Very entertaining period detective fiction. The protagonist has an interesting back story and a relatable personality. Looking forward to reading more of this series.

Heloise Chancey is a courtesan in London during the year of 1863--because of her past experiences with both prostitution and sleuthing she is recruited to the assist a wealthy family track down a daughter who after becoming pregnant was disowned. Why would they even worry about the daughter after that? Well, because there is a murderer working the streets of Waterloo too and they are murdering and mutilating many of the women working in prostitution. The family fears the worst-- but who will worry about Heloise?

She proves that she is pretty capable of discovering the location of the young girl, but then she also discovers who the murderer is and it may be too late!

I struggled with reviewing this book--there are parts that I thought were really well written, the mystery for one. Then there were portions of it that I could have done without--the descriptions of her desire. I know I should have been prepared for that being a part of the book, given her primary profession, however I did not expect it and almost didn't continue reading it.

Actual rating: 3.5

I don’t usually read mystery or thrillers. This is the one that I read after a long time. This is a debut novel of the author M.J. Tjia. She Be Damned is a historical mystery set in the Victorian era in London. The main protagonist of the story is Mrs. Heloise Chancey who is a courtesan and lives in Mayfair with her Chinese Maid Amah Li Leen.

She got an assignment by Mr. Thomas Avery to find a missing girl named Eleanor, who was from a good family and was missing in London’s dark side, Waterloo. On the other hand, pregnant prostitutes in Waterloo area were being murdered and their sexual organs being mutilated and removed. They get the news of another girl getting murdered and they suspect that it may be Eleanor. Heloise decided to live in Waterloo, where her roots were, for investigating the case further.

During the investigation, Heloise made contacts to try and find Eleanor. But during all this mystery solving she gets into a bigger mystery and the number of events that were happening with the prostitutes. She meets a police sergeant, Bill Chapman who helps her in with the case. Obviously, there is some romance between them. They have a number of suspects for the crime and together they made some progress. She was near to getting the truth when Amah got arrested for the charge of murders.

Will Heloise be able to prove that Amah is innocent? Has does Amah anything to do with all this? What happened to Eleanor? Will Heloise find her? Who is the real killer and what actually is the motive?

All the characters were created beautifully according to the Victorian era of the 1860s. The dressing of Heloise was explained in a detailed manner like how the ladies were supposed to dress in those days. The author does a great job with the London setting and shown the attitudes and morals of the time correctly, as far I can say.

I found that the book is more character driven rather than the mystery driven. All the characters were dynamic and properly described as per their roles. I really liked the relationship between Amah Li Leen and Heloise. They were the perfect pairing while they don’t often get along.

Though the character of Heloise was represented to a big extent, nothing was revealed about her past. I wanted to know her back story, that how she gets to leave the life of the prostitute and got settled in Mayfair. But I guess, the author has saved that backstory to be described in next books of the series (yes, this is to become a series.). Also, bits and pieces about Amah Li Leen were shown, but I wanted to know more about her story, that how she ended up with Heloise. Middle English is used as the language.

At some point it was dark especially the way those prostitutes were being murdered. Those were awful. But I am glad, that there was not too much graphic description for those deaths. Sometimes, you feel as if the story has just skipped some parts and it becomes confusing during parts of the book. There was romance in the story but nothing too graphic.

In spite of having some complaints about the story, I loved the ending. It was surprising and I absolutely didn’t saw it coming.

If you are looking for some quick and assertive read, then this is a decent read. It is certainly worth the read, especially for the ending. That ending specially changed my whole outlook towards the story. As a debut novel, Tjia has done a great job. I will definitely wait for the next book in the series, as I want to know more about Heloise and Amah’s backstory.

I found this to be an incredibly arresting mystery and an interesting look into the past. Heloise is a courtesan, a kept woman and it seems part time investigator. When a daughter of a peer become pregnant outside of marriage she disappears to steamy underbelly of London where her father cannot find her. Heloise is entrusted to help locate the missing young woman and see her returned home to her family. There is also a killer on the loose mutilating prostitutes, throughout London. Heloise due to her nature can navigate both the upper and lower parts of London to see to her duty. With this killer on the loose, Heloise on his radar and women throughout London being killed the challenge may be Heloise staying alive at all.

‘Go back to work in a brothel, for the sake of a little detection?’

This novel is set in London in 1863, where prostitutes in the Waterloo area are turning dead. When the corpses are found, organs have been removed or mutilated. Who is killing these women, and why?

Heloise Chancey is a courtesan, nicely set up in a house in Mayfair with her Chinese maid /Amah, Li Leen. Heloise has done some informal detective work for Sir Thomas Avery’s private detective agency previously, and when Eleanor Carter, a well-bred young woman goes missing in the Waterloo area, Heloise is approached by Sir Thomas and, on behalf of an unnamed client, a Mr Priestly to help. And, when simply asking doesn’t seem to get the answer Mr Priestly requires, an unsubtle threat does. The police, apparently, are not particularly interested in the cases of four murdered prostitutes. Sir Thomas and Mr Priestly believe that Heloise Chancey’s contacts may well enable her to locate Eleanor Carter. And so, Heloise Chancey is essentially blackmailed into trying to find Eleanor. Clearly a resourceful young woman, she quickly moves into an investigatory mode. Her mission to try to find Heloise becomes caught up in the police’s wider investigation of the murdered prostitutes.

There are more than a few twists and turns in this story, despite the similarities between this fiction and the crimes perpetrated by Jack the Ripper some twenty-five years later. While I found Heloise Chancey an improbable character, Li Leen was intriguing and Ms Tjia kept my interest throughout. I understand that this is the first novel in an intended series.

I was jerked out of the story at one stage: a reference to the stench of ‘sewerage’ in a novel set in London and written by an Australian should surely be a reference to ‘sewage’.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Pantera Press for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

If you like historical mysteries set in 1860's Victorian London, this book is in your wheelhouse! We meet Heloise Chancey, a courtesan nicely set up in a Mayfair house with her Chinese maid Amah Li Leen and a small staff. On the side, she does some detective work for the police informally and is asked to find Eleanor, a young woman with a good family who is missing in London's dark side of prostitution.

Heloise returns to her roots (we get some brief flashbacks of a very hardscrabble life in Liverpool and her working her way up from the brothels of Waterloo to her current situation) and makes contacts to try and find Eleanor. But her investigation gets into the middle of a larger mystery - young prostitutes have been found murdered, in a manner similar to what Jack the Ripper will do about 20 years later.

Along the way Heloise informally works with Bill Chapman, a police sergeant, and there is a bit of a romance, although nothing very graphic. We don't get graphic details about the deaths either, although the murders themselves are pretty awful. I found the casual acceptance of violence against women (domestic abuse, some references to rape, women having absolutely no control over their bodies or fortunes) more horrifying. There were doctors at the time who felt removing a woman's ovaries and womb would "calm them down" and make them more content with their lives.

The mystery is compelling and kept my interest throughout. The author does a great job with the London setting and the attitudes and morals of the time. We learn bits and pieces about Heloise and Amah Li Leen's history and I would definitely read the next book in this series!

Imagine the love child between Irene Adler and Sherlock Holmes, minus the over-smart brains. You get Heloise Chancey, courtesan and detective, who goes to investigate the gruesome murders and mutilations of pregnant prostitutes in 19th century London. It is a fast-paced novel with lots of action, but also plenty of emotional and calmer scenes throughout, not to mention a bit of fun. I do understand why other reviewers criticize the opening as misleading and off-putting, but for me it showcased what sort of protagonist we are dealing with: a sexy, assertive woman, confident in her body and her sexuality. One has to keep in mind that this is a debut work - and it is really very good. There is good pacing, clever plot twists, a nice mystery and lots of female power. So if you are turned off by the beginning, continue reading please, it does get less steamy and more serious. Overall, I am very much looking forward to reading more of this character in future installments. Or of her past, for that matter...

This is the first in the series of what I hope will be many Heloise Chancey books.
This one tells the story of the hunt for a murderer who is performing operations on prostitutes and leaving them for dead. Heloise is asked to look for a girl to make sure she doesn't end up as one of the murderers victims.
The writing in this book is beautiful and really took me back to 1863. The description is amazing and I loved the style of writing
Throughout the course of the book we find out things about Heloise herself which I hope will carry on the more books there are.
This is only a short book which is usually what happens with these sorts of novels, but the story was wrapped up well. I do usually like my books a lot longer but this one was done well so not a massive issue.

Thankyou to Netgalley for giving me this copy in return for an honest review.

There have been plenty of Victorian novels: crime novels, Dickens novels and romance novels. Something about the grandeur and squalor of the 1800s just captures the imagination, I suppose- and She Be Damned, having been longlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger, certainly makes a good, more unusual, addition to their ranks.
M.J Tjia definitely does a great job in capturing the seedy underbelly of Victorian life without going into detail about what life was like for the upper echelons of society. This is very much a story about the underdogs: prostitutes, murders and street rats, and indeed the heroine herself is a famous courtesan who- for reasons perhaps best explained as ‘plot’- likes to help her friend Sir Thomas and do a little detecting on the sly. This time, somebody’s been carving up prostitutes, cutting off their sexual organs and leaving them to die. Who better for the job than Heloise Chancey?
The heroine, Heloise, carries the story. We’re given no introductions or backstory into her life; instead, we’re plunged into the middle of the action and left to pick up the pieces as we go along. Heloise is an entertaining protagonist: she’s mysterious (though we do learn about her past the story progresses), full of determination, resourceful and refreshingly unapologetic, both about her wealth and her profession. She also has an exotic maid, Amah Li Leen, in tow, to whom there is more than first appears. Who better to guide us through the decrepit world of Victorian London? The host of secondary characters, too, are fleshed out and don’t adhere to stereotypes (except maybe the brothel owner) in a way that drags you into the world that Tjia has created and makes you want to read more.
Indeed, the author’s portrayal of Victorian London is rich in detail, from the brothels to the police stations, sprinkled liberally with Victorian slang rich enough to make the book feel realistic and draw you in. Apart from anything else, it’s also a fascinating look at how prostitution was seen in Victorian times, from the rich and respected courtesans to the destitution of the lower classes; Heloise herself has clawed her way up from the bottom and the fact that she herself is a prostitute makes for a more nuanced portrayal of it than perhaps we’d see in other books.
The plot unfolds deftly- there’s never a dull moment- but I personally found that I was reading it more for the interesting characters, and to see what Heloise would do, rather for than the case itself. There are twists and turns, some of which seem rather haphazard, thrown in more to confuse the reader rather than to serve any purpose in the story- as do some of the subplots. Indeed, I only understood why the interludes inserted into the novel were there under the very end, so if you like a novel that keeps you guessing then this is for you.
Overall, though, She Be Damned is an interesting take on the detective novel with a modern and resourceful heroine at the helm, who takes us into the grimy and exciting world of Victorian London. Almost as educational as it is engaging, it’s clear that the author has poured their heart into this, and as a fun read it’s perfect for any fan of historical fiction.

Even though the story is not original, the character certainly is. Heloise Chancey is a girl with a past, but managed to luck out and have a good life. She does favors for a private investigator, who has sometimes given her an opportunity to hone her skills.
In She Be Damned, Heloise was supposed to find a missing girl, but she quickly found herself investigating a murder. Girls have been turning up dead, sans some internal organs. The police wasn't paying attention until now. when the media gets wind of it.
I would read it for Heloise.

Thanks Pantera Press and netgalley for this ARC.

I loved, loved, loved this book. It's of that kind where you just know you'll love it from the first chapter. Honest, loyal, mysterious, and unforgivably herself. Can't wait for the next one!

Mrs. Heloise Chancey has been hired by Sir Thomas to find a young, pregnant girl who has disappeared. A murderer is on the loose, killing young women, dismembering them and leaving them to bleed to death. The girl must be found quickly... It's London in the 1800's and Heloise, a courtesan, actress and part-time detective, must go back to her roots as a prostitute in order to sniff out clues. She moves to a house, owned by a bordello madam, in Waterloo where the murders occurred, leaving her 'servant', Amah, behind. The 2 have an amusing, contentious relationship, but it's obvious they are particularly fond of each other.
The atmospheric writing is tremendous; you smell, feel and hear the crowds, to the point you imagine yourself lifting your feet and skirts so as not to soil them with muck. I loved this book, and the ending is great; I was so sad it was over. Please write quickly, M.J. Tjia, I want to immerse myself into Heloise's world again!
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this excellent book.

Heloise Chancey is a woman from Victorian London who is cajoled into working for a detective, Sir Thomas, when prostitutes in Waterloo are showing up dead and butchered. Based on her past she is asked to look around for a man's daughter, Eleanor, that went missing. She becomes a Private Investigator, a job not fit for a woman at the time, and tries to solve the mystery. It is noted that she has done work for the detective in the past as well.

I am so pleased that I was able to pick this book up. I devoured this book in the course of a day. I couldn't help wondering what was going to happen next and wishing that I could be transported back to the time period. Minus the murder, of course. The book was completely immersive, including the dialogue and slang from some of the characters. I'm hoping that there will be more books coming from M.J. Tjia because I would love to read more about Heloise's life.

Loved the slang but the blurb set my hopes for a mystery novel. However this series seems to be going more towards a novel of manner.
Life and troubles of courtesans might be of interest for a lot of people. It most likely won't make me read further in the series.

Heloise Chancey is asked to investigate the girls being butchered when going to have their regeneracy aborted. They are bleeding to death. This is 1863 London and no one seems to care about this happening. Heloise is looking for one particular young lady from a better home who is out on the street. A compelling story of the times and the life of these young ladies. With the help of her Chinese maid, she is finding out more as she investigates.