novel i have read by Jess Kidd and i will be searching out more of her novels.
Things in Jars, has a super lead character in Bridie, who wears an ugly hat and has bright red hair and uses science and logic to solve crimes. She is a woman born before her time in Victorian England and is seen as eccentric, although the police like her to help out because of her good track record, in solving cases.
Bridie has a spirit who follows her about and helps when he can, named Ruby who is someone she knew from her past, although she has no recollection. Cora, Bridie's maid, is a seven foot tall woman who comes in handy when a bodyguard is needed.
This novel involves a missing child, who might or might not be a mermaid, a travelling circus and a very brutal figure from Bridie's childhood.
I was totally immersed in this novel, from beginning to end, and hope to see Bridie, Cora and Ruby appear in a series, with more strange mysteries to solve
Things in Jars by Jess Kidd. #ThingsInJars #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

Wow. With a unique style and a gothic sensibility this is a great introduction into a wonderful author. Spooky and dark when it needs to be with a lyrical interesting style. I can’t wait to discover more of her work...

I love this book! There, a review in four words. But I am compelled to say so much more. You can’t help gushing when a book comes out that you love can you? I miss Bridie already.

Bridie is of course the star of the show - the one tasked with finding a missing child. But this is Victorian London and Victorian times where women were not viewed as serious investigators, or serious anything. I liked Bridie as soon as I met her -and was fascinated to learn how she had come over from Ireland and was now working in this job. She’s had a hard life and is deeply regretful of an event in her past. Cora the maid is another richly drawn character

The scene setting is amazing and kudos to the author. Does she have a time machine? She’s conjured a world of dens, laboratories, villains on the streets, inhumanity and filth on every corner and the Victorian morbid fascination with death and dying.

But as the title suggests, it’s the things in jars which make up the gory heart of the novel. Anatomy collectors play a role in this story as does the idea of capturing moments and objects in time, in jars, pickled in one state for eternity. There’s the trade in walled in women, the predatory such as Mrs Bibby and wait till you see the Winter Mermaid!

Also tightly packed in these jars is a morbid fascination with gothic folklore, ghosts,Irish legends and a stench of a time long gone. Kidd’s lyrical writing is wonderful and creates atmosphere and depth. It’s cinematic, alluring and fascinating in equal measure. The characters themselves are larger than life and need to come alive on the big screen!

Anatomy collectors, gothic overtones, curiosities and more. It’s gloriously gory and deliciously dark. A feast for your reading senses.

I was lucky enough to review Jess Kidd's previous novel, The Hoarder, when it was published and reading it prompted to me to seek her debut, Himself, which I enjoyed almost as much. But this, her third novel, is simply something else again. Bridie Devine, she of the ugly bonnet and the big heart, is a Victorian detective, unafraid of living and working within the seediest parts of London and equally unafraid of its myriad dodgy citizens, the live ones as well as the dead.

When she's hired to find a stolen child, she realizes that she must succeed not only for the child, but also for herself, as her reputation has suffered somewhat from her previous case involving a child. But this stolen child is no ordinary mortal. And her kidnappers are no ordinary criminals.

Jess Kidd's language is in a class of its own. Any single paragraph of this novel is a thing of intense beauty. There's also laugh-out-loud comedy, the odd ghost or two (though not quite as many as the league of saints employed in The Hoarder!), and it's all stitched together with a perpetually shimmering thread of compassion. Definitely Kidd's finest work yet. An incredible feat of imagination, of perfectly distilled characterization and of enthralling storytelling. Absolutely superb.

My thanks to NetGalley and publishers for supplying me with a digital copy of this novel in return for an honest review.

Things in Jars in Kidd's 3rd novel. Set primarily in 1863 Victorian London, we follow Bridie Devine, flame haired detective living with her 7ft tall housekeeper Cora. Bridie is still recovering from her last case so she's surprised when she's approached to find Christabel Berwick. But Christabel is no ordinary child, she has teeth like a pike, a burning bite, attracts snails and newts and can pull the deepest of memories out of your mind. Throughout this mysterious case, Bridie is accompanied by the ghost of of a tattooed pugilist Ruby Doyle. Bridie and Doyle takes us around London trying to find Christabel and to discover who and what Christabel is.

This is my first Kidd book and at first I wasn't sure what to expect. There is such whimsy and fun in the writing at times but not too much that it was overly try hard. Once I got used to the flow and bounce of the prose I really enjoyed it. Kidd conjures up Victoria London so well, the sights, sounds and smells of city leap off the page. I loved Bridie. Smart, feisty, complex and quirky without feeling like a stereotype. We learn of Bridie's past too, how she came to possess the knowledge and skill of surgery that would see her working in the medical profession if she wasn't a woman. While there's plenty of fun in the book, Kidd also does an excellent job with the villains in this, the fear was palpable at times.

As someone who enjoys books set in the Victorian times, especially with a female protagonist, it's up there with my favourites. The supernatural, mythical element added something new and fresh. I'd love to see these characters again for another book! Charming, strange but beautiful.

I really enjoyed the majority of this book as it is filled with distinct and memorable characters. I was happy to read a book all the way through with an able, pretty female protagonist that didn't need a love interest. The author also did a very good job placing the supernatural and mythological alongside an historical type setting. My criticism is that the plot, woven for the most part through the book via the stories of Bad Dorcas, end up being rushed during the final act. There is a classic example of villain monologuing to wrap up which was somehow dissatisfying.

What a wonderful piece of storytelling is Jess Kidd’s ‘Things in Jars’. I defy any reader not to be swept along by the exertions of the fabulous child resurrectionist turned surgeon’s apprentice turned private detective that is Bridie Devine. Set in 1863, and also looking back to Bridie’s childhood in the early 1860s, this is far more than a traditional detective novel.
Jess Kidd has a brilliantly vivid way with words and an ability to make the most implausible scenarios seem absolutely real. The shyly lovelorn apparition, former boxer Ruby Doyle whose tattoos move in the most mesmerising fashion, is never far from Bridie’s side and as vociferous as she in scorning the ‘dark, overheated rooms and suggestible types’ – the popular seances of Victorian London - even though he is a bone fide ghost!
The detection begins when Bridie is employed to find a missing daughter of the most peculiar appearance. Rumours abound but it is generally agreed that she is fish-like and dangerous and clearly worth a lot of money to collectors of ‘things in jars’ and their nefarious sidekicks. In chasing after Christabel, Bridie has to confront her nemesis Gideon Eames, a man she knows from her childhood to be brutal and cruel. As Bridie follows a number of trails, Jess Kidd takes us from the home counties to London to Ireland, all the while depicting the surroundings in the most convincing of manners. Throughout the story the times are worn lightly, but so well. In London, ‘…the tenements totter and the courts and alleys run vile with vice…the slums are as they have always been: as warm and lively as a blanket of lice.’
Intricately plotted, the cast of many characters are all depicted as memorable individuals and, whether good or bad or something in between, they stay with the reader long after the last page has been read. In many respects ‘Things in Jars’ would make a gripping television drama and yet, in moving from page to screen, might some of the subtlety be lost? In novel form, the water imagery and the tales of the merrow, ‘something like a violent mermaid’ augment rather than distract from the main narrative and the mystery of Ruby’s connection with Bridie is revealed in a moving dreamlike flashback.
The novel ends on a cliff-hanger of sorts which means, I hope, that Jess Kidd is already writing her next Bridie Devine tale. Bridie is charismatic, imperfect, delightful, headstrong, funny and brave; just like the attentive Inspector Rose, I suspect that she will inspire devotion from all her readers!
My thanks to NetGalley and Canongate for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

Jess Kidd shifts direction in her 3rd novel setting it in Victorian times with its inherent brutality and inhumanity, teeming with villains, murderers, the arrogance of killing medics, and ruthless amoral gentlemen anatomy collectors, hungry for what should not be alive. There are Things in Jars, with their ability to disturb the natural order of things, life and death, ashes to ashes, time in supension, pickling yesterday, holding eternity in a jar. Into this latest historical novel, Kidd brings her trademark elements, Irish folklore, superstitions, ghosts, the eccentric, her stellar female characters, with her standout lyrical prose that enchants and enthralls. It is 1863 and London is marked by crime, disease, grime, violence, stink and penury. Addicted to smoking experimental concoctions by Prudhoe in her pipe, the red haired Bridie Devine is haunted by her inability to prevent the death of a child in her last case. With her now battered reputation, it is a surprise when Sir Edmund Berwick hires her to find his kidnapped 6 year old daughter, Christobel.

Only Christobel is no ordinary child, with extraordinary abilities, playing with memories, eyes that see too much, and pike's teeth that can wreak serious damage. This time Bridie is determined not to fail a child, aided by her magnificently gigantic maid, Cora, endowed with her thick and glossy facial hair, and the ghost of the love lorn illustrated Ruby, a prizefighter, claiming to know Bridie, although she is doubtful of this fact. In a narrative that goes back and forth in time to reveal Bridie's childhood of coming over from Ireland, collecting corpses with Gan, and her time as laboratory assistant to Dr John Eames at Albery Hall, wearing the clothes of the dead Lydia, links poke their heads from Bridie's past to trouble her in her present investigations. There are colourful characters galore, such as the predatory and sly Mrs Bibby, born for bad business, with the tooth and claws and the backbone for it, and the viciously dangerous and manipulative Gideon. In a story that takes in walled in women and children and 'the Winter Mermaid, there are gruesome murders, double dealing and avarice, and Bridie's life is endangered as a deadly foe comes back from the dead. In the meantime, Londoners cower with fear and horror as lost rivers are resurgent, battered by never ending biblical rains as the city floods.

Once again, Jess Kidd beguiles and charms with her gifts as a storyteller, her shift to the Victorian era is a sublime decision, as the era positively drips with gothic elements that serve a veritable feast for Kidd's imagination. This includes the ravens, experimental potions, the penchant for curiosities, a medical profession that is unhindered by anything remotely ethical, and the corrupt 'scientific' anatomy collectors desperate to acquire living anomalies by any means necessary and preserve them in their jars. However, it is in the mix of the fantastical, Irish folklore such as the merrow, with the everyday, and Kidd's remarkable talents in characterisation that make her novels a joy to read, and ensures that her readership will continue to grow. This is compulsive and magical reading fare, such infernally dark matter, but shot through with light by Bridie, Cora, Ruby and Inspector Valentine Rose. I cannot describe how keen I am to get my hands on the next book Kidd writes. So, what is left to say? Just the small matter of this book coming highly recommended! Many thanks to Canongate for an ARC.

I'm a huge fan of Jess Kidd's writing anyway, but in Things In Jars I think she's levelled up. This historical murder mystery casts a witty and observant eye on human interactions and the melting pot of London, and I have found a new hero in Bridie Divine and, god help us, a new literary crush in Ruby Doyle. The vivid descriptions, mysterious plot and lightness of touch combining humour, pragmatism, mythology and tension are all perfectly balanced - there is no clear-cut good or bad, everyone drifts around the fringes of morality, and the reader is slowly drawn to the realisation that Christabel is neither good nor evil, she just is.
Bridie Devine, Cora Butter and the whole cast are characters I hope will be appearing again (sequel, PLEASE).

I haven’t read any Jess Kidd books before and I was blown away by this one, a Victorian murder mystery, Gothic novel with a magical element. Reminded me of Sarah Waters, Laura Carlin and Kate Morton. This was a really easy first choice for me, and stood head and shoulders above the rest of the titles I had. The story is essentially the hunt for a missing child in Victorian London. 6 year old Christabel who reportedly has supernatural powers and unusual physical characteristics. You get a real taste of the whole fascination with “freaks” in this novel as Christabel becomes a desirable commodity. The main character Bridie is just a pleasure to read about! She’s fierce, fiery and non-nonsense, but can also see ghosts and she is on the case to find Christabel. In fact all the characters are unique and well-written. Some beautiful imagery of London here and very poetic prose. Just a joy of a book.

Another cracker from Jess Kidd. I thoroughly enjoyed this one too. Great lead character for her time. This book is weird and wonderful, horrific in parts and heartwarming in others. I highly recommend this book. I am already excited to read Jess Kidd's new book!!!

Things in Jars Jess Kidd 5 stars
A beautiful, strange and wonderful masterpiece.
The plot

London, 1863. Bridie Devine, the finest female detective of her age, is taking on her toughest case yet. Reeling from her last job and with her reputation in tatters, a remarkable puzzle has come her way. Christabel Berwick has been kidnapped. But Christabel is no ordinary child. She is not supposed to exist.

As Bridie fights to recover the stolen child she enters a world of fanatical anatomists, crooked surgeons and mercenary showmen. Anomalies are in fashion, curiosities are the thing, and fortunes are won and lost in the name of entertainment. The public love a spectacle and Christabel may well prove the most remarkable spectacle London has ever seen.

Things in Jars is an enchanting Victorian detective novel that explores what it is to be human in inhumane times.

My Review
I had not encountered Jess Kidd’s books until I was gifted a copy of Things in Jars by Net Galley and Canongate in return for a fair and honest review.
I was hooked from the first chapter and her writing and imagination is so unique and like nothing I had read before.
Bridie Devine the Victorian female detective who is the central character in the book is wonderful and a real tour de force. Bridie who has had a colourful upbringing herself has to revisit her own complex past in order to recover the lost child who is not even supposed to exist.
Jess has written some really hideous characters in this book and this makes the plot all the more exciting as you never know what is coming next. I normally read quickly but with this book there was so much to absorb I wanted to read it slowly to make sure I did not miss anything.
I loved the relationship between Ruby and Bridie which like most of the book is unexpected and beautiful. If you love the unexpected and unusual you will not be disappointed with this work of art.
I absolutely loved it I didn’t want it to end and I hope Bridie Devine will return.

T hings in Jars is a fantastic gothic novel, rich with vivid description, especially of Victorian London which is perfectly captured and comes alive in all its foggy glory. You almost feel as though you're there yourself, walking along with Bridie just as Ruby does. The characterisation is excellent with every character being well developed, even the fringe ones; I fell in love with the scrappy and ever resourceful Bridie and would happily read more stories that feature her. Cora, the seven-foot, bearded maid is genius and Ruby makes a very sweet sidekick; the various villains are inspired too. The story itself is a page-turner carried along by the beautifully atmospheric prose that fills every page; a must-read for anyone that loves historical fiction with a touch of the supernatural. I highly recommend!