<span style="color: #000000;">The Hangman's Secret <em>A Victorian Mystery </em>is written by Laura Joh Rowland and published by Crooked Lane Books.</span>
<h1><strong><span style="color: #33cccc;">Description:</span></strong></h1>
<span style="color: #000000;"><b>From award-winning author Laura Joh Rowland, a story about the darkness that lurks within and the deadly secrets that beg to be revealed.</b></span>

<span style="color: #000000;"><i>Intrepid photographer Sarah Bain and her motley crew of friends are back to hunt criminals in the dark, seedy underbelly of Victorian London, but little do they know, the darkness may lurk closer than they first divined.</i></span>

<span style="color: #000000;">Photographer Sarah Bain and her friends Lord Hugh Staunton and sometime street urchin Mick O’Reilly are private detectives with a new gig—photographing crime scenes for London’s Daily World newspaper. The Daily World is the latest business venture of their sole client, Sir Gerald Mariner, a fabulously wealthy and powerful banker.</span>

<span style="color: #000000;">One cold, snowy January morning, Sarah, Hugh, and Mick are summoned to the goriest crime scene they’ve ever encountered. A pub owner named Harry Warbrick has been found hanged and decapitated amid evidence of foul play. His murder becomes a sensation because he was England’s top hangman and he’s met the same fate that he inflicted on hundreds of criminals.</span>

<span style="color: #000000;">Sir Gerald announces that the Daily World—meaning Sarah and her friends—will investigate and solve Harry Warbrick’s murder before the police do. The contest pits Sarah against the man she loves, Police Constable Barrett. She and her friends discover a connection between Harry Warbrick’s murder and the most notorious criminal he ever executed—Amelia Carlisle, the “Baby-Butcher,” who murdered hundreds of infants placed in her care.</span>

<span style="color: #000000;">Something happened at Amelia’s execution. The Official Secrets Act forbids the seven witnesses present to divulge any information about it. But Harry had a bad habit of leaking tips to the press. Sarah and her friends suspect that one of the other witnesses killed Harry to prevent him from revealing a secret related to the execution. What is the secret, and who hanged the hangman?</span>

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<span style="font-weight: 400; color: #000000;">The Hangman’s Secret is a thriller which kept me interested till the end. This book is in a series but LAURA Joh ROWLAND writes it in a way that is easy to read and it does not matter if you haven’t read the previous book. In fact, I am now interested in reading previous books and any future books in this series.</span>

<span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sarah Bain is a photographer and works at </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Daily World. </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">She is telling us the story.</span></span>

<span style="font-weight: 400; color: #000000;"> Although in some places I found her annoying. For more than 10 pages she would be telling that she is worried about how Barrett will be thinking and feeling and she needs to tell him this or that and when he would arrive, she would be fighting with him. I mean come on. You are not in a YA Novel!!!!!</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400; color: #000000;">But she is actually a strong woman and sometimes, um... I mean most of the time, stubborn.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400; color: #000000;">The protagonists of this story are Sara Bain, Mike O’Reilly, Hugh and Police Constable Thomas Barrett. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400; color: #000000;">I liked Mike and Hugh.  Mike is a teenager and he did behave like one. </span>

<span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sara, Mike and Hugh are friends and work for Sir Gerald who himself is a dangerous person and also the owner of the newspaper </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Daily World.</span></i></span>

<span style="font-weight: 400; color: #000000;">The story was a bit slow paced at first but it wasn’t that slow paced after half of the book. The last 50 pages were awesome. And they were fast paced too.</span>

<span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The book is set in 18</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">th</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> century London.</span></span>

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<span style="color: #000000;">I highly recommend it.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400; color: #000000;">If you want to read a book which matches any or all of the following criteria, then this book is just for you:</span>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400; color: #000000;">Mystery and Thriller</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400; color: #000000;">Suspense</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400; color: #000000;">A book set in  18th century London</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400; color: #000000;">A book featuring different people working together. </span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400; color: #000000;">Somewhat police drama.</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400; color: #000000;">And more…..</span></li>
</ul>

Loved this book, slightly out of the ordinary, great characters and was very well written.

Would happily recommend and would read more by this author.

The Hangman’s Secret by Laura Joh Rowand is a Victorian Mystery of deadly secrets and crimes. I love all the plots and sub plots woven together with plenty of action throughout the entire book. The main characters, the mystery and intricate plots become deeper in each successive book. I look forward to reading more books by Laura Joh Rowland. I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review from Crooked Lane Books through Netgalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This was a great book, I loved reading it. It gave me chills reading it!!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

At first, I didn’t like the writing because of its form, as it didn’t capture the style and mood of the Victorian Era. In other words, it read like a modern-day novel. As this was my own personal opinion on how a Victorian novel should be written, I initially disregarded my feelings and continued on. It wasn’t long before I realized what was really bothering me about the author’s prose and dialogue.

The writing in the earlier chapters sounds forced, and the author takes every opportunity to introduce backstory, though each time it is with the force of a sledgehammer rather than neatly inserting the information. Ms. Rowland’s characters barely show their emotions, but they are capable of bursting out with the most outrageous statements, thus lending an air of unbelievability to the story. Reporter Malcolm Cross stops to tell the heroine Sarah Bain exactly what he thinks of her, something that could have been accomplished through his actions during a meeting with their boss a few moments previous to this encounter. Inspector Reid, upset when Cross blurts out that his newspaper is in a “contest” with the police to solve a murder, publicly tells his subordinate Barrett that he (Reid) has been blocking Barrett’s promotion. Knowing that Barrett is dating Sarah, Reid then states “If you want a promotion, you’d better dump Sarah Bain.” I was still reading the opening chapters and already was dreading the rest of the book.

The statement by Reid was engineered in an attempt to insert tension between Barrett and Sarah. This could have happened naturally, but use of a heavy hand in this and other scenes destroys the reality the author is trying to create. This was not the only example of excessive explaining, and as the book progressed, more instances appeared. Even though the dialogue and emotions were now showing the interaction between characters, Ms. Rowland would also tell us what we were supposed to think. At the very least, this slowed the pacing of the book.

Characterizations were another issue. Sarah’s partner Hugh Staunton acts more like a rash young teenager than the adult he is. Her other Partner Mick is 14 and in love with a 19-year-old actress, who for some reason keeps him around as a conduit to a newspaper publisher (as if she couldn’t form an alliance with the many suitors seeking her favor). Sarah is the voice of reason, and in another dimension, she may question the author’s reasons for the continued presence of two males who don’t have that much to add (at least, not the way they are presented). The motivation for Sarah’s boss stems from his son’s disappearance, making “…his need for revenge…so insatiable that he’ll exact it from a stranger who killed a stranger.” Possibly, but yet another stretch at the fabrics of reality.

The plot throws red herrings in Sarah’s path, outlandish suspects that readers instantly realize nothing to do with the murder. On the other hand, Hugh and Mick are ready to lock them up and Sarah is swayed enough to keep them on her suspect list. Alas, at times it appears there is no mystery to the mystery.

Somewhere around the middle of the book, Ms. Rowland began exhibiting the skills that explained why she has sold so many books. The pace picked up and I found myself becoming more absorbed in the story. Sarah solves a few of the minor plot issues that travel throughout the books in this series, and the major plot comes to a satisfactory close.

Bottom line: This is a book Ms. Rowland’s fans will devour, and she may gain some new readers. While the second half of the story saved the book, it would have had to be incredible to overcome the slow start caused by muddled characterizations and unnecessary explanations. Three stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an advance complimentary ebook of this title.

“The Hangman’s Secret” is the second in a series set in Victorian England by Laura Joh Rowland, who also pens the Sano Ichiro books set in ancient Japan. This one’s backdrop is obviously a different part of the world, but frustrations and conflicts abound in both, a hallmark of the writer’s style.

There’s a lot going on in this book, perhaps too much. First, my pet peeve – I really, really dislike books written in present tense. It’s supposedly “the thing” these days, but I find it just too twee.

Quickly – Sarah Bain and her friend Hugh Staunton (who have definite secrets of their own), along with their young friend Mick O’Relly, have been summoned to the scene of a terrible murder. This arises out of their work for Sir Gerald Mariner, who as a newspaper publisher employs Sarah to take photographs of crime scenes. It’s is ascertained that the murder of Harry Warbrick is all tied into his work as a hangman, specifically the hanging of the “baby butcher” Amelia Carlisle. This murder begets another, and Sarah and her crew soon begin to realize that whatever happened at Amelia’s execution is the catalyst for all that comes. The ending finds them all in peril.

Thwarted at every turn by the authorities, at conflict eventually with the newspaper, and traipsing from London to Leeds and back, it’s not easy going. In fact, it got to the point where I just wanted Sarah and Barrett, her policeman/paramour, to get on with it already. These are characters I could never warm up to, and I found nothing appealing about the plot to warrant any deep interest.

Caught up with all this is Sarah’s search for her long-missing father, which occupies much of her thoughts and emotions. Got pretty tired of that, quickly, too.

The middling stars point solely to the author’s ability to conjure up a setting that captures the timeframe. Unfortunately, I won’t be reading another.

Thanks for the publisher for a copy ahead of publication.

A fantastic read filled with suspense and action. The relationship between the characters, Sarah, Lord Hugh, and Mick, was well done. This reader had a sense of what they meant to one another. I am particularly critical when it comes to pacing, this book did a wonderful job at maintaining the steam throughout the novel, masterfully moving it forward. I enjoyed the setting and the mystery does keep one guessing up until the end. A Net Galley book.

This is the third in the series by Rowland - the previous two Victorian mysteries being 'A Mortal Likeness' and 'The Ripper's Shadow' which brought us into the lives of intrepid photographer Sarah Bain and her friends undertaking investigations into local crimes (usually murders). Their involvement in the Jack the Ripper links to the role of Inspector Reid still being involved with the police alongside PC Barrett who is also the lover of Sarah.
Sarah and her team of Sir Hugh Staunton (in a homosexual relationship with a Roman Catholic priest) and young street urchin Mick O'Reilly who has a hankering after a theatre actress Catherine when he's bunking off school work for London's Daily World - owned by wealthy banker Sir Gerald Manner.
On a cold January morning - a lot of the plot is covered with foggy London town and rain in the criminal underbelly of the city - Sarah, Hugh and Mick are called to a very gory scene where pub owner Harry Warbrick has been found hanged and decapitated. He was previously England'stop hangman - so who has turned the tables on him?
Sir Gerald hopes to scoop not only the story but solve the murder in a competition against the police force. When they dig into Harry's past they find a disturbing story unfolds about his execution of Amelia Carlisle -the 'Baby Butcher' who murdered 100s of babies she'd 'farmed' from mothers eager to give them up for adoption.
Based in Whitechapel it brings all the evocative life of that time in Victorian England. There are some good scenes described at Newgate Gaol and also at a Lunatic Asylum (two classic locations for Victorian novels of this genre)
The plot goes along well leading to an exciting conclusion and a list of suspects has to narrowed down by much undercover investigation and cunning work amongst Sarah and her team.
There is a sub plot around Sarah's past personal life - some of which it appears had been expanded in previous novels. Overall I would have felt better to have read the first two before this one to set the scene, particularly about Sarah setting up her business as a crime photographer (although I am aware many women were at this time exploring many sides to the growing popularity of photography and its use in murder investigations).
There are some great characters in the story such as Mick and the cunning Sir Leonard Hargreaves seeking to be Lord Mayor alongside many a pub of ill repute, theatre and coffee houses. The workings of the police and the Old Bailey also gain important mentions as the plot evolves.
Overall an entertaining read. If you've already discovered the previous two novels you'll slide easily into the plot but my only criticism was the hints at back stories which sometimes I couldn't understand.

Absolutely enjoyed reading the book. I could not put the book down. I wish I could have read the 1st 2 books first to better understand the context of the other crimes solved. Overall, I loved the context that assisted in the plot to flow as Sally and her team investigates the crime of the hanging.

This is a vivid, enjoyable novel with a likable cast of characters and plenty of intrigue and suspense. Great detail is given into the personalities for the characters. A very unusual bunch of characters: gay disowned lord, street urchin and an unmarried young woman with a very murky past. It takes a team of people with nothing to lose and nothing to hold them back to get to the bottom of the matter. And that is very grisly and wrapped in may layers of time, lies, secrets and evil deeds. The atmosphere of this book is wonderful. I felt like I was in the story.

Since Sano Ichiro began investigating in Shinju, I have been reading the historical mysteries by Laura Joh Rowland. Rowland attention to research and scene setting pulls the reader in to the novels. The reader can picture the scene as if they are walking along the street with the characters or watching through a window.

The Victorian Mysteries featuring Sarah Bain are far from the setting in the Sano Ichiro mysteries but Rowland attention to detail is still the same. You can see the smog of London smell the gas lamps along the street hear the horses and the crowds as you walk along with Sarah and her friends, Hugh and Mick.

Come along and search for the truth with Sarah as she tries to ferret out the details of her past and save innocent people from being wrongly accused. Rowland's novels are a true delight for mystery and historical lovers.

In "The Hangman's Secret", we follow a photojournalist on her quest to find the "next big thing" - that is, when "big" = gruesome and awful! She takes crime scene photos for a newspaper, and it's during this endeavor that she and her friends stumble upon a mystery they weren't expecting.

This book is marked as "Victorian Mystery #3", but I haven't read the previous two - and still enjoyed it! I liked the main character, Sarah, and enjoyed the intrigue and danger that lurked around every corner.

The pacing was excellent - I didn't find myself getting bored at all. The ending left me wishing that I had another 200 pages!

Bonus points for an amazing cover, I love it.

I received this arc through Netgalley and Crooked Lane books. It was the 3rd book in the series, however that wasn’t a problem at all, it can stand alone. Previous events were written about, but the author does a recap, so you don’t feel like you’ve missed out. It’s a great setting for a book in Victorian times and a hangman’s murder! It’s fairly fast paced. I enjoyed this read. It kept me guessing and I liked it better than I do most crime stories.

I could not get into this book at all. I've had it for a while now & try to pick up where I left off but find myself picking up my phone to look at social media because I'm bored with this book. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read it.

I couldn’t get into this book. I tried so hard and it just wasn’t the book for me. There was never a part that would keep my interest.

First of all I would like to say that the cover of this book is really great. The characters of Hugh and Mick could have done with a little more information. Hugh is mostly just 'the homosexual' and Mick 'the urchin'. Since this is the third book in a series, I suppose the author plans to work on these characters in books that follow this one. I had no trouble getting into to story although I didn't read the first two books. In fact, sometimes I could have done with a little bit less information regarding the past of the three main characters.
The story begins with a rather gruesome murder but in the middle there was a lot of running to and fro and thinking in circles, while not much was happening. At least, not much for the reader.
Sometimes I'm surprised how many good/excellent authors are 'out there' that I never heard of in the 44 years since I learned to read. Laura Joh Rowland is one of them. I will certainly try and read more of her books.

Thanks to NetGalley for this book.

I will post my review on Amazon as soon as the book is published.

Kudos for this one.. really!
I absolutely loved reading the little details about two of my favourite serial killers. And the plot twist was nice; I didn’t expect it at all.

I didn't realize when I started this book that it was third in a series. Some of the character histories and previous events in the books were mentioned at first, but the book can still be read as a stand-alone Victorian mystery.
When the hangman is found murdered, a contest begins between the London police force and Daily World reporters to see who can solve the crime first. Crime photographer Sarah Bain and her two friends, Hugh and Mick put themselves in danger to follow the clues.
I like the author's writing style and I'm interested in reading the first two books in the series, especially the one about Jack the Ripper. The character Amelia's story sounded familiar to me because it's based on an actual serial killer in Victorian Britain. Thank you to Laura Joh Rowland, Crooked Lane Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Set in 1890 in London, we follow a trio of journalists investigating a murder of a hangman who himself has been hung.

The narrator of the story is one of the journalists, a photographer, Sarah Bain who lives well ahead of her time (in her early 30s, still single and focusing on her career). I immediately took a liking to her. Actually, not only her but her 2 partners as well - Hugh and Mick - who are both very likeable characters and compliment each other well. The three of them go on to investigate crime and face many many obstacles.

Despite the book being a book number three in the Victorian Mystery series by the author, it can be read as a standalone. The background of the characters is nicely sumarised for anyone who missed out on the first two books.

This was a fun read, quite different from typical crime novel but one that I enjoyed.

This is the 3rd in a series but can be read alone. There’s enough backstory to get you mostly up to speed. I did have a lot of questions about the previous books and had to keep reminding myself to stay in this story.
I’m not very familiar with this author so I don’t know her writing style but it reminds me a lot of YA books. I can’t put my finger on why, as the characters are not YA. Sara, the MC, is in her early thirties.
Sarah Bain is a photographer in Victorian England. She’s also an amateur sleuth. She partners with Lord Hugh Staunton, a disgraced lord, and Mick O’Reilly, a young kid from the streets.
Her paramour is a police officer, Constable Thomas Barrett. Her investigations lead her to butt heads with him.
This is a quick and easy little read. The author does a good job of sucking you into the world but doesn’t burden you with worldbuilding. I found it a bit slow around the 30% mark but it picked up and the last half of the book just flew by.

TW: homophobia from some characters to one of the main characters due to the time period this story takes place.