Title: Death Below Stairs
Author: Jennifer Ashley
Series: #1 in the Kat Holloway series
Genre: Historical Mystery
Publisher: Berkley (January 2, 2018)
Source: Library Find
Rating: ☕☕1/2
Synopsis: Victorian class lines are crossed when cook Kat Holloway is drawn into a murder that reaches all the way to the throne.
Highly sought-after young cook Kat Holloway takes a position in a Mayfair mansion and soon finds herself immersed in the odd household of Lord Rankin. Kat is unbothered by the family’s eccentricities as long as they stay away from her kitchen, but trouble finds its way below stairs when her young Irish assistant is murdered.
Intent on discovering who killed the helpless kitchen maid, Kat turns to the ever-capable Daniel McAdam, who is certainly much more than the charming delivery man he pretends to be. Along with the assistance of Lord Rankin’s unconventional sister-in-law and a mathematical genius, Kat and Daniel discover that the household murder was the barest tip of a plot rife with danger and treason—one that’s a threat to Queen Victoria herself.
My Thoughts: While much of this book is actually very well written I just wasn't as engaged as I could have been.
The Good, The Bad, and Everything In Between: A mystery set in Victorian times told from a servant's perspective was so great. Jennifer Ashley does a great job of researching her books. The details of Kat's cooking was so amazing I wanted to join the family eating it. Everything Kat prepared was well detailed I was a little surprised I had a hard time connecting with the characters. This is the first book in the series but it reads like book 2. I later found out there was a novella prequel but my library doesn't have it and $2.99 is just too much to pay for a novella, IMHO. I'm not a huge fan of novellas in general but dislike "having" to read one just so I don't feel lost while reading a a first in series? Thumbs down.
The mystery aspect happened about 1/3 into the book and even though Kat was determined to figure out who killed the kitchen maid (who had 3 different names just an FYI) nothing really came about it until the very end. A second mystery cropped up during the course of the book and all investigation ceased on the poor kitchen maid's demise.
The main characters remained a mystery to me even after finishing the book and I'm not even sure I liked any of them. As the book progressed we did get to know some of Kat's background but Daniel is an absolute enigma. Where did he come from? How did they meet and what caused them to be so enamored with each other? What is his real job? Some of these things could have been explained enough for me to determine if Daniel is even a worthy man. Worthy of Kat. Worthy of becoming a book boyfriend...yes this is an important thing. As of now, he isn't. I don't even know if he is a good man except Jennifer Ashley said he was.
In a Nutshell: The good, unfortunately, just didn't outweigh the bad for me in this one. I just don't see myself picking up the second book in this series but will definitely read more from this author.
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