Kat Holloway Mysteries is a new series from Jennifer Ashley. It’s not a quite cozy mystery and it’s not your typical Victorian Murder Mystery either, it’s a little bit more. I really liked the fact that Kat is a cook, Jennifer Ashley was really good about showing all the inside workings and intendance of the kitchen and below stairs without taking way from the main plot. Every other book out there for this kind of genre always it the upper-class and it was nice to find one from a different perspective.
Kat Holloway is a very successful cook, she left her last post when they left London and she has her own reasons for staying in London. Her new post in with Lord Rankin, she doesn’t much mind the eccentricities of the family just as long as they stay out of her kitchen. But when she finds her assistant, Sinead who reminded her so much of herself at that age, dead in the larder she becomes involved in the case to solve her young assistant’s murder. Enter Daniel McAdams, a man of mystery, Kat knows he is not what he appears to be so she goes to him for help. When he concurs that Sinead’s death was not the result of a simple robbery gone wrong Kat finds herself immersed in a mystery which proves to be just the tip of the iceberg, and so much more complicated than a simple murder. Daniel and Kat together with a genius mathematician, Elgin Thanos, and the cross dressing sister-in-law of Rankin, Lady Cynthia Shires, they try to piece together the clues they have for the plot against the Queen.
Along with the mystery we get into Kat’s personal life and the problems she has to face while dealing with the mystery and conspiracy. Daniel obviously has feeling for Kat but she tries to keep him at a professional distance, but he knows her too well. Unfortunately Kat doesn’t know much about Daniel and he plans to keep it that way no matter his feelings but that’s not going to stop him from keeping an eye out on her.
Overall, I enjoyed this one. Jennifer Ashley’s wonderful writing and her unique take on the Victorian Murder Mystery makes this a definite winner with me, I can’t wait for the next book.
**ARC Provided by Publisher**