This is a portion of the review on my blog https://trails-of-tales.com

This is the 2nd book in the Felicity Carrol Mystery series. The plot is a complete stand alone. This particular mystery does not have anything wanting on account of being the continuation of the series. The protagonist’s background and a little snippets of her character journey has been provided across the story. You will not feel that you are missing something because you haven’t read the first book.

Though, the description of Book #1 is quite tempting. A mystery that involves a missing ancient relic is just the thing I need with my evening cup of green tea.
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The horrors of Jack the Ripper has inspired many a books and movies. Each story plays on one or more of the different theories surrounding those inhumane crimes.
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The theory purported in this story by Patricia Marcantonio is one that I am quite convinced with. Specifically due to the psychological dynamics of the crime and criminal that the author has explored.
The author has also tried to introduce elements that gave a picture of the prevalent narrow perceptions of the Victorian time period. Be it gender discrimination, poverty or racism.

I loved reading about the detection techniques that the author detailed in the story. Patricia Marcantonio took pains to highlight that it was an era of turning points in scientific understanding and acceptance. A period when progress was stealthily making its way up to a society unwilling to allow change.
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There is some romance in there too. But nothing too dramatic. Felicity never loses sight of her goal and explores romance only as something slightly intriguing.

We have a very likeable and interesting sleuth in Felicity Carrol. This frighteningly bright upper-class young lady wants to put her talents to good use, and not just be conveniently married off into a life of dull decorum. She’s down to earth, direct and determined. She bases her reasoning on facts and rationality, but despite this very serious, studious approach she’s a lively, witty woman.
In this adventure she’s in America, and her observations on the different way of life there from what she’s used to are very enjoyable and help bring the setting to life for the reader. She bumps into many interesting characters, all very rounded, and she interacts particularly well with the Sherriff. Sparks of various kinds fly between them.
The mystery is well developed, interesting and keeps the reader guessing.
All in all, an excellent cosy mystery in a historical setting.

Since this is the second book in the series I figured starting out at the beginning might be useful so I read it and learned about Felicity Carrol the amateur lady detective using her skills and intelligence to solve the murder of her mentor. What’s not to like about a young lady of intelligence feeding off marriage to use her brain for something more useful? This time she’s off to America to track the infamous Jack the Ripper who may be wrecking havoc in a new location. It was another enjoyable adventure with the lady detective.

Patricia Marcantonio takes readers back to Jack the Ripper who seems to have surfaced in Placer, Montana, a mining town with prostitute murders. Felicity Carrol and the Murderous Menace has the English wealthy Felicity Carrol, crime solver extraordinaire, determined to uncover the killer who imitates Jack. the Ripper. Felicity gets down and dirty among the soiled doves and forges an alliance with the local sheriff. Has she followed the wrong clues? Is she out of her depth out of London, England? Read and fine out.

“Felicity Carrol and the Murderous Menace” is the second book in the Felicity Carrol Mystery series which follows a young heiress turned amateur-detective as she uncovers the truth behind a series of grisly murders which claimed the lives of several prostitutes in England and America. With her remarkable photographic memory, strict adherence to logic and reason, and background on medicine and science, Felicity Carrol brings with her a fresh take on the infamous Jack-the-Ripper murders.

I usually don’t pick up cozy mysteries but I’m surprised by how much I actually enjoyed this book. Felicity Carrol is such a lively character and am captivated by the way she thinks and deals with things despite her foolishness at times. My only issue with her is how the author keeps on adding things like “even though she already memorized that thing in her head” whenever she reviews an article. I mean, we already know that she has photographic memory so reminding us of it all the time seemed irrelevant in my opinion.

With regards to her love interest, the tension buildup between her and the Sheriff was great but I felt like they lacked chemistry and there are times when I feel like their interactions are forced. However, their constant banter was a delight to read so I didn’t really mind. Also, I liked how the secondary characters have distinctive personalities of their own which helped me to visualize and flow with the story easily.

For the mystery part, the book kept me guessing and I loved how certain it made me feel that I figured it out at one point only for it to take another turn by the end. I was satisfied by how it all unfolded but I wished that the motive of the killer was more complex than what it actually was.

Lastly, even though this is the second book in the series and that I haven’t read the first one, it reads like a standalone novel. But since I had fun reading this, I think I’m going to check out the first book as well.

Felicity Carrol and the Murderous Menace is the second book in a cozy mystery series by Patricia Marcantonio. Released 11th Feb 2020 by Crooked Lane Books, it's 324 pages and available in hardcover and ebook formats.

Despite being the second book in the series, it works well as a standalone. The author is adept at interweaving back-story and previous character development into the narrative fairly seamlessly. It is a period Victorian cozy with a young wealthy brilliant protagonist who flouts social convention throughout the book and never seems to suffer any repercussions for her one woman campaign to recreate the social fabric of England and solve crime at the same time.

I never felt one time during reading that there was any actual danger to Felicity, the plot wouldn't dare not go her way in all things, all the time. She's never thwarted and never corrected for what would have been completely scandalous behavior (for the time). The subject material (Jack the Ripper) is quite dark for a period cozy, but it is admittedly well written (apart from some clunky and anachronistic dialogue). The book simply didn't feel like a historical cozy (except for the Jack the Ripper plotline).

General thoughts: the author is adept and writes well and it's an entertaining read but it felt so smug and self satisfied most of the time.

Three and a half stars.

“You don’t have to seek out the devil. He waits for you.”

Felicity Carrol seeks Jack the Ripper in Felicity Carrol and the Murderous Menace, the second installment of the Victorian era detective series.

Felicity doesn’t want to get married or live a life as a society lady. She uses her family fortune to finance her investigations into cases Scotland Yard can’t solve.

In The Murderous Menace, she tracks Jack the Ripper to Montana. With a bit of romance, several false leads and a lot of drama, she still hasn’t found the killer. Yet the Ripper has found her.

This is the second book in what I hope will be a long series. While the book started a bit slowly, it was so fast paced at the end that I couldn’t put it down.

Before plunging into the Patricia Marcantonio’s second Victorian mystery, consider, what are the most famous unsolved crimes in history? Ding ding, Jack the Ripper: check out a short refresher on his hideous crime spree.

The sensational brutal murders of five prostitutes in London’s East End in the autumn of 1888 by an unknown killer who came to be called “Jack the Ripper” are probably the most famous unsolved crimes in history.



The five “soiled doves” were stabbed to death in Whitechapel between August 31st and November 9th, 1888, always late at night. Then, for unknown reasons, the killings stopped.

Patricia Marcantonio introduced Felicity in Felicity Carrol and the Perilous Pursuit (2012), set in 1887, the year England celebrated Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. Felicity’s overbearing, rich father wanted her to “purchase” an impecunious but aristocratic spouse, “as most young ladies in their early twenties would have done.”

No thanks, said Felicity. She’s an orphan now, surrounded by the servants who raised and supported her.

She had increased wages for those who worked at her family’s businesses and started a foundation to help children in the poverty-laden East End.



But solving the unsolvable and pursuing justice were her main occupation.

Her inheritance enables her to be credible and successful. Felicity learns “from a grizzled locksmith how to get past a lock,” constructs a sophisticated crime lab in the country (like brilliant forensic pathologist Miriam fford Croft of Anne Perry’s ‘Daniel Pitt’ series), and has “the dependable solicitor firm of Morton & Morton” on retainer.

Tapping her vast financial resources to aid in her investigations, she utilized all her intelligence, scientific talents, and exceptional memory to recall anything she had read to help bring justice to those who might otherwise get none. She had so much in life, and she wanted to give to those who’d had everything taken from them by murder.

The “cases where the killer remained free” are her bête noire, like notorious Deadly Widow Bessie Denner. Police suspect Bessie of killing three husbands by arsenic poisoning to enrich herself. Months pass but Bessie is still at large. When Michael Spencer, spouse number four, dies, Felicity (camouflaged as an apple seller) decamps to Bessie’s neighborhood, assisted by Helen, her personal maid and confidant. Through observation and talking to nosy observant neighbors, she solves the conundrum that puzzled the constabulary. A snuff-taking old crone shares that Bessie “stank” of lavender and vanilla,” that Michael suffered from arthritis, and constantly rubbed ‘Simons Ointment’ into his gnarled hands.

Felicity smiled at the discovery and bid the neighbor goodbye.



“Get that murderous slut,” The old woman raised her eyebrows and took in more snuff.

Felicity tracks down the ointment and et voilà, nabs a serial poisoner: Persistence and thinking out-of-the-box for the collar.

Now what? Mrs. Joanna Davies, Scotland Yard Inspector Jackson Davies’s mother, begs Felicity to visit her son: “It is a matter of life or death.” Felicity recalls when she last saw Jackson, “he talked about the hunt for the Whitechapel killer,” saying the murderer was “insane.”

“From what I read in the Times, you don’t have to convince me,” Felicity replied.



“The way he damages the women,” He closed his eyes and grimaced, as if seeing the bodies.

Her friend is grievously ill; after the Whitechapel killings stopped, he worked the case after hours and wore himself into the ground. He took a turn for the worse after a friend sent him a clipping about the killing of a prostitute in Placer, Montana. Headline: BIZZARE KILLER STRIKES IN MINING TOWN.

Rawlins had been a prostitute and was the victim of a fiendish and revolting murder. Two wounds from ear to ear sliced her throat deep enough that her head was nearly severed from her body. Her torso also suffered foul and horrendous mutilations.

It’s the same MO: Davies is desperate to go to Montana, saying “unless we hurry, there will be more victims.” Felicity says she’ll go instead: “If your hunch is accurate and it is the Whitechapel killer, then when you have recovered, you can join me.”

Placer, Montana surprises Felicity and Helen from the moment they arrive in a stagecoach: “Horses clomped dirt. Buildings tremored.” Is it an earthquake? Nothing so exciting. According to the sheriff, it’s “a dynamite explosion” emanating from the mines. Felicity is delighted by the mores and mannerisms of the “Old West,” beginning with the handsome man with a star on his leather vest.

A lawman of the West—how exciting just to see one! She noticed how he examined the face of every man in the vicinity. He was searching for someone, and from his severe gaze, she was glad it was not her.

Sheriff Thomas Pike “uses his intuition as much as his Colt in keeping law and order in this unruly town.” Felicity and Thomas form an uneasy partnership, both determined “to find the killer in a town chock full of secrets, shadows, and suspects.” Felicity Carrol’s weapons—brains, photographic memory, knowledge of the most advanced scientific methods—are crucial in the dangerous process of identifying Jack the Ripper. After the brutal death of Rose Johnson, another soiled dove, Felicity asks Pike if Johnson’s eyeballs can be removed. Why “in heaven’s name” would she want that?

“The retina of the eye preserves the last image it sees. Using photographic processing, we can capture that image. We might see the murderer’s face.”



“The killer already tore up poor Rose Johnson. Leave her in peace. Besides, it may not work.”



“You’re the most unreasonable man on earth.”

Ultimately, intuition is no match for Felicity’s methodical yet inspired deductions.

What’s next for our talented Victorian forensic detective? Huzzah to an intriguing second entry in the Felicity Carrol Mystery series.

A good historical character with an interesting MC and a well researched and vivid historical background.
The story flows, the mystery is solid and kept me guessing.
I want to read other stories in this series.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Felicity Carrol and the Murderous Menace is the second book in the Felicity Carrol Mystery series.

Felicity has worked with Inspector Davies in the past and is surprised that she hasn’t heard from in a while. When she gets a message from his mother asking her to come immediately to there flat. She finds Davies seriously ill, having spent excessive hours in pursuit of Jack the Ripper. As she is about to leave, Davies hands Felicity an article from the New York Times, that a colleague had given him, describing deaths much like those attributed to Jack The Ripper. These new deaths are in the small mining town of Placer, Montana. She wishes that she and Davies could go there to pursue the killer, but she knows that Davies is in no condition to make the trip.

Instead, Felicity and her former nanny, Helen are heading for the wild west of Placer, Montana. Upon arriving in Placer, one of the first persons she meets is Sheriff Pike. Felicity has chosen as her cover-story, that she is a writer and is there to gather information on the deaths for her book. Shortly after arriving another prostitute is killed and she can convince Pike to let her view the crime-scene and inspect the body. With her medical knowledge she can convince Pike that she can be a valuable assistant to his investigations. Before long another two mutilated bodies are added to the investigation. Before long she begins to wonder if she will ever be able to find the killer.

The story is well-written and very interesting. The book contains a cast of well-developed and interesting characters. I feel that the author may have taken some liberties with time-period, but at the same time helped with the telling of the story.

I will be looking forward to the next book in this exciting historical mystery.

I will start by saying that the characters in this book are way over the top. They are almost too much to be believed. At first, I was put off by it but then, I realized that it was meant to be that way.

I took it as a book that was like the first black and white movies, where the good guys were really good and the bad ones were horrible. Once I started looking at it from that point of view, I was able to relax and enjoy it as a bit of comedy mixed in with an interesting mystery.

Felicity is rich and incredibly smart. Maybe the smartest person you will ever meet (see what I mean?) She is pulled away from her home in England to look into murders which have occurred in Placer, Montana.

Look for stereotypes of regional areas of the United States at the turn of the late 19th century (though honestly, some of the phrases are more appropriately used in the deep South and the far West states versus the mid-country northern state of Montana.

Beyond that, the idea floated that Jack the Ripper changed venue was interesting and new to me. The murders, both old and new, are told in fairly graphic detail. So, this may not be for the squeamish.

The hunt and partnership that emerged was done well. I enjoyed finding the clues as Felicity did.

All in all, I found it a good read. I will be looking forward to more books in this series. Just suspend reality and be willing to overlook some anachronisms and it might be something you enjoy as well.

I was provided a digital advance reader copy of this book by the publisher via Netgalley.

This book was clever and fun to read. I like the characters of Felicity and her companion Helen, and especially Sheriff Tom Pike in Montana. Felicity leaves London to track down what she believes is Jack the Ripper, now killing in the USA. I did not read the first one in this series yet, but will go back and read it.

Super hard time getting through this book; it felt so smug! I thought I would love it; I mean, rich lady detective who sort of bucks traditional and does good with her money and a smidge if romance....what’s not to love? But reading this was such a chore for me and the whole time I felt smugness radiating from the pages.

Felicity Carrol has been able to pursue her interest in detective work since her father died and left her an heiress. Jack the Ripper has been at work in London and killed five women. These are brutal crimes and her friend Scotland Yard Inspector Davies is ill from going after the fugitive. Now there are the same kind of murders in Placer, Montana. Felicity tells her friend she will go there to see who is responsible. She meets Sheriff Pike and they work to find the murderer. Many secrets but in the end the bad "guy" is not who you would believe.

When Felicity Carrol learns that Jack the Ripper might have traveled to Montana from the UK, well, she immediately packs her bags and sets out, along with her maid Helene (love Helene). While she might be a fish out of water in the US, she's still an ace detective, albeit more intuitive than scientist (no matter wha the publicity material says.). There's a little romance, a little mystery, and some fun characters. Te back and forth with Sheriff Tom Pike is good. This could, however, have used an editor to correct things a bit (no one handed out $20 tips in the 1890s) and to maybe tone Felicity down a bit. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I didn't read the first book so this was a standalone for me (and there was enough backstory that I didn't feel lost). While it's meant to be a historical mystery, you don't really get a sense of time and place but it's still a good read.

I had kind of a hard time getting into this book. I am not sure if is because I didn't read the first one or not. The character seemed to not follow logic or science when it came to solving crimes, but went on gut feeling. This is another Jack the Ripper novel so the subject matter itself was really interesting. But because I could not finish it, I gave it a low rating. It sounded like it would be a fun ride with lots of potential but unfortunately for me, it just didn't go there.

I have not read the first volume in this series but that didn't cause any problems during the reading of this volume. Felicity Carrol travels from London, England, to Placer, Montana, to help her detective friend Jackson with his investigation of Jack the Ripper. Jackson is too ill to travel, but he thinks that a murder in Placer is too similar to the murders of Jack the Ripper to be a coincidence. Felicity pretends to be a writer to allow her to investigate the first, and subsequent, murders. She befriends handsome sheriff Thomas, who is frustrated with her actions but impressed with her abilities. The story line is very cool, the writing strong, the lead character very intriguing, and the atmosphere very appealing. I really enjoyed this cozy mystery set during the 1800s, and plan to read more about Felicity Carrol. Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC.

This is the second book in the new Felicity Carrol mystery series. I don't know how many there will be but I'm enjoying them. If you like Deanna Raybourn, Laura Joh Rowland, or Sherry Thomas's Victorian mysteries, Felicity is for you. This book has Felicity crossing the great Atlantic Ocean, and more than half of the continental United States!, in order to get to the bottom of another mystery: Jack the Ripper. At first I was like ugh really? Does every Victorian mystery have to include another iteration of Jack the Ripper? Buuuut this one puts a twist on your standard Ripper fare and moves him to a new country! I really enjoyed Sheriff Pike. He was a good compatriot for Felicity's American jaunt. Can't wait for number 3!

An interesting premise. Jack the Ripper turns up in a mining town in Montana after his murderous spree in London. Felicity Carrol, a young woman left ridiculously wealthy by her cold, remote father, is asked by her ailing friend, Inspector Davies of Scotland Yard, to investigate.

I wanted to like this more, but the writing lacked depth and was choppy. I also did not connect with any of the characters. While I did guess the killer’s identity, the story itself was just OK. This is the second in series (and I admit that I did not read the first but was still able to follow this one with no difficulty), but I don’t have any motivation to continue with it. To be honest, I’ve read better, and there’s just so far an interesting premise can take you without great writing to back it up.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #CrookedLaneBooks for providing me the ARC. The opinions are strictly my own.

This was the second book of the Felicity Carrol series and unfortunately, I felt the same way that I did with the first one. The main character is just too unbelievable to take seriously; she has no flaws and is perfect at everything. I enjoy a strong female lead but the "I am woman, hear me roar!" of this book was a little heavy-handed. Just an okay read for me. (And thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book. Felicity Carrol and the Murderous Menace will officially be released on February 10, 2020.)