Murder at the National Gallery: The thrilling historical whodunnit (Museum Mysteries)

by Jim Eldridge

1897, London. The capital is shocked to learn that the body of a woman has been found at the National Gallery, eviscerated in a manner that recalls all too strongly the exploits of the infamous Jack the Ripper.

Daniel Wilson and Abigail Fenton are contacted by a curator of the National Gallery for their assistance. The dead woman, an artist's model and lady of the night, had links to artist Walter Sickert who was a suspect during the Ripper's spree of killings. Scotland Yard have arrested Sickert on suspicion of this fresh murder but it is not the last .

Copycat murders of the Ripper's crimes implicate the artist who loves to shock but Sickert insists that he is innocent. Who would want to frame him? Wilson and Fenton have their work cut out catching an elusive and determined killer.

• ISBN10: 0749027339
• ISBN13: 9780749027339
• Publish Date: 20 January 2022
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Allison & Busby
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Murder at the National Gallery is the 7th Museum Mystery by Jim Eldridge. Released 20th Jan 2022 by Alison & Busby, it's 311 pages (ebook version) and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats (paperback due out in summer 2022). It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a competently plotted slightly gritty murder mystery. The characters are well developed and have a solid background and chemistry together. The pacing was variable, at points it dragged a bit for me, but overall it moved along at a good pace. It's 90% dialogue driven and the dialogue tends to be overly simplistic and not very nuanced. I admit the dialogue threw me. The book is set in the 19th century and is often quite jarring because the vernacular is completely modern (it reads very much like a modern mystery and the historical setting is only made clear by contextual clues such as when the author throws Bram Stoker, Conan Doyle, and Van Gogh in as contemporary). My other small quibble is that it seemed the author included almost every famous contemporary person, actor, current event, landmark, and news headline in the narrative. It interfered with my suspension of disbelief in several places.

All in all it's a readable and mostly engaging mystery with lots of skullduggery and shenanigans, a soupcon of danger, and a reasonable denouement and resolution. Sensitive readers will want to be aware that there are graphic descriptions of Jack-the-Ripper-esque murders including disembowelment, as well as fairly graphic on-page sexual content and descriptions. The two main protagonists are cohabiting in a stable long-term relationship and apparently suffering no social censure (another anachronism, although the author does partly address the paradox in the text).

Three and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.