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
