A brilliant murder mystery with shades of Agatha Christie and The Great Gatsby. I loved the colourful characters and the brilliantly descriptive writing aboard the RMS Queen Mary. Lena was a great main character- naïve and trusting she nevertheless fights against adversity amongst constant racism and sexism in the 1930’s. With the story switching between Soho in the week leading up to Lena leaving the UK, and life aboard the RMS Queen Mary, we learn more about Lena, her friendships and reasons for her character. This is a glamorous and fun read.

I really enjoyed this novel. Great characterization and the description of the setting was highly enjoyable. Set in the 1930's The story is a highly readable tale of the main character. Lena, being offered a theatre role in the US and traveling out there first class, on board the Queen Mary. We learn more about her and her past as we read and get a really well rounded picture of who she is. This story is wrapped around a kind of locked room murder mystery that Lena becomes involved in and a larger mystery that starts at the beginning of the book. A very readable novel and one that I enjoyed. I've heard lots of good things about the author's previous book so will now look into that too.

Very entertaining, very enjoyable, although between you and me I couldn't keep up with the amount of gin. And I tried.

Well, I never worked out who did it, or how it all pieced together, until the end. A stunningly descriptive story set in the 1930s. I felt that I was there with the main character, sharing cocktails and clothing. A tale of society classes, racial tension and powerful families.

Louise Hare strikes again! Miss Alridge Regrets is a gorgeous story, gripping and satisfying with a main characters that I loved: confident yet humble, courageous, willing to learn from her mistakes while trying to see the bright side of life.

Lena wants a shoot to stardom. And when an unexpected contract falls into her lap, she decided to go for it, despite taking her far way from everything she knows. Embarking for New York on a swanky "boat" seems just the start of what's to come, but when bodies start to pile up, it's clear that something is very wrong, and that that dazzling career may be just a chimera.

Alongside Lena, Hare takes us on a tour the force of the seediness of London and in particular of Soho with it's shady bars and illegal activities, to the opulence of crossing the Atlantic in style and glimpses of New York in the '30s. But this is not all, I find Hare has a great insight into human relationships, and in particular into inter-racial dynamics. This are gorgeously interwoven in the narrative, adding depth to the story but also bring in some much needed realism. But ultimately this is a historical murder mystery that is well done. Little clues are dropped from time to time, enough to keep me entertained. It did lead me to the suspect earlier than the final reveal, but it didn't affect my enjoyment in the least.

All in all a very enjoyable novel and I am really looking forward to the next book penned by Louise Hare

I enjoy murder mysteries and I especially enjoy novels set on ships, so bring the two together and it should be right up my street. I liked a lot about this novel: the story kept me guessing, I thought having a mystery pov was fantastic, and the plot was cleverly woven. I liked Lena as a character and I also liked that a lot of the other characters were rounded out - they weren't just straight up nasty or straight up nice, or too caricatured, which made for a deeper story.

Sadly the ending let it down for me. I felt it was a little farfetched, I couldn't entirely believe in it and everything seemed to be a bit too tangled. Having said that I did enjoy the book as a whole and I recommend it to mystery fans.

I'd like to thank the publishers, HQ, and Netgalley for kindly providing me with an advance release copy, I really appreciate it.

Im new to this author and enjoyed this one overall although I did find it a little long winded.

Set in the 1930s, its the story of Lena Alridge, a mixed race Jazz singer in her 20s working in a seedy little club in Soho London.

When a surprise opportunity of starring in a musical on Broadway arises she jumps at the chance and is whisked away first class on a cruise liner bound for New York,
The vast bulk of the story takes place on the cruise liner as Lena gets involved with a very rich family and secrets are revealed as well as murders!

This one was enjoyable overall. I suppose its a murder mystery and it did have the feel of an Agatha Christie novel at times but I saw it more as a social commentary piece and the prejudice of not only race but also class and indeed sex.
Its also a book about self discovery and its all wrapped up in this murder mystery format which is quite a lot to take in.

It did fall apart a bit towards the end and I did find it a little too long but I enjoyed it overall and the author certainly captured the atmosphere of the era and presented some fairly well rounded characters. One of the main messages I took form the book is that everything isnt black and white(ironic given the subject matter). The characters that we root for all have their own baggage and there arent your traditional goodies and baddies on show here.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC through Netgalley.

Lena Aldridge really doesn't want to be in London. Her father is dead, she's lost her job, and things have taken a turn for the unpleasant.

So when Charlie Bacon, representing an old friend of her father's, summons her to New York with the promise of starring in a Broadway show, it's the answer to her prayers.

Or is it?

Lena sails on the Queen Mary, and falls in with a family at odds with each other.

But not everyone leaving England will arrive safely on the other side.....

Miss Aldridge Regrets is a richly evocative and compelling murder mystery. Steeped in illicit plots, seedy clubs and magnificent ocean liners, there is glamour and intrigue every step of the way.

On her final night on stage at the Canary Club, Lena Aldridge witnesses her boss Tommy's murder.

Given an opportunity to good to turn down, Lena sets off on the Queen Mary the next day, bound for New York. First class cabin, and luxury like she's never known, this seems like the beginning of her dream come true.

But it is soon to turn to a nightmare of murder, paranoia and fear.

Who is murdering members of the same family? Why does it feel like Lena is being framed? And who does the murdered have their sights set on next?

Brilliantly crafted and utterly enthralling, this is an epic read worthy of comparison to Agatha Christie.

If you enjoy books full of mystery and suspense then this book is for you. I felt for Lena, it seemed everything was going wrong for her, until she met Charlie. Embarking on her journey across the Atlantic Ocean to America, I was so excited for her, until things started to go wrong and passengers died. I kept guessing, incorrectly, who was the culprit and I was totally shocked when I found out ‘who done it’. I loved the 1930’s feel to the book, full of glamour and elegance.

I'm sorry to report that I didn't enjoy this one very much at all. The story itself was lacked lustre or intrigue, which I had expected for a whodunnit set in the 30's on a cruise liner. The Abernathy family characters were very one dimensional and I struggled to stay connected enough to even tell some of them apart. The book felt very disjointed and it was a tedious read. However I see some good reviews of this one out there so obviously just wasn't for me. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

As twisty as an Agatha Christie. Lena Aldridge is a singer. She thinks she's on the Queen Mary to New York to become a Broadway star, but someone else aboard has other ideas. As the crossing progresses, what Miss Aldridge regrets is setting foot on board ship. An engaging murder mystery with a plethora of suspects.

A throwback to the 1930’s . From smoky basement night clubs in Soho to the big ocean liners heading to New York, Miss Aldridge Regrets is basically a whoduniti in the classic style of authors like Agatha Christie and Dorothy L Sayers.
I really enjoyed it. Lena, our heroine. is a likeable character and I was hoping she would find success and happiness, as well as discovering who was killing a number of people around her.
I read Louise Hare’s first book a couple of years ago .it is set in 1960s London and I can see that she is going to be a reliable voice in historic . Fiction. I like the fact that she does not shy away from reflecting on racism, sexism and class. .I will definitely read her next book and look forward to where she goes next.
Thank you to the author, her publishers and @NetGalley for the opportunity to read #MissAldrigeRegrets

This was my first book by this author and I thought it overlong and a bit repetitive. A well written and well thought out plot though. With thanks to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for an e-ARC to read and review.

Miss Aldridge Regrets opens with a murder and the reader is immediately drawn into the seedy world of 1930s London. Louise Hare has a real talent for depositing the reader into the harsh realities of the time, rather than the somewhat rose tinted view we often have of the past. The contrast between the seedy Soho club and the sophisticated and rarified climate of the ocean liner couldn’t be more marked and yet Hare expertly manages to convey that beneath the surface, the humans who inhabit them are cut from the same cloth. The sophistication is only skin deep and the rich and poor are separated only by money. Take that away and at heart they are the same, with the same worries, fears and frailties.

Lena Aldridge is flawed and very human. She hasn’t had an easy life, but as the characters go she seems relatively harmless and the reader watches with dismay as she is drawn into first one plot and then another and it is a shock to discover that someone has it in for her. I worked out fairly early on who the mystery narrator was, but the ‘why’ was a masterstroke of plotting. The addition of these sections with the unidentified narrator works incredibly well to add to the tension as it builds steadily towards the climax and each addition ratchets the suspense up a notch.

It's a cutthroat world and Lena must learn how to adapt to it, if she is to survive.

If, like me, you read This Lovely City and loved it, then this is definitely a book for you. This is a brilliant follow up to an outstanding debut.

"I had hope for five days of peace while we saiked to New York but disaster had boarded with me in Southampton. Disaster, and a murderer. But who?... I'd thought it would be safe across an ocean; it hadn't occurred to me that whatever malevolent influence had upended our lives in London would follow me into the Queen Mary."

In 1936, from Soho, London, twenty-six year old nightclub singer, Lena Aldridge finds herself on board the recently launched Queen Mary ocean liner, bound for New York and Broadway. She leaves behind a complicated life, including the murder of her boss, who was also her best friend's husband and the death of her beloved father, Archie. Lena (who passes as white, Archie was black) has never known her mother and she dreams of the stardom and financial security, promised her by a friend of her late father. There she meets the wealthy, privileged and dysfunctional Abernathy family, whose support Lena is told she needs, for Broadway. When the elderly head of the Abernathy family is poisoned at dinner and dies in front of them, Lena worries about who she has got herself caught up with. This is all the more disturbing because her boss was poisoned in the same way, just a week before. Trapped on this luxurious ship for five days with people Lena barely knows, a lot can happen.

The glamorous and luxurious setting of the transatlantic Queen Mary between the world wars is atmospheric and escapist with a little romance. Lena is a wonderfully real protagonist, trying to make her way in this racist and classist society, with her dignity. The narrative switches between Soho, the week leading up to her boss's death, now on the Queen Mary and a mysterious person, who is only identified at the end. I struggled a little with the motivation of the killer, but enjoyed this glamorous historic mystery.

Miss Aldridge Regrets is a crime whodunnit set in the mid-1930s on the Queen Mary ocean liner sailing to New York from the UK. Lena Aldridge, a young woman living in London, finds herself not only alone following the death of her beloved father, but also soon to be homeless and caught up in a murder at her workplace, and so grabs at a chance opportunity to star on Broadway, offered by a mysterious character claiming to have connections to her father. However, it’s not all smooth sailing once Lena steps on the ship, as she meets the Parker and Abernethy families, plus their staff, related but seemingly not all on friendly terms. And then one of them is murdered… Can Lena work out what’s going on before people start to wonder if it might be her that links the murders together?

This was an enjoyable read that I got through fairly quickly over the course of a few evenings. The characters on the ship are familiar to the genre – the waspish wife, the philandering husband, the decrepit and wealthy old man, the doting carer etc. but they are not too caricatured to be unbelievable. The descriptions of the ship, both above and below deck, were fantastic and I could easily imagine the various settings. I also particularly enjoyed the dual timeline aspect, with the novel returning to Lena’s life in London in the weeks and months before she boarded the ship.

What takes this novel to the next level, however, is that Lena is a young mixed race woman. Lena’s quest for stardom is given a whole new aspect because of this, given the time when the novel is set. The reader is given access to her thoughts, and the advice of others, as to who she can trust to know her true heritage or whether to continue to ‘pass’ as white to ensure that the doors to Broadway and the pockets of potential wealthy investors remain open to her. An interesting, thought-provoking and important storyline that doesn’t shy away from the attitudes and politics in the UK and the US at the time the novel is set.

If nit-picking, I would have to say that the cover and strapline of the book make it seem that Lena is going to be doing more performing on the ship than she actually does – she gives just the one impromptu performance on board. I’m also uncertain to what the title of the novel refers. I suspect it’s a play on words, similar to those of a reply to an invitation or a failed appearance, perhaps, but what does Lena regret exactly? We’re not really told. The untimely death of her father, maybe, or ever boarding the ship, meeting the Parkers and Abernethys etc. I’m still not sure.

Overall, an entertaining murder mystery, with more besides. I think this book will be great for book groups, as there is a lot to discuss alongside the whodunnit aspect. Finally, I can honestly say I had no real firm conviction of who the murderer was until it was revealed, and my suspicions throughout the novel were as free flowing as the cocktails drunk aboard the ship!

Many thanks to the publishers, HQ, and to NetGalley for the advance copy on which this review is based.

The perfect murder mystery. Fabulous setting and the plot was very well thought out. Lovely characters. Definitely wanted to be on the cruise ship and to help in solving the murder!

This book has really surprised me! It describes itself as a murder mystery type read, so I don’t know why I just wasn’t expecting any murders…?? That’s so stupid but when someone died I was like omg murder yes just what I need. I didn’t know it was coming lol how silly

So basically a lovely little murder obviously made this book at least 50% satisfying regardless of what else happened!

And I really enjoyed everything else - Lena still seemed so cool with these murders happening and how she’d just upped her whole life to move to a different country pretty much overnight.

I loved the other characters too and how little things tied together by the end - though I did predict a couple of things, I was still surprised by other bits!

And multiple timelines!! Switching between the lead up to Lena going to America and her own the ship. I always love this so am happy

A thoroughly enjoyable, intriguing, mystery read set amongst the first class at sea in the 1930s

The author previous novel This Lovely City was one of my top reads of lockdown, so was delighted to be given a chance to read a ARC of Miss Aldridge Regrets from Netgalley and HQ Stories in exchange for a fair and honest review.

First off the cover was lovely, I’d love to see this printed in a cloth bound hardback would make a lovely addition to any bookcase.

This is the story of Lena, a “passing” black woman, set in 1936 she is a night club singer who dreams big after a murder in the club that she performs in she jumps at the chance to escape London and head for New York onboard the Queen Mary but murder follows there begins a classic golden age mystery giving off the very best Agatha Christie vibes. Set upon the ship and the week previous read in the first person by Lena and a mystery voice, we are left guessing right to the very end .There is charming and not so charming characters , a lot of cocktails, jazz, glamour,sex and murder all set in a Atlantic crossing there is no escaping. Along with the exploration of class, gender and race Louise Hare manages to give the classic murder mystery a new deeper depth that is as relevant today as it was pre WW2, much like her previous work This Lovely City which was post WW2 Hare uses the beauty of the age to show the not so beautiful side in a way that is thought provoking, compelling, absorbing and well crafted. Both novels explore the same issues but in a different time however regards of it being the rich old age of the 30’s or the poor post wars years the message is the same. I can see both books working as Sunday night dramas albeit in different formats this book would be perfect as a classic Poirot or Gosford Park set up and This Lovely City would be perfect as a darker Call The Midwife or Small Islands set up.

Fans of Agatha Christie will devour this book. The full set up, the characters even the narration from Lena is class Christie, as huge Christie fan I don’t say it lightly when I say I loved this book.