Book Review: Daughters of Night by Laura Shepherd-Robinson

Genre: Historical fiction
Publisher: Pan Macmillan, Mantle
Pub date: 28 January 2021
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Murder awaits in the illuminated night of Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens …

London, 1782, Caro Corsham finds a woman mortally wounded in the bowers of Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens.

When the constables discover that the deceased woman was a high-society lady of the night, they stop searching for her killer – and it’s up to Caro to seek justice.

But the hidden corners of Georgian society are filled with artifice, deception and secrets, and finding the killer will be harder, and more treacherous, than she can know …

Set in London in the Georgian times, Caro is a lady of standing within society due her family’s success with banking. I was swept along with Caro on her mission to untangle a web of deceit as she tries to seek justice for her murdered friend, Lucy.

The story is told from the viewpoints of Caro, Pamela a young girl and Peregrine Child, a former magistrate turned thief-taker.

Pamela is a young girl who has made the decision to auction her maidenhead but when she falls for a certain ladies man will she make the right choice or will she make a mistake?

Child was a magistrate who having been replaced agrees to help Caro when the authorities appear to show no interest in finding the murderer.

Plunged into the world of prostitution and high society Shepherd-Robinson paints a fascinating picture of the differences faced by those living those lives and how they often mixed for the purposes of society parties.

On their quest to seek justice Caro and Child face a lot of obstacles in this fast paced thriller which kept me engaged from start to finish.

This book is full of engaging characters, a lot of whom are puzzling, going from charming one minute to malicious in the next, leaving you not knowing who the real culprits are. This kept me guessing all the way through and just when I thought I had it figured out, nope back to the drawing board!

There is a great introduction to the characters at the beginning of the book which really helps to keep up with who’s who.

Unfortunately, publication of Daughters of Night has been postponed until January 2021 but I wanted to write my review whilst the book is still fresh in my mind. For those seeking a mystery entwined with historical fiction and great characters this is the book for you!

You can preorder Daughters of Night here: Amazon UK