A well written and engaging mystery with lots of twists and turns that kept my interest. The historical detail added interest to the story. I haven't read the other books in this series but will now have to go back and catch the all. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Nancy Herriman for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for No Rest for the Departed coming out May 7, 2024. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This is actually the first book I’ve read in this series, but I’ve been interested in checking it out before receiving this. I love historical mysteries. The 1860s were definitely an interesting time in America. The setting in San Francisco is also interesting because it was still the Wild West. I love that Celia uses her background in nursing to solve crimes. I thought the characters were really interesting and unique. I love Celia and Nick interacting and would love to see more of that. The mystery was really fascinating. I loved all of it. I definitely need to read the other books in the series.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Civil War era mysteries!

I confess I both enjoyed this book and found it frustrating for different reasons. Those who have followed the series will know that it’s always well written, with engaging mysteries and lots of twists that keep your interest. The historical detail is great and adds to the story without being distracting. The side characters are always good to catch up with. The mystery this time centers on Nick’s family and pain that still haunts him, which makes this addition to the series particularly compelling.
What frustrated me will probably only bother other readers of the whole series, and that’s the relationship between the main characters. I’m a big fan of slow burn, but this is crawling if it’s moving at all. One of the two seemed even less sure of any feelings in this one, which felt like an unexplained change from where the last book left off. I have really enjoyed this series but may have to take a break if things continue to be left this unresolved. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy. All views are entirely my own.

I have been a fan of this series from the beginning. Ms. Herriman has done her homework and understands Old San Francisco as it was in the mid-19th century.

Nick and Celia are brought together again by a murder, although solving this one might help Nick understand, and finally realize his sister's death was not anything that he could have prevented. He needs to lose the guilt he is riddled with to be able to move forward..

Celia was quite the forceful woman in this book, much more than in the previous novels, and I'm not sure I liked her as much as in the past. She bulldozed her way into people's homes, with invitations and without, and some of her friends were hurt when doing so. Her questioning of the involved parties seemed to be out of character for her and she didn't make the connections that seemed to be right in front of her.

I'd like to see Nick and Celia FINALLY become involved with each other romantically. It seems to be heading that way and I hope that's in the offing.

Even with some of my feelings about Celia being a bit cooler than her other books in the series, it was still another solid historical novel by Nancy Herriman. I live a bit south of The City, and have done some driving around in San Francisco to try to understand where this series takes place. The locations are very different than they were in the 1860's/1870's, but it's fun to see the locations as she explains them and as they are today!

4.5 stars upping to 5 since I really love this series.

This was a strong mystery in the Old San Francisco environment. I was hooked from the first page and thought it worked overall in the story and characters. It had a mystery that I wanted to follow and glad it was so well done. I enjoyed the main character and thought she was a realistic concept. Nancy Herriman has a great writing style and can’t wait to read more.

I had read the first few books in this series and was excited to get the opportunity to get caught up. Thank you to #NetGalley and #BeyondThePageBooks! This is a compelling and personal mystery for Nick, and I really enjoy the history and the setting in San Francisco. This is a well written book, with a lot of great characters, the story was very engrossing and you really wanted to keep reading to see what would happen next but I have two quibbles that really overshadow what could be an excellent story. The first is that Ceila Davis is just too bold. She goes places and does things that are beyond common sense for an intelligent woman. Who would go into a police station and point-blank ask a police detective if he was corrupt when people all around you are being killed and you have a child dependent on you? This is the ultimate TSTL behavior. The second is what police detective would not know or not take precautions to stop someone from following him while going to a witness in hiding. These events really overshadow an excellent story. Hopefully, they will be adjusted in future volumes.

Detective Nick Greaves tries to get to the bottom of his sister's suicide, which may not have been suicide after all. Set in 1870s San Francisco, Nick and Celia, a nurse who has helped him with previous mysteries, sort through smugglers and counterfeiters to try to find out whether and why Nick's sister Meg was killed. There is a fair amount of back story that makes it easier for a reader who has read previous books in the series; I would not recommend starting with this book. The plot is complex and the author ties up most of the plot threads in the end, but I had to read the final chapters a few times to figure out what had happened and who was responsible. The characters of Nick and Celia have a (very) slow-burning relationship and I enjoy their interplay when they are together, which is not all that frequent in this novel. A solid three stars. Thanks to NetGalley and publisher Beyond the Page for the e-ARC.

One in a series of books, No Rest for the Departed, by Nancy Herriman, takes the reader to San Francisco shortly after the War Between the States. Murder, smuggling, substituting fake jewelry for the real thing all compile to make a tangled mystery for Nicholas Greaves and Celia Harris to unravel. With the help of Officer Taylor and a host of other residents, can Nick and Celia solve the crimes before anyone else is harmed?

If I had read the previous books in the Mysteries of San Francisco series, I would have enjoyed this one more. I was able to read an ARC on #NetGalley.

No Rest for the Departed by Nancy Herriman transports readers to San Francisco in the spring of 1868. The author captured time and place with her detailed depictions. I thought the characters were developed. Nick and Celia are attracted to each other (there is romantic tension between the pair), but neither seem ready to act upon their feelings (especially Nick). Celia needs to ditch the widow’s weeds and it is time for Nick to let go of his guilt (over so many things), so he can begin living his life. The mystery is complex, and it unravels slowly. A current murder ties into the death of Nick’s sister, Meg. I did not like Celia’s aggressive manner when questioning people (she should know that honey catches more flies than vinegar). I expected Celia to be smart and savvy (to subtly draw the answers out of people). I was surprised by the people who were willing to talk to Celia. I thought some of the seedier individuals (known criminals) would avoid her since Celia is known to have worked with the police in the past (it was in the newspapers, which was mentioned a few times). There is a detailed wrap up of the convoluted whodunit at the end (I am not sure that all the loose ends were tied up). No Rest for the Departed is the seventh A Mystery of Old San Franciso. As I discovered, No Rest for the Departed cannot be read as a standalone. Some details are filled in as the story progresses, but there were many that were missing. The story moved at an unhurried pace. While No Rest for the Departed did not appeal to me, fans of the series will enjoy it.

When a murder may hold clues to the death of Nick’s sister, he and Celia will go up against San Francisco’s privileged and powerful to unearth the truth . . .
This was my first book by Nancy Herriman and is not the first installment in this series. It can be read as a stand alone as I didn't need additional background but it does hint at past events that might make reading the previous books worthwhile if you are interested in this genre. The mystery itself is quite intriguing, involving several murders and smuggling in the post civil war San Francisco docks area. Although the characters are well described and interesting, many felt very formulaic. There is the broody, brown eyed detective, Nick Greaves, Owen, a rather slow youth, abandoned by his obviously very poor parents, Abbie a Scottish housekeeper who says 'Och' quite often and the Irish policeman O'Neal who is crooked. Overall it was an enjoyable enough read with a satisfying conclusion. If you want an easy to read cozy mystery rather than a fast paced thriller, this is definitely a book you will want to read.

Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Beyond the Page Publishing, and Nancy Herriman for the advanced reader copy of the book. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

In post-Civil War San Francisco, a former soldier who is now a detective is still feeling intense grief over his younger sister’s suicide. When the body of a man is fished out of San Francisco Bay that is wearing a locket with Meg’s picture in it as well as a lock of her hair, Nick Greaves must come to terms with the fact that he may not have known his sister at all. Together with the widowed Celia Graves, who was a nurse in the Crimean War and runs a free medical clinic, they chip away at a mystery that exposes police corruption, smuggling, and encompasses many of the City’s rich elite.

Not having read any of the prior books in Herriman’s series, there were some things that are assumed a reader knows coming into this that lost me for a while. Fortunately, throughout the story, many gaps are filled in so I didn’t feel completely lost. Still, my first recommendation is that if this story interests you, I’d go back and start at the beginning. I liked it enough that I am adding the series to my “to be read” pile.

The setting has a feel akin to the Andrea Penrose books I’m reading which take place in Regency London. Celia and Nick are outsiders to the city’s elite. Neither come from a real affluent background and are living their lives in a way that helps those around them. Celia has a collection of people living at her place, which includes her half-Chinese cousin. There’s a backstory to that hinted at, and I’m excited to read it eventually. Nick became a police officer following the horrors of the Civil War, following in his Uncle Asa’s footsteps, but still carries survivor’s guilt from the War as well as not being there to save Meg.

I enjoyed the story but felt Celia was a bit too brash in her investigating. In the beginning, she seemed more nuanced, trying to engage people in conversation and steer them into giving her the information she wanted. However, soon she is just outright interrogating people, including Nick’s fellow police officers, and it was hard to believe that people who possibly were involved in crimes up to and including murder would just talk to her. It’s not even that she isn’t known to have worked with the police before, as it’s brought up that she’s appeared in the newspapers for this in the past.

The mystery is a good one as it slowly unravels, bringing up Meg’s death and the possibility that something was missed all those years ago as more of the circumstances surrounding it come to light. Even at the end, I wasn’t sure I had a clear picture of what had been going on. It’s quite a convoluted mystery, but in the end, it makes sense. There are some people that Nick and Celia cross that may come back to haunt them in the future, as it’s not exactly sure who was really involved.

There is romantic tension between Celia and Nick. Celia is still wearing widow’s black and Nick is still focused more on himself than living his life. There is something between them, but neither of them seems to possess the inclination to do anything about it.

I did enjoy reading No Rest for the Departed despite the shortcomings. The mystery was enticing and well-paced. It flowed nicely and the characters were interesting, even if Celia was over the top at times. I like the characters enough to catch up with the previous books in the series and see how they got to this point.

My my my. This was quite the tangled mystery. Even while the case was unraveled at the end, I was still thinking, “Huh?”, and tried to sort it all out. But this case pretty much resolved an unfortunate tale we’ve known about since the start of the series, so that was satisfying. But Celia and Nick seemed to be at odds for most of this book, which was much less satisfying. Still, I adore this series and cannot wait for more.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.