Spoke too soon! After falling in love with Kitty Peck in Kate Griffin's debut novel, I rushed back to the library and reserved the next three titles in the series, which arrived surprisingly quickly. Started on the second book - and was a little bit disappointed, sadly, from the switch to the standard 'headless model in period dress' cover to the ridiculous plot. And how, HOW could the author destroy the Gaudy, which was more of a character than a setting at times?

Kitty, still a likeable leading lady even if she does keep letting her heart lead her brain, is now the baron-in-training of Paradise and the three music hall theatres, with Lady Ginger taking an ever-watchful step back into the shadows. Keen to learn if her brother Joey really is still alive, as promised by the Lady, Kitty travels with Lucca to Paris and finds a different kind of underworld. There she meets the enigmatic David, who asks her to take his baby son back to England with her, but neglects to mention why the child is in danger. Kitty of course agrees because *heart eyes*.

Although I still enjoy the main characters, my suspension of disbelief was challenged with this one. One case of double identity is fine, twice is a trope. And while I found the Romanov backstory interesting, I honestly did not care about the damn baby - like I think one of the characters tells Kitty, so many lives and the Gaudy lost, but for what? I think I started skim reading in the final chapters - until the meeting with the barons, which shook me. I thought they were just criminal gang leaders, not members of a secret society.

I am still going to read the rest of the series, but the gilding has worn off a little for me - and I'm going to miss the Gaudy! ( )

This is the second mystery set in the seedy underworld of Victorian London in and around the theatres. At the end of the last novel, Kitty Peck unwittingly inherited the criminal empire of her grandmother the macabre Lady Ginger. Trying to reform things, she discovers her predecessor still wields influence. She gets involved with a rather unlikely plot surrounding the haemophilia known to have been present in many European royal families of the time, most famously the Romanovs. As before, the sordid nature of some of this makes it quite an unpleasant read in places (not least at the macabre ending of the novel, after the main action is concluded), though the author has undoubtedly portrayed these aspects with a well-written grittiness. I still like Kitty so I will probably continue the series. ( )

Initially, I thought this was the first book in the series. However, this was not detrimental to my reading, because it did not push or infer too much previous knowledge of the characters or the setting, which is a plus. I've enjoyed the plot very much, the characterization was well developped and the writing style pretty fluid in terms of reading. The main character, Kitty, is attaching and she has to deal with family matters as well as murders and a mystery. Her new obligations make her life pretty complicated but she is brave and tenacious. In any case, this novel is well worth the read, it is very well written, has a good pace and a great plot, which pushes me to get the others in the series, and the first novel, if only for getting background informations I might have missed. It is a good book to read at a leisurely pace or in one go, great as a holiday read or at the weekend. ( )