A Murderous Malady / Christine Trent

Florence Nightingale sallies forth into the cholera-ridden streets of 1854 Soho, simultaneously seeking the individual responsible for the apparently senseless attack that left a close friend's coachman dead and fighting the growing epidemic.

In this well-researched novel, we meet real people dealing with genuine situations and discussing authentic historical events, all of which provides a solid framework for the story. The attributes manifest in the portrait it paints of Miss Nightingale — her forthrightness, her clarity of purpose, her busybodiness, her fondness for well-ordered charts, her willingness to endure opposition and even scorn in her treatment of those under her care — make her a natural amateur detective. Unfortunately, the crime-solving element is too frequently drowned out by the emphasis given to cholera and by scenes that add nothing to the rather lackluster plot or to the flavour of the era. While I commend the author for crafting such lifelike vignettes of the London slums, the characters' language and behaviour time and again strike discordant notes in the context of Victorian society, which "actually" spoilt my enjoyment of this book.

I was provided with a free electronic copy of this book through NetGalley by the publisher, Crooked Lane Books, in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: ***