What fascinating historical fiction!! A must-read!

Murder at the British Museum is set in 1894 where we find Professor Lance Pickering is due to give a talk at the British Museum’s Age of King Arthur exhibition when his brutally stabbed body is discovered.

Having forged a strong reputation working on the infamous Jack the Ripper case, Daniel Wilson is called in to solve the mystery, and he brings his expertise and archaeologist Abigail Fenton with him.

Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. This was an enjoyable book.

Daniel Wilson a seasoned investigator with Scotland Yard retired from the force after working the Jack the Ripper case. He is now a private investigator. In the first book of the Museum Mysteries series, Murder at the Fitzwilliam, a body was found in the Egyptian collection. Daniel consulted an Egyptologist named Abigail during the case. The two fell in love and moved in together. When Abigail isn’t on an archaeological dig she assists Daniel with his cases. Abigail is just back from a dig at the Roman site of Hadrian’s Wall in northern England, when a murder is committed at the British museum.

Lance Pickering the author of a book on King Arthur was to give a talk at the Museum to open their display on King Arthur. Mr. Pickering was stabbed in the bathroom and an “out of order” sign was left on the door. Then the museum display was attacked by a couple of rich young men involved in a group called the Children of Avalon. It also seems that Pickering wife could have been involved with another man and his publisher was receiving threatening letters says Pickering stole the book. With so many people out to get Pickering who actually did the deed.

The second book in the series is fantastic. History buffs and mystery lovers will enjoy reading the Museum mystery series. I highly recommend these books

I loved so much about this book, but by far the setting was my favorite thing. It was so atmospheric and just made for such a terrific story. This was my first book by Eldridge, but it certainly won't be my last.

The setting at the British Museum during Victorian times is great. I liked the idea that they were interested even then in all things Arthurian. Daniel Wilson and Abigail Fenton make a great pair of detectives as they investigate increasingly puzzling crimes along with murder.

An enjoyable murder mystery set in the 1890s around the time of the infamous Jack the Ripper killings. I really liked this book, to the point where I could not put it down once I started.

A Victorian murder mystery that is a compelling page turner! Ex Scotland Yard inspector turned private enquiry agent Daniel, along side his partner Abigail, an archeologist are hired to track down a killer. Professor Pickering was stabbed to death in the bathroom of the British Museum just before he was due to give a talk on King Arthur. What was so controversial about his lecture that it ended up in his death?

I received an advance digital copy of this book from the author, Alison and Busby and Netgalley.com. Thanks to all for the opportunity to read and review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Murder at the British Museum is the 2nd of a series. I loathe starting a series out of order so I had to get the 1st book to get up to speed. I am so glad that I did.

A Victorian murder mystery that has a modern mind set without being too modern is a delicate balance and Mr. Eldridge has set it perfectly. Strong characters, romance without bodice ripping, suspense, this novel has it all.

5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended.

Wow, thanks NetGalley for this free advance copy in return for an honest review. I really enjoyed this book, to the point where I could not put it down once I started. Well structured characters, and a very believable plot. The 2nd book of the series and now I have to go out and find the first one. We follow private enquiry agent, William Daniels and his girlfriend/partner and archeologist Abigail Fenton as they try to find out who killed a noted professor and author on the day he came to speak at the British Museum, where his new book was partially the basis for the King Arthur exhibit. Filled with crimes and intrigue, this book also is a great historical fiction book in the sense that in the course of solving the crime we learn much about Victorian London, and a quick check verified all the info that was contained in the book and makes the book much more interesting and worthy of praise. The pace never stops, the characters are really well developed, and this is one of the best historical mystery/fiction books I have read this year. Top Notch, Jim Eldridge I look forward to your next effort!!

Daniel is a ex Inspector of Scotland Yard. He is now a Private Detective with his assistant Abigail an expert Archaeologist. They have been called into a murder at the British Museum of a Professor Pickering who has newly published a book on the real King Arthur. Daniel has a poor relationship with the police having past history with Superintendent Armstrong. Their are many secrets hidden in the victim’s past meaning plenty of people become suspects. This is great old fashioned detective novel with many twists and turns though the historical areas of London.
I was given an ARC of this book by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

***Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***

A very interesting book with an enjoyable and informative storyline. I enjoyed this immensely.

Thank you to Net Galley and Allison & Busby for this ARC.

When I requested this book I didn't realise is was a sequel so I got book 1 and read it first and I am so glad I did. This is a brilliant new series and i'm glad I started from the beginning. You cold read as a stand alone but its nice to have the back story.

It is well written with a page turning story line. Looking forward to reading book 3.

Princess Fuzzypants here: There is a lot to like about this book. We have a thoroughly modern educated smart and capable heroine in spite of the Victorian setting. Moreover, you have a thoroughly modern man who can admire, appreciate and accept her intelligence and knowledge. Abigail and Daniel make an intriguing couple of detectives. He. the former Inspector with the Yard, and she, with her depress and experiences in both archeology and history are formidable.
Naturally, in that time, there are many not so inclined to accept their help. But when a body is found in a “convenience” in the bowels of the British Museum and the police seem unable to get a grasp on it, the Museum brings in the pair to assist. They are welcomed by the Inspector heading the Yard investigation but not his Superior who despises Daniel for many reasons but chiefly because he is a far better copper. They will naturally bang against each other with a rather surprising conclusion at the end of the book.
The mystery is an excellent one. The first victim is an academic whose book on King Arthur is the centrepiece of an exhibit. As they investigate, the paragon of virtue ends up being totally reprehensible and a fraud and thief. There are many people who are not unhappy to see him dead but what motivated someone to stab him seven times and then murder his publisher. It is a very sad story but one that is not so fantastical to think it might never have happened.
Thanks to Fenton and Wilson, the crime is solved and justice is served. The entire book was full of wonderful Victorian detail, the characters are fully fleshed and fascinating. I give it five purrs and two paws up.

This was a quick and interesting read that was surprisingly romantic in places. I liked the characterisation of Daniel and Abigail and loved the pairing of them together. I wish that the middle point had a bit more drama in it as it felt like that point was lagging slightly. This is a good sequel and it definitely makes me interested in picking up more in this series.

Murder at the British Museum was such a fun and engaging read. It's a convincing late Victorian setting and I enjoyed the dynamic between Daniel Wilson and Abigail Fenton. An added bonus was how badass and strong Abigail was (with hints of feminist tendencies). The book itself is a classic mystery and it was a pageturner for sure.

So if one liked both historical crime fiction and classical mysteries, I would highly reommend it.

This book was not quite what I had expected it to be. It was however still enjoyable. I wasn’t on the edge of my seat but I was still engaged in the plot of the story.

London. 1894. The British Museum has become a crime scene. A distuinguished academic and author has been brutally stabbed to death. Not in the hushed corridors, not in the dusty silence of The Reading Room, and not even in one of the stately exhibition halls, under the stony gaze of Assyrian gods and Greek athletes. No, Professor Lance Pickering has been found in the distinctly less grand cubicle of one of the museum’s … ahem …. conveniences, the door locked from inside, and the unfortunate professor slumped over the porcelain.

The police officers from Scotland Yard have been and gone, baffled by the killing. Sir Jasper Stone, Excutive Curator-in-Charge at the museum, has called in Daniel Wilson, private consulting detective and his partner, in all senses of the word, Miss Abigail Fenton. Abigail is no stranger to the world of antiquities and academia, as she is a distinguished archaeologist. Wilson has pedigree, as he was a former Metropolitan Police officer, one of the investigative team assembled by Chief Inspector Fred Abberline. Abberline who retired two years earlier is still remembered for his Jack The Ripper investigations, and for his part in the Cleveland Street Scandal, where a raid on a male homosexual brothel was followed by a notorious government cover-up in order to protect some of the brothel’s VIP clients.

Pickering’s murder has coincided with the opening of an exhibition called The Age of King Arthur. His recently published book on Ambrosius Aurelianus, the Romano-British warrior thought by some to be the basis for the Arthurian legend, is a feature at the display and has been selling well. Daniel and Abigail soon learn that Pickering’s book has not been universally greeted with acclaim, particularly by those who have different beliefs about this particular period of history. One such is the Order of the Children of Avalon, a group of wealthy young men with certain views on the purity of the story of Lancelot, Guinevere, Galahad and the other residents of Camelot.

With the help of a former police colleague John Feather, but with the determined hindrance of his boss Superintendent Armstrong, Daniel discovers that the late Professor Pickering was neither the devoted husband nor the scrupulous academic that his reputation initially suggests. When the publisher of Pickering’s book is also found dead, it becomes clear that the solution to the murders lies in the provenance of the book itself and, rather than among the echoing marble stones of The British Museum, the truth is to be found in the mean streets and hovels behind King’s Cross Station.

This is a highly readable mystery with two engaging central characters, a convincing late Victorian London setting, and a plot which takes us this way and that before Daniel and Abigail uncover the tragic truth behind the murders. Jim Eldridge is a veteran writer for radio, television and film as well as being the author of historical fiction, children’s novels and educational books. Murder At The British Museum is published by Allison & Busby, and is out now.

This is an excellent classic crime novel taking place in London in 1894. The British Museum has a special exhibition about the "age of King Arthur" which features a new book by Professor Lance Pickering which claims that King Arthur and Ambrosius Aurelianus are one and the same person. When Pickering comes to give a lecture at the museum, he is knifed in the rest room before his lecture. Daniel Wilson and Abigail Fenton are hired by the museum to solve the murder. Daniel is a former member of Scotland Yard, now a PI, and Abigail is an archeologist and historian and living with Daniel. However, other things also happen at the museum.

First some young men come to the exhibition and break a glass case. Then someone paints "Who killed Ambrosius?" in red paint. Meanwhile, the museum is getting letters telling them to deliver money. Finally, the the publisher of the Professor's book is also knifed in the exhibit, and that afternoon a young man is knifed at the home of the Professor's wife.

The police superintendent is sure the culprit of all the activities is the illegitimate daughter of the Professor (who is the one who knifed the young man. However, Daniel and Abigail are not so easily convinced and continue to detect. Daniel and Abigail are racing to save the reputation of the Museum, while the murderer becomes concerned they know too much. The end is very exciting as the murderer tries to derail the investigation.

This book takes place in the late 1800's in London, England. The British Museum is having and Arthurian exhibit when the main scholar, Professor Lance Pickering, is murdered. This is the second book in the series and it can be a stand alone. However, I feel you get more context if you read a series in order. This has a Sherlock Holmes feel to it. I liked it enough to want to go back and read the first one.

I’m intrigued by stories set in museums, mainly because I love seeing what authors think curators do with their time (hint: less of the jungles, secret societies and revivified mummies; more ferreting around in dusty boxes. Or maybe that’s just me). This particular book caught my eye because it’s set in my own stomping ground. How could I resist a murder mystery in the hallowed halls of the British Museum? In retrospect, I probably should have done: partly for the usual reason (indignation at a lack of familiarity with what the building actually looks like), and partly because I didn’t think it was particularly well-written. But there’s still a measure of interest to be found in this tale of dastardly doings in Bloomsbury, and in the enterprising duo who are called in to help solve the crime and – more importantly – salvage the Museum’s reputation.

When I requested this book from Netgalley, it wasn’t made clear that it was the second book in a series, and so I spent most of the novel feeling like a latecomer to a conversation. It felt as though everyone already knew each other and was trying to explain to me, rather laboriously, how they’d met. It is, in fact, the second of three books: the first is called Murder at the Fitzwilliam and the third, with the kind of grim inevitability that you can see thundering towards you from a distance, is Murder at the Ashmolean. I suggest that the UK police force set up immediate cordons at the Pitt Rivers, the Horniman and the Geffrye Museums, because clearly nowhere is safe. On the other hand, you could just decide not to keep yourself out of danger by not setting foot in a museum for the rest of your life. The choice is yours.

Professor Lance Pickering is dead. To be precise, he was brutally stabbed by a mysterious assailant in the men’s toilets of the British Museum, just before he was supposed to give a lecture on the new exhibition The Age of King Arthur. The incident has been reported to the Metropolitan Police, but Sir Jasper Stone, director of the Museum, has decided to hedge his bets. He also approaches Daniel Wilson, a private investigator and former policeman, who has a track record of solving potentially embarrassing crimes with discretion and honour. Daniel and his partner, Egyptologist Abigail Fenton, are more than willing to help, but it is a baffling case. Why on earth would a respected academic be murdered? Was it a case of mistaken identity? A scholarly dispute? (Pickering has recently published a book on Ambrosius Aurelianus, one of the theoretical prototypes for the Arthur legend; but surely academic disagreement doesn’t lead to murder?) Perhaps he was just the innocent victim of an act aimed not at him but the Museum itself? Who would hold a grudge against a mild-mannered professor?

Of course, it soon transpires that Lance Pickering was slightly more complicated than anyone had anticipated – or been willing to say. As Daniel and Abigail plunge deeper into their investigations – with the tacit encouragement of Daniel’s former Met colleague, Inspector John Fisher, and the profound loathing of Superintendent Armstong – a whole tangle of new possibilities make themselves known. Was Pickering really the beloved and upstanding husband that his wife claims? If so, why does she seem to have a suspiciously close male friend? Was he the selfless paragon promoted by his publisher? Could it really be true that a vindictive secret society was after Pickering? Or could the whole thing be the result of political action by Irish terrorists? Daniel and Abigail must find the truth – and quickly, because presently it becomes clear that Pickering won’t be the only casualty of this peculiar case. To make matters worse, gutter journalist Ned Carson is on their trail and will stop at nothing to get his scoop – even if it’s gossip about the precise nature of our detectives’ partnership.

On one level this is a fun period detective story, but I couldn’t help feeling that it would have benefitted from a firmer editorial hand. Many of the issues that I had with the novel were stylistic and could have been ironed out, especially given that this is not a self-published novel but one published through an established house. My main problem was that the dialogue very rarely felt natural. Much of it was designed to give us information, and it felt dull and didactic. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the term ‘As You Know, Bob’, but it’s used to describe conversations in which people explain things to one another that really shouldn’t have to be explained because they both know it. It’s done for the benefit of the reader, and it always jars. Here, unfortunately, there is quite a lot of ‘As You Know, Bob’, and little of it is helpful to the plot. Take, for example, an episode in which Daniel and Abigail head to East London. Abigail observes, ‘“Looking at the names of the stations we’ll be going through, many of them seem to be associated with docks”‘. This gives Daniel a chance to explain to her that they’re passing into the Docklands and to give her some history about the Isle of Dogs. This leads into an explanation about Millwall, the history of local London football teams, and the dangers of sporting rivalry. These may well be the kinds of random conversations that we have in real life, but they’re usually cut out of fiction because they aren’t immediately relevant (or interesting). You don’t get people in Agatha Christie novels having long conversations about whether there’s enough milk. Real life does not a gripping novel make.

Unfortunately, that’s just one example of a rather pernicious kind of conversation that crops up throughout the book. I’m afraid the next three paragraphs are a bit of a rant, so do feel free to skip them. Now, I haven’t read Murder at the Fitzwilliam, the first book in this series, but the premise here is that Abigail has been working out in Egypt for some years and so needs to have quite a lot of very obvious things explained to her. It’s all done so that the reader understands, but the result is a rather irritating and repetitive conversation in which a man explains things to a supposedly highly intelligent woman. Usually the one doing to the explaining is Daniel. If I were Abigail – a graduate of Girton, with extensive archaeological experience under my belt and, one presumes, a good deal of common sense – I would have lost patience with such mansplaining long ago, and belted him round the head with my handbag. But maybe that’s just me.

The frustrating thing is that Abigail is obviously meant to be a modern female protagonist who is the equal of her male counterparts. As the book opens, people at the British Museum are falling over themselves to tell her how much they admire her. The archaeological world is a small one, they tell her. Word spreads about good people. Great! Merit is receiving its just rewards. But unfortunately not everyone seems quite so well-informed about Abigail’s activities. Or, more accurately, their awareness of her work is… patchy. Take, for example, the scene where she goes to visit her old friend Charles Winter. He’s delighted to see her, of course, and greets her with: ‘So, is it your Roman work that’s brought you here …?’ Then, less than TWO pages later, he’s obviously had a brain bypass: he gets caught up in explaining the Druids to her, only for her to say something about Boudica; after which he gives an ‘apologetic smile‘ and says, ‘I keep forgetting that Roman Britain was another of your areas of scholarship‘. Good God, Charles, you haven’t forgotten, because you mentioned it two pages ago. But maybe the author forgot that you hadn’t forgotten, because he needed you to dump some information for the benefit of the reader, i.e. mansplain.

Poor Abigail. When does she get to explain anything to the men? She’s meant to be smart and widely admired, but unfortunately none of the men have got the memo. The one time she defies Daniel’s warnings to be careful, she gets herself in a sticky situation (God forbid women taking the initiative and trying to do Things That Men Should Do!). She’s used for two main functions: first, to show how terribly modern Daniel is, because he’s domestic while she’s charmingly backward in that area; and second, as a straw (wo)man for men to explain things to. Things that any halfway intelligent woman, even one who has just spent years in Egypt, probably already knows. It just narked me. Over the course of my career I have (relatively rarely, thank God) had things explained to me by men, including, in a classic example, something on which I had just published an article, and I feel angry on Abigail’s behalf that she doesn’t have a better plot.

The thing that baffles me is that Jim Eldridge is not some rookie novelist just finding his feet. According to his biography at the back of the book, he’s written more than a hundred books and sold more than three million copies, so he is, by any definition of the term, an expert. With that in mind, it’s rather frustrating that plot and characterisation aren’t better served here. And it isn’t just Abigail, poor martyr that she is. The plot flounders around and the grand denouement demands us to believe a lot of rather implausible things about people secreting weapons on their person in public places and so forth… It just didn’t hold together. I could never lose sight of the fact that I was reading a book, because the characters never felt like real people, no matter how much I wanted them to. And I did; I really did. But it just didn’t quite work.

For the review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2019/08/01/murder-at-the-british-museum-jim-eldridge/