Book Review: ‘Miss Aldridge Regrets’ by Louise Hare

Well, this was an absolute delight! Thanks to NetGalley for my chance to read this book ahead of its publication in April 2022.

I’m so glad that I saw this on ‘Between the Covers’ on BBC2 as I wouldn’t have otherwise picked it up – the cover didn’t immediately call out to me that it was a period murder mystery, but it is. And a good one.

The story follows Lena Aldridge, a nightclub singer in 1936 Soho who is grappling with the loss of her beloved father, Archie, and eking out a living for herself in London’s seedy underworld. When she is offered a big acting breakthrough on Broadway, it seems too good to be true – but it is perfect timing for Lena to escape London given a recent murder at the club. With a first-class ticket on the ‘Queen Mary’ headed for New York, Lena leaves her London troubles behind…and finds a shipboard community with murder on their minds.

I’ll admit that the setting of this book was what drew me in – I love the idea of the glamour of the luxury liner headed for New York and settled in for lots of sumptuous details. I liked the fact that Lena didn’t confine herself to the first-class lounges and that there was a sense of the diversity of life on board the ship – including the staff quarters and the tourist class areas. In fact, I could have done with a bit more detail on the setting – it’s well done, but I was greedy for more!

The setting also allows for a clever closed-circle mystery. When a murder is committed, there are very few possible suspects – Lena and her dining companions are the focus for much of the story. This is an engaging device as the reader gets to know the Abernathy family and their various hangers-on. There’s some really interesting character development, twists and turns here as the family’s secrets are uncovered during the voyage.

The mystery itself is cleverly plotted – although we hear the murderer ‘speak’ in the italicised sections of the book, I’ll admit that I didn’t see the denouement coming at all. In fact, I think I had suspected pretty much everyone over the course of the book so I can’t claim that my scattergun approach got me anywhere near to solving the crime!

I liked the fact that the book touches on some really thought-provoking social and historical context, Not only is there a hint of the rise of fascism in the backdrop to the story, Lena is mixed race, a fact which allows for some interesting social commentary on attitudes to race then and now. She ‘passes’ for white, something that allows her to take her place amongst the first-class passengers on the ‘Queen Mary’, but it is not without anxiety – the awareness that she could be ‘discovered’, thoughts about how she will be received in New York compared to London and the implications of her relationship with Will, a black pianist on the ship. The attitudes reflect those of 1936 – but provoke thoughts in the reader about whether enough has changed in the 85 years since.

I loved this book and recommend it highly to those who want a period murder mystery with plenty of surprises. You’ll find yourself rooting for Lena, even as she makes some naive and morally-grey decisions, and will love exploring the ‘Queen Mary’ with her. The social context adds an engaging dimension and takes the book out of the truly comfortable cosy crime genre – but it is all the better for it.

---

If you’d like a copy of this book, please use my affiliate link below – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases.

A quick sneaky aside too – if you love the idea of a trip on the ‘Queen Mary’ in 1936 then I can heartily recommend this brilliant non-fiction book about women making transatlantic voyages between the wars. This was one of my top reads of last year – ‘Maiden Voyages: Women and the Golden Age of Transatlantic Travel’ by Sian Evans.

Header photo by Anna Bratiychuk on Unsplash