I was intrigued by this because Jane Eyre is my favourite classic, and I thought it would be interesting to read a mystery about the sisters. I wasn't disappointed at all. I may have guessed what happened, but I didn't guess the little details so it felt like I was going along with the sisters while they were figuring out the mystery.
If you can't resist a historical murder mystery then this is the book for you.

I absolutely could not put this book down. It is a work of genius. My favourite novel is Wuthering Heights and I love Jane Eyre, and the author clearly has such a huge appreciation for the works of the Brontës.

Weaving fact into the fiction makes this an entirely believable story of how they all found inspiration for their novels.

It is written in dialect that feels like a novel from the time period, but that does not require the same effort to understand as that which the Brontës used.

In every single page it is clear that the author wanted to do justice to the characters and give life to three amazing women. Every chapter gave way to a new feminist ideal, pushing the boundaries of how men and women were expected to behave, but absolutely how I imagined they would be when reading their novels.

I could not pick a favourite character. Every one of them was written with such depth and consideration, and every one of them felt human.

There were no perfect characters, but many strong women and even the men were written in a way that seemed to object to toxic masculinity.

I also cannot say which part was my favourite! The whole tale was woven so precisely that I was hooked from the moment I started the first chapter.

I will say that I enjoyed most finding sections I recognised from the fiction novels the characters have written - the estate on fire and the woman in the attic, the paranormal themes, the description of the wildness of the moors.

I cannot praise this book enough. If you love the works of the Brontë sisters, please go and pick up this novel, and then hope that there will be a sequel.

The Bronte Sisters in detective mode - that was the description that drew me in right off the bat. Set in their youth when they are on the cusp of writing their books, the Bronte sisters give Poirot a run for his money. Combined with dark gothic twists, this is a funny and enjoyous caper of a book.

The premise is that a young new bride disappears from her room without a trace except for a large pool of blood in her bedroom. The amount of blood implies foul play of the worst kind and everyone is a suspect. Was it the dashing husband with a nasty temper, the governess who discovered she was missing, the housekeeper, or someone external like the gypsies camping on their lands or even a secret lover nobody knew about (gasp!)?

The author takes you through the twists and turns of the investigation but also delves into the lives of the Bronte Sisters and how living as a single woman without the freedoms we take for granted today would have been like. It felt like she did a lot of research into the family and incorporated a lot of that knowledge into the book. It makes for good reading for the most part. My only complaints were I found some of the inner monologues repetitive - the most boring bits were really hearing about Charlotte's dashed feelings, or Anne's grievances. I also found Bran's character superfluous - yes, he was their brother and it gives more insight into their family life, but I don’t think he really added anything to the story other than reinforce the "need" to have a man around for all things during that era.

Overall an interesting read - I would say it’s more a 3.5 stars out of 5, but not quite enough to be a 4.

An interesting read, a mystery story using characters from history is a novel idea and it works quite well overall. The story sometimes lags a little as you are not sure if it is a biography of the Bronte family or a true thriller. Bringing modern day moral values to highlight the prejudice of the 19th century is a well thought out subtle detail which doesn’t detract from the story.

Overall a good read and Bella Ellis should have no doubt about writing another mystery in the same vein.

I wasn't sure what to expect of this book, but I was absolutely delighted with what I found. From the beginning, this charming tale, using the real Bronte sisters, to investigate the apparent murder of a wealthy neighbour, is a joy to read. The author clearly loves the Brontes, and does a great job to depict them as three individuals, each with their distinct personalities. Having visited the parsonage at Haworth I was able to picture where the events unfolded. I highly recommend this book.

The first book in the Bronte Mysteries series. An entertaining and nicely written mystery with the Bronte sisters as self appointed 'detectors'. Certainly an engaging and imaginative read with well researched background and rounded characters. A perfect puzzle of a read for any Bronte fan.

I adored this book. It’s just wonderful.

Coleman has written a mystery packed with twists, clues and unreliable characters that romps through to a satisfying conclusion. It’s Gothic-inspired tone is articulated through dark, creepy mansions decked with haunting portraits of porcelain-skinned women. It’s the perfect book to read on a cold winter’s night.

The relationship between the Brontë siblings is one of the most delightful things about this book. Charlotte, Emily and Anne tease and support each other as only sisters can, while Branwell’s drunken inadequacy is the perfect comic foil to his sisters’ intellectual superiority.

If you’re a fan of the sisters’ writing, you’ll be thrilled with the way Coleman has woven elements of their work into The Vanished Bride. Threads of this story – wild moorlands, gypsies, violent proprietors of stately homes who lock their wives in the attic – are clearly posited as inspiration for the Brontës’ most famous novels. It’s like a literary treasure hunt to gather all of those narrative breadcrumbs while reading. Coleman also cleverly attributes traits from the novels to the sisters’ fictionalised characters, with Emily in particular embodying the passionate wildness seen so infamously in Wuthering Heights.

The Vanished Bride has something bigger to say about the importance of the Brontë sisters as staples of the literary canon and feminist pioneers. Their father continuously encourages the girls to support their brother’s potential as the sole son, and therefore future, of the family, and the social pressures that attempt to force the sisters into the moulds of wife and mother are prevalent throughout. The strength of conviction in pursuing their writing passions and shunning social norms is hugely inspiring to a modern reader. Make sure you read Coleman’s note at the end of the novel where she explains why Charlotte, Emily and Anne are so important to her as a writer and a women.

I can't wait to read the next instalment.

I was pulled to this book for two reasons. Wuthering Heights being one of my favourite books and I do love a good mystery. Set before the Brontës published their stories, this book picks up the characters of each of the sisters showing how much they were full of spiritedness and intellect. The mystery of a wife, mother and step mother missing with only a room covered in blood in its wake had me glued from the first page. I loved delving into the period and how the sister "detectors" investigated even with the odds stacked against them. The story is brilliantly written with the ending both unexpected but believable also. I didn't figure out the ending at all. A rare feat for me! Brilliant book and would happily recommend for those who enjoy a good mystery.

I absolutely loved this book. I devoured it. I thought the writing was exquisite and the storyline was well researched and fascinating. I loved everything about it and look forward to the next in the series.

The Bronte sisters are all at home for once when they find themselves being drawn into a possible murder mystery. Theres a room if blood but no body. Can they work through all the clues and hints to figure out the truth of the missing bride.

I love the Bronte sisters so was curious to see how this would be and I found myself really enjoying it, I love that it's not all fiction, many of the sections about their lives were based on facts from the time which added more to the story. The mystery itself was very clever, there were many twists and I didn't figure them all out. The story was interesting, the ending was so clever and left me wanting to see the sisters out detecting again. I found myself instantly liking Emily the most though I had expected to like Charlotte more as she was always my favourite sister. I hope for more stories of their adventures.

I enjoyed reading this book and enjoyed the connection with the Bronte family and their activities. I would definitely recommend this book to those who enjoy reading books linked to this era.

I always love stories that re-imagine famous stories or involve real people so I was very intrigued by this book and the idea of the Brontë sister’s as detectives!

Firstly the author does a great job of setting the scene so that the reader feels completely transported to the 1800s and into the Brontë’s lives. I loved the little details the author includes from how women were expected to dress and spend their time to how people expected them to behave, which I found very interesting. It made it very easy to picture the Brontë’s in that life and to warm to them as characters.

The story is told from the point of view of each of the sisters which I thought was a nice touch as it gives the reader a chance to get to know them all individually. They are three very different women who each have different skills to bring to the investigation. My favourite was Emily who often made me laugh with her witty outbursts and actions but I enjoyed learning more about each of them. The banter and arguements between them were very amusing and made them feel much more realistic. They started to feel like old friends as the story progressed and I was quite sad to finish the book and leave them behind.

The mystery part of the story was well plotted and I enjoyed watching it all develop. It’s surprisingly gripping and the sense of anticipation of what might happen had me simultaneously wanting to read on to find out what happens but also not wanting to as I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. The author has cleverly included little hints about the stories the sisters would write into the story which I thought was a nice touch and, as a huge Brontë fan, gave me great pleasure. I really hope there are more books to come.

Huge thanks to Steven Cooper from Hodder Books for my copy of this book and for inviting me onto the blog tour. If you are a fan of historical mysteries then I think you will enjoy this book.

This wonderful slice of historical mystery fiction sees the Brontë sisters as amateur 'detectors' solving their first mystery - the eponymous Vanished Bride. A young wife and mother has disappeared from her home leaving no trace except for a large amount of blood. As friends of the family's governess, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne become entangled in an intriguing mystery.

I loved it. I am a big fan of the work of the Brontës and I have read lots of books about their lives. The author of this book obviously did a great deal of research evidenced by the fact that their characters rang true. I am especially fond of Emily. The research is also woven into the story, along with lots of details which readers of their work would notice as possible inspiration for characters, plots, and places in their novels. It was very cleverly done. I would definitely read more in this series.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers, Hodder and Stoughton, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

A clever, surprising and very satisfying read. The Brontës voices rang true, and the murder mystery premise worked perfectly.

Credit where credit is due, this book had a decent plot, some great characters and characters interactions. Add with that some good humour, history, and a dash of the unexplained and you have yourself an enjoyable read.

Unfortunately this just isn’t a genre I could enjoy.
My fault, not yours 

Thanks NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for a review copy.

This is the story of the Bronte sisters, who are drawn into the mystery of a young wife and mother who vanishes from her room one night.
I enjoyed this, very much, more actually than I believed I was going to.
I was drawn into the book from the beginning, and it held my attention throughout. I liked the writing style and would definitely be interested in reading the next book in this series.
The storyline does become quite dark, with a lot of talk of physical abuse, but I did feel that there were accurate depictions based on the time that the book was set.

Great fun-a sort of 'what if?' novel which casts the Bronte sisters as amateur detectives,called in to help a friend when the mother of the children she looks after disappears without trace,leaving only a trail of blood.
The author is clearly a big fan of the Brontes and obviously knows a lot about them,as there are all sorts of references to their lives and characters which really bring the book to life.There is a lot of humour in it too,with the constant dialogue between the sisters and their reprobate brother Branwell.
The plot itself has elements of Gothic horror but also cleverly hints at things that might have inspired the plot lines of each of the sisters' novels ,although at this point we only know about their poetry.
There are going to be more books in the series,and I look forward to reading them.

Although the outcome of this story was a surprise and will keep you guessing until the end, I found the pace too slow for me. There were too many thought processes about future writings by the sisters. The dynamics of the family was portrayed well and the sensibilities of the time, particularly the role of women, were apt for this era. I received a copy and have voluntarily reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Writing under the very Brontë-esque pen name of Bella Ellis, Rowan Coleman has come up with a delicious premise for a new series featuring the Brontë sisters before they became published authors. The Vanished Bride is their first outing as detectors.

I’m always a little wary when someone reimagines or writes a mashup of a classic novel but when they’re done well, as in the case of Jo Baker’s Longbourn or Alison Case’s Nelly Dean, they can add a new dimension to the world and characters of the original, as well as being enjoyable in their own right. Happily, given how deftly she achieves both these things in the first of her Brontë Mysteries series, I can now add Bella Ellis’s The Vanished Bride to this list.

Bella Ellis writes the landscape so well and breathes life into the parsonage at Haworth that I had little difficulty in accepting her version of the sisters at work and leisure, and from there, it wasn’t too much of a leap to follow them into these new roles as detectors. I had fun spotting landmarks from their real and imagined geography and personal items I either remember reading about or having seen at the museum in Haworth. I also liked how some scenes in The Vanished Bride suggest where the inspiration for key scenes in the sisters’ own books might have come from.

I think The Vanished Bride works so well because its author doesn’t skimp on any of the elements that go to make up the story, so one doesn’t suffer at the expense of another or ever feel flimsy. Both the central mystery and the depiction of the sisters and the world they inhabit are equally satisfying and strong strands that each hold their own throughout.

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing how Bella Ellis imagines the Brontës, their household and relationships with one another, together with those around them, while also pitting myself against their formidable collective imaginations – as well as that of the author! – to try and solve the mystery before they did.

If you’re a fan of one or more of the Brontë’s books, have ever visited Haworth and the family’s former home, now a museum dedicated to them, or are familiar with the landscape surrounding it in West Yorkshire, you’ll enjoy reading this.

The Vanished Bride is a novel that’s clearly written by an author who has an abundance of love and respect for the Brontë sisters and their original works. It’s not only a fitting tribute to them but also a wonderful adventure in its own right. I read it as an ebook for review but when it came out this week, I couldn’t resist buying the beautiful hardback version for myself and a friend who’s a fellow Brontë devotee.

'The Vanished Bride' is a gem of a find for me. The Brontës were an incredible family whose legacy will deservedly live on forever. Chuck them into an interesting mystery and I was sold. I loved that the siblings were so distinct and fitted in nicely with my personal view of their characters. The speech occasionally became a little modern, but wasn't jarringly so. The nods to the Brontës' various works and inspirations were a delight to spot. A delicate touch foreshadowed the fate of the family, often bittersweet but not too sad. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.