Tuesday, June 5, 2018

No Cure for the Dead - Review


Title: No Cure for the Dead
Author: Christine Trent
Series:  A Florence Nightingale Mystery #1

Synopsis:  “When a young nurse dies on her watch, Florence Nightingale must uncover the deep –hidden secrets someone will kill to keep buried.
     “It is 1853, Lady of the Lamp Florence Nightingale has just accepted the position of Superintendent of the Establishment for Gentlewomen During Temporary Illness in London.  She has hardly had time to learn the names of the nurses in her charge when she suddenly finds one of them hanging in the Establishment’s library.  Her name was Nurse Bellamy.
     “Florence’s mettle is tested by the dual goals of preserving what little reputation her hospital has and bringing Nurse Bellamy’s killer to justice.  Her efforts are met with upturned noses and wayward glances except for her close friend and advocate inside the House of Commons, Sidney Herbert.  As Florence digs deeper, however, her attention turns to one of the hospital investors and suddenly, Sidney becomes reluctant to help.
     “With no one but herself to count on, Florence must now puzzle out what the death of an unknown, nondescript young nurse had to do with conspiracies lurking about at the highest levels of government before she’s silenced too.”

Review:  I found No Cure for the Dead to be a highly entertaining read.  I appreciate historical novels with strong female main characters that also strive to maintain some historical accuracy.  The willingness of the police officers and several male members of the board who oversee the Establishment, to dismiss Florence’s concerns, simply because of her gender, is infuriating but also accurate to the time period of the novel. 
     I’ve been reading more historical mysteries since I’ve discovered my love for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories and novels, which I will be discussing in an upcoming post later this month.  There are a few moments during No Cure for the Dead when the story lags due to some areas of large chunks of description where we are given vast amounts of historical nursing procedures all at once.  These sections could have been handled a bit differently as they are not truly relevant to the story, but they are relevant to the true story of Florence Nightingale, and you can easily skim past them and still retain all of the information that is pertinent to the story.  I did not guess who the murderer was before it was revealed, which is unusual for me.  Trent spends a lot of time bringing many of the nurses and patients of the Establishment to life and I appreciate that aspect of storytelling.  I truly came to care about the characters and look forward to reading the rest of the series.  I recommend fans of mysteries and fans of historical fiction give this new series a try. 
  
*****I was provided with a free copy of this novel via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*****

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
If you like this book you may want to read:



Lady of Ashes (Lady of Ashes Book #1) by Christine Trent (Read BookGirlR’s review here)



The Lion’s Courtship: A Dark Victorian Crime Novel (Anna Kronberg Mysteries Book #0.5) by Annelie Wendeberg

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