MURDER IN THE EAST END by Jennifer Ashley

Everyone’s favorite cook and amateur sleuth, Kat Holloway, is back in another historical mystery by Jennifer Ashley. Capable and confident, Kat works in a big house with a well-to-do family and makes a decent income to support the daughter who lives with friends nearby. Her colleagues below stairs respect her, her employer is pleased with her delicious cooking, and Kat is mostly content in her life. But there’s never a mystery too far off to be solved, and Kat can’t help but get involved.

When children from a nearby foundling hospital go missing, Kat’s friend and almost-paramour, Daniel McAdam, turns to Kat for help. One of the governors on the hospital board, a vicar named Mr. Fielding, was raised as a brother with Daniel, and they are determined to find out what is happening to the children. On top of that, a nurse who Mr. Fielding had grown close to has disappeared, and he thinks something nefarious happened while she was also trying to discover what happened to the missing children.

Kat, both intrigued by finding out more about Daniel’s past and determined to help the missing children, does what she can to find out clues relevant to the search. But when danger comes too close to comfort, Kat must figure out a different way before devastating consequences come to pass. . .

MURDER IN THE EAST END, book four in the Below Stairs mystery series by Jennifer Ashley is an intriguing and entertaining Victorian murder mystery. One of the most enjoyable aspects of this series is checking in with the cast of characters--Lady Cynthia, niece of Kat’s employers who pushes the boundaries of what is expected from a proper young lady; Mr. Thanos, Daniel’s friend who is a genius and quite awkward; Tess, Kat’s eager kitchen assistant, and many more. New characters, like Mr. Fielding and Judith Townsend, a wealthy artist who may have connections to Daniel and his mysterious line of work, are seamlessly woven into the narrative and will hopefully be seen in future books.

The actual mystery in this novel wasn’t as compelling as previous books, but as always, Jennifer Ashley writes a well-written and page-turning novel. Learning more about Daniel’s past and seeing him open up more to Kat was satisfying--though their relationship is still very much a slow burn. MURDER IN THE EAST END is another deft mystery and entertaining story.

A new upstairs, downstairs Victorian murder mystery in the Kat Holloway series from the New York Times bestselling author of Death in Kew Gardens. When young cook Kat Holloway learns that the children of London's Foundling Hospital are mysteriously disappearing and one of their nurses has been murdered, she can't turn away. She enlists the help of her charming and enigmatic confidant Daniel McAdam, who has ties to Scotland Yard, and Errol Fielding, a disreputable man from Daniel’s troubled past, to bring the killer to justice. Their investigation takes them from the grandeur of Mayfair to the slums of the East End, during which Kat learns more about Daniel and his circumstances than she ever could have imagined.