Death Below Stairs (Below Stairs Mystery, #1)

by Jennifer Ashley

[readingwithwrin]

“Simple explanations are usually the wisest ones - a person can complicate a straightforward situation with unnecessary dramatics and end up in a complete mess.”

Death Below Stairs follows Kat Holloway who is a young cook, that is one of the best in her field. She is now working for a new family and is getting used to the new house and other staff.

The new family she works for seems to have a rather strange dynamic with the couple hardly spending any time together (even less than normal for this time period). The Lady of the house is supposedly sickly, and the Lord is not the kindest man it seems and some shady stuff might be going on. Then we also have the Lady's sister (Lady Cynthia) who wears pants and is looked down on.

Downstairs we have a whole group of different characters. While we only get to know a few of them, I did like seeing the running of the house. This part really reminded me of Downton Abbey which is what I was looking for. Seeing Kat interact with the other staff and how she was kind to everyone, yet also had command over her kitchen was so nice to see.

Kat's kitchen assistant Sinead is the one that gets murdered the first night that Kat is in this house. Because of this, we don't really get to know anything about her besides some of her dreams. Despite having only known her for one day, this death really affects Kat, and how she works in the kitchen and views some of the other stuff.


"What I do know, Daniel, is what you are. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a gent in a posh suit who can purchase first-class railway tickets on the spur of the moment, or a deliveryman who talks like a South London villain. I’ve seen you.”


Besides the people in the house, we also get to meet Daniel who is Kat's friend and his son James. These two are very interesting characters. Daniel because he seems to be able to do anything and everything, and James who also has multiple jobs and is trying to find his place in the world.

For me, this book fell a little flat. I was expecting more upstairs/downstairs drama, and instead, we get sent on a chase around the country. While this was very interesting, it's just not what I was expecting or wanting from this book. I also found it a little hard to believe that Kat would be allowed to leave for days at a time in order to go and investigate this murder, and how it might be involved in a bigger plot.

Kat's relationship with Daniel also starts becoming more of the focus towards the end of the book. While I did find there relationship fascinating and I kept trying to figure out Daniel just like Kat was. Daniel also starts bringing in a few new people and helped Kat with the mystery and figuring out how everything connected.



"Me, marry? What man would have me? And even if he did ask me, he'd have to take me as I am. I refuse to squeeze myself into a frock and act as though I haven't got an opinion in my head except what my husband decides for me. No man is worth that."

My favorite character for this whole book though is Lady Cynthia. She not only cared about the staff, but she also hated the expectations that were put on her. While she was okay with certain things about her society, she also wasn't just going to bend to any man that came her way. I'm really hoping she's in the next book. Yes that means I do plan to continue on with this series. I know more about what to expect from Ashley's writing and I did like her writing style.

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