Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In the winter of 1835, young Charles Dickens is a journalist on the rise at the Evening Chronicle . Invited to dinner at the estate of the newspaper's co-editor, Charles is smitten with his boss's daughter, vivacious nineteen-year-old Kate Hogarth. They are having the best of times when a scream shatters the pleasant evening. Charles, Kate, and her father rush to the neighbors' home, where Miss Christiana Lugoson lies unconscious on the floor. By morning, the poor young woman will be dead.

When Charles hears from a colleague of a very similar mysterious death a year ago to the date, also a young woman, he begins to suspect poisoning and feels compelled to investigate. The lovely Kate offers to help-using her social position to gain access to the members of the upper crust, now suspects in a murder. If Charles can find justice for the victims, it will be a far, far better thing than he has ever done. But with a twist or two in this most peculiar case, he and Kate may be in for the worst of times . . .

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

The ambitious young journalist Charles Dickens is at dinner with the Hogarths, his editor's family, when they hear women screaming. Dickens, Hogarth, and the eldest Hogarth daughter Kate rush next door where a widow lives with her two children. There, they find -Christiana -Lugoson sick. The young woman dies within 24 hours. Although the death of a 17-year-old seems unusual, it's only when another journalist mentions a similar death exactly a year earlier that Dickens suspects murder. With his editor's permission, he makes inquiries while he and Kate use the investigation as an excuse to spend time together. Redmond, author of the "Redcakes" Victorian romance series (The Marquess of Cakes) emphasizes Dickens's courtship with his future wife in this first book in a new historical series. The mystery itself is convoluted, but the details of the author's life and the Victorian world stand out in a book that drags at times. VERDICT Dickens fans will appreciate the foreshadowing of future writings and the warm family environment at the Hogarth household. Readers who enjoy the historical details in Anne Perry's Victorian mysteries may want to try this series debut.-Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Set in 1835, this languid series launch from Redmond (the Redcakes series) turns Charles Dickens, then a journalist for the Evening Chronicle, into a detective with mixed results. A dinner at the home of his editor, George Hogarth, is interrupted by a scream from a neighboring house, where Dickens and George's fetching daughter, Kate, find that 17-year-old Christiana Lugoson has suffered a collapse that will soon prove fatal. When the reporter learns that 17-year-old Marie Rueff died under similar circumstances exactly a year earlier, he suspects foul play and investigates the possibility that both were poisoned. His unimpressive probing, aided by Kate, yields multiple suspects with motives including hatred and greed. Redmond's opening line ("'Epiphany is truly the best of times,' Charles Dickens exclaimed") sets the tone, and she makes sporadic efforts to evoke Dickens's style throughout. Readers interested in fictional depictions of Dickens that insert him into a mystery plot will be better served by such books by Dan Simmons and William Palmer. Agent: Laurie McLean, Foreword Literary. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

For Dickens fans, this charming little puzzler will prove a delight. The story begins with Charles meeting and wooing the lovely Kate Hogarth during Epiphany, truly the best of times, asserts young Dickens in the book's first line. Leaning only slightly on references to A Tale of Two Cities, the mystery of a neighbor girl's death by poisoning presents Charles and Kate with a knotty social tangle, involving a large cast of suspicious characters and much pondering aloud amid the tea service. Who would kill an innocent young woman of seemingly minor consequence? First in a new series featuring Dickens as sleuth, this twisty-plotted mystery is more about the how and the why of the murder than the whodunit. Experienced mystery solvers will spot the guilty party but may be stymied by the motives, and, certainly, the solution itself will be a surprise! An older series by William J. Palmer, beginning with The Detective and Mr. Dickens (1990), may also be of interest to readers, as may Dorothy L. Sayers' classic Strong Poison (1930), with its light romance, banter, and poisonous murder.--Jen Baker Copyright 2018 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

A ghastly poisoning sets a young writer on the trail of a killer in Victorian London.January 1835 finds rising journalist Charles Dickens enjoying Epiphany dinner with his editor, George Hogarth, and his family in Brompton when a terrible scream splits the air. Dickens, Hogarth, and Hogarth's daughter Kate rush next door to Lugoson House. There, Lady Lugoson's daughter, Christiana, who's been taken violently ill, dies before her mother's horrified eyes despite the ministrations of the host of doctors summoned to her bedside. The next day, at the offices of the Evening Chronicle, Charles confides his unease to fellow journalist William Aga. How could Christiana Lugoson have become mortally ill when none of the other dinner guests were affected? William recalls the similar death of another young woman, Marie Rueff, just one year ago at Epiphany. Watching young Charles sniff out the connection between the two deaths is only part of the fun. Readers can also watch the sweet, unsurprising romance between Charles and Kate unfold at a modest but steady pace and can travel through a historical London that's vivid without being overcrowded with detail. Each character's voice is distinctive and appropriate to the period, and Redmond's exposition is as stately and lucid as any contemporary reader could wish.Redmond, who writes romance under the names Heather Hiestand and Anh Leod, adds crime to her portfolio. Mystery fans and history buffs alike should cheer. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.