Publishers Weekly
01/15/2024
McDonough’s run-of-the-mill debut finds a pioneering female physician in Victorian England enmeshed in a murder mystery. A legal loophole allowing doctors with foreign accreditation to practice medicine in England has benefited Julia Lewis, who’s recently returned to London after completing medical school in the United States. She gets a chance to put her training to use when her grandfather, Dr. Andrew Lewis, is unable to fulfill his summons to a gruesome crime scene at a construction site, and Julia takes his place. There she meets Scotland Yard Insp. Richard Tennant, who shows her the corpse of Reverend Tobias Atwater, “a tireless champion of the downtrodden” who’s been found dead with his genitals mutilated. Atwater proves to be the first in a string of savage slayings linked by a punctured balloon concealed in the victims’ clothing, one of which contains a note that casts doubt on Tennant’s arrest and execution of the infamous Railway Killer several years earlier. Terrified that the Railway Killer is still at large and impressed by Julia’s observations in the Atwater case, Tennant recruits her to help him solve the recent murders. McDonough delivers a competent whodunit, but little about the characters or the setting is memorable. Readers intrigued by the premise of a historical mystery centered on a woman physician should check out E.S. Thomson’s Jem Flockhart series for a fresher take. Agent: Jim Donovan, Jim Donovan Literary. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
Praise for Murder by Lamplight
“This atmospheric, strong debut features two intriguing lead characters…Fans of Victorian mysteries, medical mysteries, and detective duos will appreciate this historical suspense. Suggest for fans of Andrea Penrose or Ritu Mukerji’s debut.” —Library Journal STARRED REVIEW
“An unusually violent and methodical killer terrorizes 1866 London in McDonough’s debut…The spree of period murders, capped by a welcome surprise, provides the perfect backdrop for debates about gender politics.” —Kirkus Reviews
“A stellar mystery, balancing the step-by-step collection of evidence and clues with the ruminations of the observant letter writer and leading to the gasp-inducing yet wholly believable identification of the perpetrator…Brilliant.” —Historical Novel Society
“A promising start to a new series with a gritty, engaging plot and intriguing characters.” —Mystery & Suspense Magazine
“All signs point to this satisfying and enjoyable debut setting up a series with a long, long run.” —Deadly Pleasures Magazine
“This is simply the best series kick-off I’ve read since Victoria Thompson’s Murder on Astor Place.” —Aunt Agatha’s Mysteries
“Enthralling debut. . . Mystery, pulse‑pounding suspense and a budding romance. More, please!” —Mary Jane Clark, New York Times Bestselling Author
Library Journal
★ 12/01/2023
DEBUT This atmospheric, strong debut features two intriguing lead characters. After medical school in Philadelphia, Dr. Julia Lewis is one of Britain's first woman physicians. In 1866, that's still so unusual that Scotland Yard Inspector Richard Tennant is appalled when Dr. Lewis, and not her grandfather, shows up to help at his crime scene. Although this is her first crime scene, Dr. Lewis capably handles the gruesome murder. It's only the first of several, as a serial killer taunts Tennant with handwritten notes. Tennant, his team, and Dr. Lewis attempt to connect the victims through lifestyles and workhouses. As the working-class and poverty-stricken people of London suffer from cholera and typhus, and Dr. Lewis tries to help them, she gets closer and closer to a murderer who is watching. Although she doesn't fit the killer's M.O., a twisted mind can find its own pattern. While Scotland Yard looks in other directions, Julia's guesses about a troubled childhood are the clues that ultimately lead to a surprising villain, one too close for comfort. VERDICT Fans of Victorian mysteries, medical mysteries, and detective duos will appreciate this historical suspense. Suggest for fans of Andrea Penrose or Ritu Mukerji's debut.—Lesa Holstine
Kirkus Reviews
2023-11-15
An unusually violent and methodical killer terrorizes 1866 London in McDonough’s debut.
D.I. Richard Tennant has just received evidence that Franz Meyer, a tailor hanged two years ago, may not have been the Railway Murderer after all, and he’s in no mood for another round of serial homicide. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what the murder of Rev. Tobias Atwater, found dead and castrated inside a sewer pipe, kicks off. As if he and his sergeant, Jonathan Graves, hadn’t troubles enough, Dr. Andrew Lewis, the doctor he’d asked to examine the body, has been laid low by heart disease and has sent his granddaughter instead. Julia Lewis is a fully qualified physician, but she took her medical degree in far-off Philadelphia, and she’s a female who has no business climbing around filthy places examining corpses. Predictably, Julia turns out to be filled with a wide range of progressive attitudes that would make her right at home in the 21st century, and predictably, her sparring with Tennant gradually develops into something more complicated, even though Julia tells her aristocratic great-aunt that “marriage with him would not be a companionable union of equals.” But McDonough keeps the pace brisk as the body count rises, each corpse physically violated, each discovered with a balloon, amid a series of increasingly disturbing revelations about the calamitous effects of the cholera outbreak that began back in 1832 and has returned repeatedly with a vengeance—just like the malefactor whom cheeky Illustrated London News reporter Johnny Osborne prematurely dubs “the music-hall murderer.”
The spree of period murders, capped by a welcome surprise, provides the perfect backdrop for debates about gender politics.
