I’m hooked. Before I finished reading Lady Helena InvestIgates I started looking for more books by this author. I was pleased to find more books by Jane Steen although none in this particular series. I really enjoy historical fiction especially mysteries with lots of action and a little romance. Lady Helena‘s husband has just died and she has lead a sheltered life typical of this era. I loved seeing her grow, becoming more forward, adventurous and able to make decisions for herself and others in her care. No boredom with this novel, it’s fast paced with twists and turns. Great well developed characters that keep you guessing to the end.. Excellent medically accurate details, well researched and knowledgeable in historical medical practice. My thanks to the author, the publisher and netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book. Looking forward to all the books in this new series.

I love historical fiction and this book is amazing too. I loved the story. It was well written. It worths to read.

Lady Helena herself relates her story as the first-person narrator of this novel. I couldn’t put this book down, not because of the slight mystery in it, but because I cared so much about Lady Helena. It was like sipping a cup of tea with a dear friend while chatting about the latest drama stirred up by one of her endearing but bossy family members. This is some masterful storytelling.

The word “Investigates” in the book title is a bit of a misnomer. If you’re looking for a good whodunit or psychological suspense or gothic mystery, this isn’t it. But if you’re in the mood for a Victorian family drama with believable characters and beautifully crafted writing (and a few nasty skeletons in the cupboards of the family manor house), this is the novel for you.

My only disappointment is that this is book one of a series, and book two has not yet been published! While I wait impatiently for book two, I plan on reading Jane Steen’s other series, “The House of Closed Doors”.

Thanks to NetGalley and Aspidistra Press for this free ebook in exchange for my review.

This book is so well written, it was a pleasure to read it for that alone. But the story pulls you in and keeps you page turning until the end. I love historical novels about female sleuths, because, let's face it, with their easy access to homes, tea, and social events, they could be privy to a lot of gossip. I highly recommend you read this and any other by this author!

I am an absolute fan of this type of novel, set in the Victorian period. As is often the case, the central character is a woman of substantial means and in this case she has just become a widow. Despite the setting the author does show the elements of the heroine's life that we would find totally unacceptable in this day and age. Only a matter of week after her husband's death she is being urged to think about re-marrying when her mourning is over. The plot starts off with just a vague feeling that circumstances about the death were wrong and as Lady Helena digs deeper she finds that there are some very nasty things going on in her local village. This was very enjoyable story and I look forward to reading Helena's further adventures.

Thank you to NetGalley.com and Aspidistra Press for this copy in exchange for an honest review.
I love historical novels and Lady Helena is right in that genre. This was a very enjoyable read. Mystery, romance, murder?? You can't go wrong this combination. The story flowed and just when you thought the book was over, mystery solved, it continued on. I love this as I hate to see a good story come to a halt. It weaved in the romance and the questions that will hopefully be answered in the next installment.
Thank you Jane Steen for your creativity!
#NetGalley #LadyHelenaInvestigates

I really liked this book. It’s not perfect, but it was a lovely read on an afternoon that was simply too hot to focus on. If I was complaining, I would say that it was a little overly long, with factual information about the family being repeated a little too often, but in my muggy, woolly state-of-mind I actually really appreciated that. I loved the calm way that things unfolded slowly, and the tone and pace worked perfectly for the Victorian setting.

You may need to give it a chapter or so to open up, as the opening scene is somewhat dense and confusing. Lady Helena, our protagonist, has a very large family, with six siblings and an array of nieces and nephews and brothers-in-law, not to mention her own husband (recently deceased) and various other members of her household and village. It feels like they are all introduced at once, and the first few pages are a cacophony of voices as the author tries to show us each of the different siblings. Do not worry. The book gets a lot more sensibly-paced after this scene, and the horde of relatives step back and let Helena interact with them individually and like normal people. It’s actually a very interesting family.

There is murder, and a mystery to be solved, of course, but ultimately that plot line was far less compelling than finding out about Helena’s life and her family. Her elderly mother has dementia, and the different ways Helena’s siblings react to that is fascinatingly well-painted. The siblings themselves were born over a 25 year span, with some of her elder sisters married with children before she was even born. Helena herself is intriguing – a young widow, she has been forced to act much older than her age (early twenties) to make her way in the world, and the book is a journey towards her discovering that her family have had lives before and outside her, and she has never noticed.

My favourite thread throughout the book is Helena’s rediscovery of her talent with medicinal herbs, a skill that she learned from her mother but had given up on after a trauma. She learns to embrace her healing skills, and I loved the inclusion of the era-appropriate medicine, with her doctor friend recommending tisanes, poultices and infusions alongside his more chemical medicine. Herbalism is something of a hobby of mine, and I loved the application of it here.

I think that the book could have ended around 4/5ths of the way through, after the murder had been solved, but the author seemed determined to tie up every single loose end, so there were several chapters of Helena discussing the events of the novel with each of her siblings, and coming to terms with her new life. It wasn’t bad, but it felt like the moment in a pantomime where everything’s resolved, but there are just a few more hoops to jump through: you’re just waiting for the big wedding and final song to wrap up the formula so you can finally go to the loo. It kind of worked, though, in the way that the leisurely pace worked for the rest of the book – there’s no action here, just the slow, gentle going-on of life.

Really quite calming and uplifting – four out of five stars.

Set in the 19th century, the story is charming! There is something about the British style of writing that I simply adore. Be it the extensive use of vocabulary or the descriptions or the location, it is all so fairy-tale like.

There are many characters in the book – Lady Helena has six siblings and each one of them plays a significant role in Helena’s life. From the weirdo twin sisters to the dyslexic brother to the loving sister, the characters are strongly described. And not to forget, The Lady’s maid, Gutteridge and The Lady’s dog, Scotty play an important role too.

Since the story is set in the mid-1800’s, certain customs that a Lady, especially a widow, had to follow are mentioned. They include the long periods of mourning, and her family coercing her to remarry as soon as possible and since Lady Helena and Justin had no children, there is also a mention or two about Lady Helena being “Barren”.

Although the book starts on a slow and boring note, the story takes a turn in the second half. The first half of the book concentrates on the widow reminiscing about Justin and her family almost forcing her to remarry and what not! Then there is the handsome Dr. Fortier, whose acquaintance with Lady Helena is gossiped about.

The story is not your usual fast-paced crime story. There is no gore or violent descriptions in the book. My most favorite part of the book has to be the one where Lady Helena learns about her parent’s blissful marriage. And my least favorite part of the book is the one where Lady Helena’s family always talks to her about remarriage and her being barren and her ‘affair’ with Dr. Fostier.

If you like slow stories set in the 19th century, or, if you like British mysteries, then you will love this book.

I loved this story of a 19th century woman coming to terms with her new widowhood and also uncovering a series of family mysteries. I hope that there will be more to her story.

Lady Helena Investigates is a lovely book that I enjoyed immensely. When a friend of a Lady Helena's recently deceased husband tells her that he believes the husband's accidental drowning death was actually murder, she is horrified and very hesitant to believe the claims or to investigate. As the next to the youngest of one of seven children, she already has her hands full with sibling advice about how to behave with decorum during her mourning period and how to manage her fortune and estate.

It is a journey of discovery for Helena as she navigates her family and the social mores and mourning dictates of the last 1800's, while at the same time refusing to passively accept widowhood. I quite enjoyed how she grew as a character as the book progressed and was more and more able to stand up for herself. There is more than one mystery in this well-written book that Helena finds herself unable to ignore,

I highly recommend this book and look forward to future installments of this series.

Lady Helena is recently widowed from a husband she loved deeply. She is learning about using herbs as her mother before her had. Her brother, Michael wants her to marry or give over the handling of her estate to him. Helena is reading her mother's journals trying to find herbal recipes, but she learns much more. She meets a doctor that she likes, but he has secrets and she is still grieving her husband. Lady Helena starts her investigation by reading the journals and talking to her sisters, but is not prepared to find scandals, secrets, murder, incest and more information than she can understand in her life. I love this book because of all the mystery and especially because she is an independent woman who can handle herself and her estate. I received this book from Net Galley for an honest review and no compensation otherwise.

I really enjoyed this book. A bit slow to start but once the pace picked it was really gripping. Lady Helena emerges like a butterfly from the shock of loss and grief of a beloved husband and starts to take control of her life in the face of solid resistance from her family. There are tantalsing hints of the back story of many of the main characters; will the enigmatic doctor extract himself from a marriage which is not a marriage (and what is that all about); and what is the ladies maid hiding? All in all I am looking forward to the next book!

I like mystery books. And I was expecting it to be heavy on it, but the total opposite. Yes, it was good. But I was thinking lady helena would investigate, it would be like amateur investigating. But it was not.

This is a historical fiction mainly with a essence of mystery and suspense. The book focuses on her getting over her husband's death. It was great to read about her getting from one point to the other.

This was a tough read for me! The first half of the book is something that was very hard to get through! It was reading very slow for me and I ended up having to DNF because it was taking too long to get through the storyline.

I enjoyed this book, as it was easy to read and the characters are likable, but it was not what I expected. I thought Lady Helena would be doing more investigating and be more assertive. It feels like the book was more about her life as a Lady in 19th century England and she solves the mysteries by luck only. However, by the end of the book, she seems to find her own voice and actually do some investigating. As it looks like it will be a series, I will be reading the next book to see how her character is developed.

The titular lady investigates the cause of her (second) husband's death, aided by a charming French physician, much to the disapproval of her many siblings. She finds herself searching for clues within her own family history and discovers secrets that will alter her perspective about everything she's held dear.

I enjoyed the story as a whole -its interweaving of mystery and (formulaic) romance, with a historical (?) perspective about mental illness. It's another variation of the (usually) Regency or Victorian era formula novel with a quirky, strong-minded Female Protagonist (usually recently widowed), meddling siblings who disapprove of her "unladylike" interests, and a handsome (and usually unsuitable by society standards) Male Protagonist, involved in the investigation into the aforementioned husband's death.

During the investigation, a startling secret about him is revealed, (usually something negative or potentially scandalous), that inadvertently (?) diminishes the character. This is one component of this formula that never made sense to me; it seems that the reason behind this is to "enhance" the allure of the socially unsuitable Male Protagonist in the rebellious Female Protagonist's eyes.

Needless to say, the Quirky Female Protagonist and Unsuitable-yet-attractive Male Protagonist are at odds with one another which eventually turns to mutual respect (and inevitably) to a declaration of love. Obstacles will present themselves in future tales (disapproving relatives, a former flame showing up causing temporary jealousy, and misunderstandings, to name but a few) leading up to (most likely in the penultimate tales) marriage between the lead protagonists.

Nevertheless, there were enough plot twists and red herrings to keep the momentum of the story going while following the aforementioned formula. There's a level of comfort that the story arc will follow the familiar path, with a few twists thrown here and there to keep it interesting. All the characters were fully formed with their own personalities and perspectives, and the Scott-De Quincys are a close knit family.

I look forward to reading more about them and Lady Helena's future adventures, with the hopes that there are more (plausible) deviations to the aforementioned formula.

A really interesting and well told story with wonderful writing. I found myself thinking about it when I was reading it and raced pack to pick it up. I love old historical murder mysteries and this is another fantastic author to look out for.

Imagine Silent in the Grave that had been written with Lady Julia Grey as an easily bullied and extremely naïve young woman, one who cannot even stand up to her baby brother or a haranguing, fault-finding elder sister. Further imagine that talented author Deanna Rayburn had substituted a forgettable French doctor for the mercurial inquiry agent (and much more) Nicholas Brisbane. Leach out all the humor and charm and substitute a pretty lackluster mystery with plotting that drags a bit for the suspense of Rayburn’s debut novel in the Lady Julia Grey. You’d have the derivative Lady Helena Investigates, right down to the secret murder of the husband.

If I hadn’t ready Rayburn’s novels, I would have just dismissed Lady Helena Investigates as a so-so mystery. So, based on what readers completely ignorant of Rayburn’s far superior series would feel, I’m awarding this mediocre book three stars. It’s clearly itself the start of a mystery series; I hope that its author, Jane Steen, finds others to enjoy the series. But I won’t be reading any further.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Aspidistra Press in exchange for an honest review.

The lead character's nickname is Baby. Her family called her that. I started to feel annoyed. There are a lot of good, proper nicknames for this 18th century settings, the author chose "Baby". I wanted to finish the book as soon as I stumbled a name "Baby". Jelek.

While the premise of Steen's work is intruiging and moderately paced, the work becomes bogged down in period detail and characters are not given a chance to be fully realized.