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Soon Grace finds herself under threat, and the only person prepared to listen is the brooding Tom Monaghan. I enjoyed this atmospheric, well-written book and would recommend it to everyone. Especially that, despite the gloom, there is a bit of romance.
It is a story of a young woman Grace who lost her brother and fiancé. Recently her friend had disappeared and then was found dead. Grace couldn't believe in her friend's suicide and started an investigation. It’s a slow unravelling of the mystery, but steady, so that I didn’t feel it dragged at any point. The pace allows for plenty of space to explore different reactions to the cataclysm of the war, from those men directly affected trying to deal with mental and physical injuries, to those who had endured a long wait ending perhaps with the awfulness of the telegram telling them their son or brother or lover would not be coming home. Scarlett reminds us that for many the verdict was missing, presumed dead, leaving a tiny glimmer of hope that cruelly drags out the process of acceptance. She shows us how this feeds into the rise of spiritualism, as people desperately seek some kind of closure – the possibility at least of saying goodbye, when there isn’t even a grave to visit. We see how society is divided into those who find comfort in the belief that the fallen had died gloriously for a great cause and those who feel it had all been an unforgivable waste, and how each side of that divide unintentionally adds to the hurt of the other. And yet through all this, Scarlett avoids mawkishness and over-sentimentality.
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The middle part felt too slow for my taste and there was a lot of speaking about clues and small talk too, but not many active moments. The story lost its atmosphere in this part for me If you read this, go in with zero expectations of it being a gothic murder mystery, because it absolutely isn’t 😅 If you enjoy cozy mysteries, with slight dark elements then you may enjoy this! That’s where I began to feel disappointed was because I expected and wanted a gothic mystery novel but didn’t get any of that. The book just tries to do too much and falls flat in its premise/execution! The one thing it does well is show Grace’s grief following World War 1 and the aftermath effects of how it affected the country as a whole. Honestly the book would have been much better as a historical romance or general historical novel that focuses on characters’ grief and trying to move on following the war. The atmosphere of London after WW1. Small details described the right mood of the city, it felt waking up but also full of ghosts
Thank you to Quercus and Netgalley for the eARC of The Lodger by Helen Scarlett in exchange for an honest review! All opinions Expressed are my own. Helen Scarlett] has a gift for pulling readers into the twists and turns of her story' SUNDAY TIMESWhat I really liked is the description of post war London, even if it reminded me very much of Downton Abbey. The characters could just have been taken from this grand house to the slightly more family home of Ryedale Villa. And the pacing and escapism reminded me of "All creatures, great and small". However, midway through I found the pacing to become very slow and more and more emphasis was put on romance which is just something I don't like in mysteries. Grace is appalled when a body, dragged from the Thames, is identified as Catherine Smith, who has lodged with Grace and her family for the last eight years before suddenly disappearing.
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