HONOUR AND OBEY by Carol Hedges

5 GOLD STARS

Victorian murder mystery, humour

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE

I loved Diamonds and Dust, so I was very much looking forward to reading Honour and Obey - and it's even better. I liked the story much more.  They are both stand alone novels.

This novel is extremely clever and amusing and fabulously well researched. Carol Hedges' Victorian London is very much one of pantomime baddies and goodies; the ghastly Lobelia Clout and the horrible Crevices, the mysterious 'Lonely Widower' and Reverend Bittersplit, compared with put-upon Hyacinth, dutiful Emily, and our heroes, detectives Stride and Cully. But then there are also the clever street sharp survivors, like Tonkin the 'dolly shop' assistant, and the maid in the boarding house of disgusting cuisine, only ever known as the Foundling. Other wonderful pictures are painted of the ladies of the night, and (one of my favourites) the police surgeon.

Ms Hedges does something I find very entertaining. She shows how lives brush together briefly, only to go their separate ways almost immediately, never knowing the effect the characters might or have had on each others' past and future. Loved it, loved it. Unusual, perfectly put together, and I read several passages more than once because they were so good. No skip reading with this book!

DIAMONDS AND DUST by Carol Hedges reviewed HERE