This is the second entry in the series From the Casebooks of Jesperson & Lane (I would recommend to start with the first novel to get the characters better) starts with the man dying literally in front the eyes of our private detectives. With his dying breath, he said “Witch!". Might this be a heart attack, or is the cause of the death more sinister? Our characters start to investigate...and the mysteries start to add on, because there is a case of a baby missing, too.
I´d say this was an OK read, especially if you are a fan of historical misteries of Holmesian type. Here, too, there are some paranormal elements, scary elements, human elements. Mr Jesperson is a nice take on a Holmes figure. As for Miss Lane, I would love for her to have more era-related mimicry (a business partnership of a single woman and a single man would be highly unusual in Victorian times) and also more of an true intellectual agenda.
But the read is easy, the mysteries are compelling and the atmosphrere of the novel is catchy. In my opinion, the series is going in the good direction!

This is a mystery from the very beginning when Charles Manning appears at the door of Jesperson & Lane and then promptly dies of a supposed heart attack. Jesperson & Lane are private detectives very similar to Sherlock and Holmes. They travel to where Charles Manning was staying before he died to see what other causes of his death there may be. They encounter a couple of more mysteries while trying to solve the one that brought them there.

The pacing was nice and steady, and I enjoyed the characters of Jesperson & Lane as well. There was a twist at the end which I suspected but not the why.

I am going to go back and read the first book in this series.

This second entry in the “casebooks” of Mr Jesperson and Miss Lane starts literally as the first novel ends, with a young man storming our intrepid detectives’ residence in the wee hours, shocking them by calling Miss Lane a witch, then dying on the spot without a readily discernible cause.

Our sleuths react according to their personalities: Miss Lane is shocked and more than a bit discomfited by both the accusation and subsequent death, while Mr Jesperson decides on the spot to investigate the dead man’s reasons to seek them out–once they’ve secured assurances of payment by the victim’s surviving family–and the underlying cause of death.

After my disappointment with The Somnambulist and the Psychic Thief, I was prepared to cut more slack to this story, by reading it with the understanding that there would be paranormal Deux Ex Machina involved in both the mystery and its solution.

The rhythm of the narrative and the language choices draw the reader very effectively back in time, to the period the story is set in; there are enough references to actual historical personages and events to ground the novel further in time.

However, the story also draws on some antisemitic tropes, namely blood libel: a baby goes missing, there are three ‘known’ witches in the neighborhood, and Miss Lane spends entirely too much time entertaining the potential “truth” beneath the antisemitic stories of cannibalistic witches.

Perhaps for because I adjusted my expectations, I found the reading more compelling in this novel; and it made it all the more satisfying that the solution to Mr Manning’s murder was wholly mundane, and not just plausible, but entirely logical.

Mind you, there are enough clues and red herrings to make it worth it to the reader to pay close attention; of course, there is an entirely too fantastical plot thread, but it a) fits with the tone of Victorian novels, and b) brings about a happier future for mother and babe than they’d otherwise have.

Beyond that, my only other complaint comes from the characterizations, which were pretty shallow and/or inconsistent, especially that of our narrator, Ms Lane.

In the first novel, and indeed, in this book through Mr Jesperson’s testimony, we are given to understand that she has almost supernatural instincts about people. And yet, for most of the novel Miss Lane is mostly just a witness to Mr Jesperson’s brilliance; even when she investigates on her own, she often fails to make the most obvious connections between known facts and the people affected by them.

Still, I read the book in basically one sitting, barely coming up for air.

The Witch at Wayside Cross gets 8.50 out of 10

The Curious Affair of the Witch at Wayside Cross by Lisa Tuttle.
Witch!” cries the young man after stumbling unexpectedly into the London address of the consulting-detective partnership of Mr. Jasper Jesperson and Miss Lane. He makes the startling accusation while pointing toward Miss Lane . . . then he drops dead. Thus begins the strangest case yet to land—quite literally—on the doorstep of Jesperson and Lane.
An OK read. Slow but readable.3*.

Thank you for the opportunities to read this book. I have attempted it on a number of occasions but unfortunately I haven’t been able to get into it.

Great book, love this author and how they can keep my attention to the end! The plot is well developed, characters are believable and they obviously paid attention to detail to make the story worth your time to read.

I love genre-bending stories, and this one is a sterling example of the sort. It's a delightful blend of Holmesian mystery and the paranormal that kept me entertained and trying to stay a step ahead of the secrets that unfolded. Engrossing and fun, and made me want to read the entire series

A new case comes to the doorstep of Jesperson and Lane, quite literally. A frightened man comes to the door asking for help, sees Miss Lane and cries, “Witch” and then drops dead. The coroner cites heart trouble as the cause of death even though Charles Manning was by all accounts in good health. His address book leads Mr. Jesperson and Miss Lane to the town of Aylmerton, home of the shrieking pits that are said to be haunted by the ghost of a woman. They find out there was another mysterious death recently, both men connected to a man trying to start a school of ancient wisdom. There’s also a home to three sisters that many claim are witches. As the detectives are trying to unravel all of this, a baby is kidnapped, and they put their skills to work tracking down the infant before there is yet another death.

This is the second book in the series, but it could easily be your introduction to the series (it was mine) or a standalone book. You get a feel for the two main characters very quickly, and the brief background info at the beginning is sufficient to feel like you are well-briefed and ready to dive into the plot.

I really enjoyed this book. Mr. Jesperson and Miss Lane very much have a Holmes and Watson feel about them. I’m not super into paranormal stuff, but it’s not weird or creepy; it’s just enough to give a fantastical element to the story. The characters were enjoyable, the pacing was good, the mystery was well-written with good twists. I’m definitely looking to read more in this series. Thanks to NetGalley for the free ebook.

I was enjoying this book. I have to read using text-to-speech. But mid-book the text-to-speech quit working. So I can't finish reading this book. I don't want to rate with stars as the story itself was fun. It is this issue that stops me. [edit] Well, I am made to rate.

[Edit] Text-to-speech is now working. Review to come soon!

[Edit] This was different! And fun!

After so many problems with the text-to-speech and a miraculous fixing, I got to hear the whole book. Here, let me share the blurb that brought me to diving in.

"The paranormal answer to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Jesperson, and Lane are turning the Victorian era upside down in this bewitching series from John W. Campbell Award winner Lisa Tuttle."

As much fun as this adventure was, I did get angry with how the women were treated. And how they accepted the treatment. But it was that era, so I guess it wouldn't be right to have a down-right rebel, though Bridgerton is doing a good job of bending the historical rules.

I was lucky to find this on NetGalley. Thank you!

The Curious Affair of the Witch at Wayside Cross
by Lisa Tuttle
I purchased this book because of the wonderful author and book. I will get to reading the series and post another review and change this one when i can.

Different story to what I would normally read. Very well written and plotted, would highly recommend to others.

3.5 Stars

Okay, to be fair, this book was not at all what I thought it would be and I'm sure that my opinion about it has been swayed by my preconceptions. This book actually has ZERO witches despite the name of the title. I was really in the mood for a good witch story, so I'm disappointed. This book is actually a sort of play on a Sherlock and Watson, it takes place in London with two detectives trying to solve a unique case.
Miss Lane plays the secondary detective (Watson) which was both intriguing and annoying. I'm glad we have a woman detective, but there are points where she misses things that are "obvious" to Jesperson that defeat the girl empowerment aspect of a woman detective in this time period.
As with a Sherlock story, there are several mini-cases that also get solved while they are working on the main case. This helps keep the plot going a bit, but it is still a fairly slow book.
The other thing that bothered me a bit was that despite there being zero witches, a few of the mini cases were solved through the existence of the fairies. Either be a fantasy book or a mystery novel. Don't try to be an intellectual novel which challenges the reader to solve these cases and then "solve" it by bringing in a fantasy aspect.

I am reading everything I can find by this author now. The book was well paced and I enjoyed the protagonist very much. Will be looking forward to more in this series.

A solid second entry to the Jesperson and Lane series. I’m very much looking forward to this series continuing!

Set in England is a story of a detective agency run by a man, Jesperson and a woman, Lane. A man falls dead in the entrance of their home and what follows is an investigation into his death with all sorts of twists and turns. Read carefully or you will miss the clues. Witches, fairies, two love stories and a missing newborn are included in this story. The book describes the English countryside and the way the people of the time felt about things in the Victorian era.

I'm too ashamed to even try and work out how long I've been sitting on my eARC of The Witch at Wayside Cross -- I know it's been far too long, because I spotted the paperback version in my library. I’m even more ashamed that I didn’t read it sooner because, once I started, I flew through this book, and finished it in a couple of days.

I think I mentioned in my review of the first book, The Somnambulist and the Psychic Thief, that it really reminded me of Sherlock Holmes: both in the Victorian London setting and in the dynamic between the two characters (except Miss Lane is a better detective than Watson can be in some adaptations). I notice this one has the tagline “The paranormal answer to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson” and that’s pretty much accurate.

If that’s true, then The Witch at Wayside Cross is Tuttle’s answer to The Hound of the Baskervilles. It takes the duo out of London and into Norfolk, investigating a far more rural and superstition-laden mystery. There’s no fancy opera houses or chases through dark alleys this time around, instead there’s small town rumours, ancient folklore and family secrets.

I thought that The Witch of the Wayside Cross was an improvement on the previous book on pretty much every front. I did really enjoy the first book, but this one was more confident, and you can definitely see that Tuttle has really got a firm grip on her world and her characters.

The plot is far more straightforward in this one. It's not as convoluted and overreaching, and so it doesn't twist around on itself, trying to do too much. I thought that made it a much more interesting read. I thought the characters were stronger and had grown more into original characters rather than Holmes’ effigies. Jefferson doesn't appear in this one as much -- the investigation sends them their separate ways quite a bit -- but what we do see of him is more likeable than the first book. He doesn't seem to be quite as ridiculously brilliant, he's not showing off the thousand different obscure talents he's picked up on his travels: he's just a very clever observer and detective. We follow Lane doing her own investigation, and I found it really interesting that this divided along gender lines. Jefferson is off interviewing the charismatic new cult/school leader whereas Lane is in the local witches’ parlour, learning about deadly herbs or interviewing the vicar’s governess and the kitchen maid. This gave the two lead characters space to grow a little bit more into their own people.

The Jefferson and Lane books are good detective-based historical mysteries, which should especially appeal to readers who prefer the case to be the focus of the novel. Although Jefferson and Lane are friends, and the characters themselves are developing, there's very little character-related drama, little time spent on my personal lives unless it directly relates to the case and, so far, there's no hints of a romantic relationship between them.

I was a little disappointed in the secondary plot line, as that mystery felt far more tacked on and less well-thought-out. I think these stories are strongest when the line between paranormal and mundane explanations are more murky -- such as the discussion in this one over witches as magical versus wise women, potions versus medicine etc -- and the B-plot just fell too far over that line.

Overall, The Witch at Wayside Cross is a really good, strong story. Reading it has really reminded me how much I enjoy this series, and I’d keep an eye out for another -- and definitely not let it gather dust for so long!

A great start, but unfortunately the book wasn't able to remain great the entire way through. The story was also more mundane and less magical than I expected it to be.

Too boring and irritating for me to finish

This is the first book by Lisa Tuttle that I have attempted to read, and I now I know that I am not a fan of this author. This is the second book in this series about a pair of Victorian paranormal detectives who live in London who remind me of Holmes and Watson. I thought that the book started off well with an interesting murder and good Victorian-era setting details. I also liked how the mystery involved really cool English folklore, including something like a banshee.
However, I had a few problems with the book. First, I really wish that the author had told us in a couple of paragraphs about the nature of Miss Lane's and Mr. Jesperson's relationship and how they met. It really bothered me trying to figure it out. Secondly, Miss Lane lives in the same house as her male work partner. If you set your book in Victorian England, you should depict realistic culture. The book does not address the fact that Miss Lane would not be able to mingle with or get any work done among polite society once they know that she, an unmarried woman, lives with a single man. Lastly, the writing style is too dry and boring for me. I was so bored that I gave up after reading only 27% of the book. Other mystery readers might love this book, but I do not.
I received a free advanced reading copy via Netgalley, and I voluntarily wrote this honest review.

"The paranormal answer to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Jesperson and Lane are turning the Victorian era upside down in this bewitching series from John W. Campbell Award winner Lisa Tuttle.

“Witch!” cries the young man after stumbling unexpectedly into the London address of the consulting-detective partnership of Mr. Jasper Jesperson and Miss Lane. He makes the startling accusation while pointing toward Miss Lane . . . then he drops dead. Thus begins the strangest case yet to land—quite literally—on the doorstep of Jesperson and Lane.

According to the coroner, Charles Manning died of a heart attack—despite being in perfect health. Could he have been struck down by a witch’s spell? The late Mr. Manning’s address book leads Jesperson and Lane to the shrieking pits of Aylmerton, an ancient archaeological site reputed to be haunted by a vengeful ghost. There they sift through the local characters, each more suspicious than the last: Manning’s associate, Felix Ott, an English folklore enthusiast; Reverend Ringer, a fierce opponent of superstition; and the Bulstrode sisters, a trio of beauties with a reputation for witchcraft.

But when an innocent child goes missing, suddenly Jesperson and Lane aren’t merely trying to solve one murder—they’re racing to prevent another."

Yes, that atmospheric cover sold me on this book even before I read the blurb.

I thoroughly enjoyed this sequel to The Somnambulist and the Psychic Thief. I especially loved that the sequel picks up at the exact moment where the first book left off. I enjoyed seeing the characters of Jesperson and Lane develop further as the reader gets to know them better. There is definitely a gothic feel to the story, which I always enjoy, and a good twisty-mystery of a plot. Lisa Tuttle is a gifted writer, painting a chilling and fog-drenched adventure for her readers. Two back to back hits, I will definitely continue to read this series.