I haven’t come across this author before, but I thought the blurb for Daughters of Night sounded interesting. The narration throughout is excellent; with different character voices it’s easy to know who’s who. The story is essentially a murder mystery. A young woman is found dead in Vauxhall Park, an area of ill repute. It turns out that there’s more to her than meets the eye but the Bow Street runners aren’t really interested in investigating the death. A well to do friend, with secrets of her own, is determined to get to the truth.

There’s a huge cast of characters, all very different and the author really brings the people to life. The settings vary and the contrast between rich and poor is really well depicted. I felt a really strong sense of poverty, dirt and deprivation in some of the scenes and these differed from the wealth and luxury of others. I sense that the background research is extensive and thorough and there are numerous references to classical figures in art and sculpture. These are interesting and help establish the scenes where the titled and better off are involved.

The plotting is skilled and there are twists and turns to the story; the subplots around a couple of the central characters are intriguing and held my interest. Overall, it’s an engaging tale, but somehow it didn’t quite keep me gripped. I can’t understand why as it’s so well written, but I started to lose interest. It’s probably a 7/10 so I’ll give it a generous 4 stars.

This novel is a well researched, historical murder mystery from the author of Blood and Sugar. Set in London in 1782, Caro Corsham finds the body of her friend Lucia. The police are not interested in solving the murder after it is revealed Lucia is actually a prostitute called Lucy Lawless, so Caro employs Peregrine Child to help her. Caro is more involved in the situation than originally thought and feels a sense of responsibility to her friend.
The story moves at a fast pace and there are plenty of plot twists to keep the reader guessing. I thought the narrator was excellent and added a real sense of mystery to the story.