I really tried to like this book, but for whatever reason, it was a bit of a drag to finish up to review.
the characters were adequate, the plot was a bit predictable, but still, not badly handled. It was just...adequate. Which is fine for a book, but I wish it had a little more...

*Actual rating: 2.5/5*

I love a good murder mystery, and even better if it's a historical one. Sadly, Miss Aldridge Regrets didn't quite hit the mark for me. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad book, but it just felt very bland, repetitive and generally quite boring.

I did like the historical context, which felt very well done and detailed, and I particularly appreciated the introduction of the racial aspect and reflections on Lena's passing as white, as well as discussions around class differences. I also enjoyed some of the relationships that developed between different characters, which added something of interest to what would have otherwise been a fairly bland read.

Most of the story takes place on board the Queen Mary on the journey towards the USA, with occasional flashbacks to Lena's life in London and excerpts from the killer's diary. That being said, the characters mostly just go about their business, occasionally interrupted by a murder. They seemed to be just drifting along, with no sleuthing of any kind, and Lena felt especially passive, letting things just sort of happen to her, even despite being a murder suspect at one point.

By the time I got to the ending, I just didn't care about any of it anymore, and the final reveal did nothing to improve my feelings towards this. So, this one just didn't quite work for me, leaving me unsatisfied and bored, and I don't think I'll pick up the next books in the series.

Miss Aldridge Regrets is a great murder mystery set on board the Queen Mary en route to New York in the 1930’s. And boy, does Miss Aldridge have some regrets!

When a man claiming to be the fixer for a man that her father used to work with in New York appears and offers her the Broadway role of a lifetime, Lena Aldridge can’t refuse. Especially as the husband of her best friend has died in rather unusual circumstances and she could easily be dragged into the aftermath.

Whilst on board the Queen Mary, Lena meets the Abernathy’s, a very wealthy American family. But all is not as it seems, and soon murder is committed on board, and Lena is left thinking that she is in danger too.

This is a novel dripping in glamour, and Lena isn’t always comfortable with that. She comes from a very different background. Everyone seems to be very accepting of her and her ‘Italian’ looks, but if the truth comes out to the Americans, her standing could be changed in an instant.

This was fast paced, and left me guessing up to the last page. The book ends with Lena in New York, so I’m looking forward to the next book to see just what she gets up to, and whether she will actually return to England.

This was a very interesting book. I had no idea what to expect at all.

Lena is a mixed-race singer working in the back streets of Soho in a dodgy club. The history of how she happened to be there is an interesting back story and builds the colour and intrigue of what happens next.

She is then offered a job in New York with a friend of her father's and offered a trip of a lifetime via the Queen Mary, She becomes a person she could only dream of from her time in Soho to meet people she had no idea about... and then become a suspect in murder.

The way this story develops, along with the back story in London, is fascinating, and an interesting take on what you expect to be only about high class society.

It is clearly heavily influenced by Agatha Christie, as noted by Lena's reading and comments on the events as they happen.

I would recommend that people try this as the ending has such a twist, my mouth was wide open!

This book has been archived and I read the book over a year ago so I believe any review I submit now will not be helpful. Thank you for the opportunity and I will continue to support the author's work.

Unfortunately I have struggled with this book and it has taken a few attempts to complete. I found the pace to be rather slow which made connecting with the characters difficult.

Miss Aldridge Regrets is the captivating and brilliant novel from acclaimed author Louise Hare. Set in the 1930s in London, the novel follows Lena Aldridge, an aspiring theatre actress stuck singing in a Soho basement club, and her tumultuous journey that starts with an unexpected opportunity for a first-class ticket to New York. As she leaves her native England, little does she know that murder is soon to follow, and that the game is just beginning.

Hare manages to brilliantly bring alive pre-WWII politics and themes of class and race, making the novel all the more enthralling. Lena is a fully realized character and the supporting cast only enhances her story. Each scene and setting, from the Soho club to the staterooms of the Queen Mary, is described with skill and attention to detail.

Miss Aldridge Regrets is an elegant and intense murder mystery that keeps readers guessing. There are twists and turns throughout and, in the end, it will leave readers wondering about their own potential to follow their dreams and take risks in the face of fear. An impressive debut, Louise Hare has made an unforgettable mark in the literary world with this novel.

My review:⭐⭐⭐⭐

Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare is a cosy crime set in 1936 with characters going from London to New York on a ship!

It was a good story, and made the time come alive! 

I enjoyed the storyline, the murder mystery, and I was kept guessing the whole way, which is always a good sign to me!

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to HQ.

The glittering RMS Queen Mary. A nightclub singer on the run. An aristocratic family with secrets worth killing for.

London, 1936. Lena Aldridge wonders if life has passed her by. The dazzling theatre career she hoped for hasn't worked out. Instead, she's stuck singing in a sticky-floored basement club in Soho, and her married lover has just left her. But Lena has always had a complicated life, one shrouded in mystery as a mixed-race girl passing for white in a city unforgiving of her true racial heritage.

I tried but I couldn't get into this one so it became a DNF for me. Very much a case of me not it I think but the writing style just didn't work for me for some reason, I found it hard to engage with, which meant I had no real connection to the characters either.

Following a murder at the club where she was making a precarious living as a singer, Lena Aldridge decides to bid London goodbye and travel to New York to take up a promised job on Broadway. The fact that she isn’t really sure who has made the promise is a bit of an issue, but she’s so desperate to get away and have a fresh start that she doesn’t let it worry her. Once at sea on the Queen Mary and bound for the United States, Lena briefly feels a sense of peace, although a shocking murder and the possibility that she might be considered a suspect in the killing mean that it is going to be a far from uneventful journey.

Miss Aldridge Regrets is a murder mystery with a classic feel, although it does tackle weighty issues such as racism, classism, sexism and other pre-World War Two issues that were often glossed over in crime fiction from the golden age. The locked room aspect of the murder and the setting aboard the Queen Mary are both very interesting and enhance the plot, but it disappointing just how little investigating Lena Aldridge attempted herself. The story shines an unflinching light on an intriguing period of time and presents a perplexing mystery for readers to unravel.

When Lena Aldridge is offered a job on Broadway, she jumps at the chance to escape to New York, even though she knows nothing of the impresario who’s paid for her crossing. But as she becomes embroiled in a murder case, she starts to suspect that all is not as it seems. Why was the mysterious Mr Walker so keen for her to be on the sailing?

Miss Aldridge Regrets is a delightful read. Set in the 1930s, with a large cast of interesting characters, a smattering of snobbery and racial tensions, and a plot that keeps you interested to the end. There’s more than a hint of Agatha Christie at times, but that just adds to the enjoyment.

Great story,

It's 1936 and singer Lena Aldridge leaves London on the Queen Mary cruise ship bound for New York and a role on Broadway.
I love historical crime novels, and this ticked all the boxes for me. I loved the interwar setting, and the author conveys a real sense of time and place. I enjoyed the plot and felt the characterisation was excellent. My only criticism is that it was a little slow paced and it did take me a while to get into the novel, but overall, it was a compelling read.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

Thank you to @hqstories for letting me be a part of this blog tour. This is the first ‘who done it’ book I’ve read for a while and I really enjoyed it. I liked the historical genre, with the feel of the characters, the setting and the attitudes of the key players. The story worked it’s way seamlessly through the present and the past which added layers to Lena and what was happening to her and around her and it really did have me wondering until the very end. The chapters were short as well which just added to the feeling of wanting to read on! If you love a bit of a mystery along with historical fiction, this one is for you.

Thank you to NetGalley for this copy. This is a really good book, kept me entertained throughout and I would thoroughly recommend to all.

This was book was really great!! I enjoyed it a lot, loved the characters and the world building. The cover is also so lovely. This was a book full of mystery and intrigue.

I love locked-room mysteries, and this was a fun read. The topic of passing was well handled and thought provoking as well.

It took me a little while to be fully immersed in the story but I really enjoyed the lavish ship setting - it would make for a great film!

It took a long time for me to even get to 10% into this novel. The pace was too slow for my liking and although I gave it many chances, unfortunately it isn’t for me. Still grateful to @netgalley for the advanced copy.

(Content warnings: murder, racism, classism, sexual assault, death of parent (pre-events of the book, but heavily discussed))

This book was kind of a mess. The premise and setting were so promising, but jeez, the execution's ROUGH.

Let's start with the good stuff: the way the race and class dynamics were handled was one of the few genuinely compelling parts of the book, and the romance was quite sweet and well-paced - a welcome respite from the frustrating wreck that was the main plot. As for everything else...

The supportive cast feels flat and uninteresting, and the main character, Lena, feels like a passive participant in her own story - she seems to hardly make any decisions at all, the plot sort of just happens to her. Most of my issues, though, have to do with the murder mystery plot. So this is a murder mystery, right? It's marketed as a murder mystery. So, naturally, you'd expect the main character to maybe try to figure out the murder mystery at some point. Wrong! Lena at no point tries to solve the murder. She doesn't take initiative, doesn't do any sort of investigating, snooping, even thinking about it that hard. Despite being one of the main suspects. (The one time she does go sleuthing in someone else's cabin, literally nothing comes of it, and it ends up completely pointless.) Furthermore: there is a surprising lack of tension in the story, considering the murderer on the loose and all, and the book's slow pace certainly doesn't help with that. The weird interludes from the murderer's POV - essentially Villain Monologues™️ - feel unnecessary, taking away suspense instead of building it up. Seriously! There were multiple points in the book where i went "oh, that would've been an actually cool plot twist, if we WEREN'T LITERALLY TOLD ABOUT IT BY THE MURDERER IN ADVANCE. why?!" I'm honestly still SO baffled by this choice. It'd take some seriously good writing and editing to pull off intertwining the main narrative with long flashbacks and the antagonist POV interludes without making it feel disjointed, and this book just doesn't manage it. I hoped the reveal of the murderer would redeem the book a bit, but oof, nope. It's.... not great, either. I can't really get into it without spoilers, the antagonist motivations feel flimsy, and it required more suspension of disbelief that I was willing to give. Overall, it leaves much to be desired, I think. 😔

(Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!)