I can't say enough good things about this book from the first page to the last I couldn't put it down. I will definitely be purchasing a hardcopy of it and will be recommending it to any and all, reading this book is a terrific way to spend your time

Totally gripping, twisty and written in the style of the Golden Age of mysteries, this book kept me guessing till the end! Set in the 1930s, the plot involves a series of murders and a cunning criminologist Leonora Dobell who has written about murderers who have gotten away with their crimes in the past. At first, the murders (both recent and old) seem random but a connection is made between all of them which points to the involvement of a shadow group who will do anything to make sure some secrets remain buried. 

My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher Poisoned Pen Press and the author Martin Edwards for the e-Arc of the book. This is the second book in the Rachel Savernake series but can easily be read as a standalone and was published on 22nd September 2020.

This mystery starts out with the story of a murder which Rachel fails to prevent, it then takes a while to fully set up a fast moving second half. Unfortunately Rachel, with a combination of arrogance and seeming omniscience, continues to be an unsympathetic character in the first part of the book, although she softens in the later portion. An interesting collection of murderers, and a secondary character who simply knows too much about a number of murders for her own safety continue to add interest. The denouement feels a bit rushed, but this episode shows significant promise for the next entries in the series.

Mortmain Hall by Martin Edwards features as our heroine one Rachel Saversnake as a faux Victorian crime sleuth in her second novel starring role. I did not read the first book by Edwards starring Miss Saversnake but based on reading Edwards contemporary mystery stories looked forward to reading this book. My thoughts: I enjoyed the read and would highly recommend Mortmain Hall to all mystery aficionados. The story took a bit for me to get “into the flow” of the plot but once I did I raced toward the ending to find out what the heck was going on...and why it was going on!  
Why did I choose the word “ faux?” Because although intended to be an old style whodunnit it treats 21st century issues in a contemporary manner.  I shall not give away key plot points but one shall pick up on some progressive current thinking on the part of the main players.  Perhaps a mite picky but I did find our protagonist cold in manner...methinking that Edwards was creating an homage to Sherlock Holmes but cast his story without the warmth of a Dr. Watson to take the edge off his main character.  
What’s great about “Mortmain Hall?” A lot, including Edwards plot pacing, plus several smaller mysteries amongst the larger story.  I was grabbed by the secrets behind the enigmatic Leonora Dobell and waited patently to understand her key role in the story.  
Go grab this book, enjoy the read, and look forward to another in the series (if it is to be written.)

A fun read that is a direct descendent of the Golden Age of detective fiction. Rachel is the inscrutable genius detective, and her Watson is a hapless but scrappy reporter. The included clue finder was a treat.

Rachel Savernake has tried, and failed, to convince a man- who pretended to be dead- to run while he still can. And this is only the very beginning of the story. From there, readers are immediately thrown into a sensational murder trial, one of the main characters being framed for murder, and a mysterious meeting on a remote estate where all the guests are presumed to have gotten away with killing someone. There is even death by lion at one point.

In another author's hands, I might have said this book could have been shorter, as a lot of time passes before the remote estate is reached. But Edwards does a great job of keeping readers engaged with the other events happening in the story, and (fictional) entries from a true crime book written by another character. When guests arrive at the estate, the tension is so thick because so much has been building to this moment.

Rachel Savernake is a hard character to connect to, and even to like sometimes, but I think that is the point. I have not read the first book in the series, but her characterization in this second entry feels fully fleshed out. She has gone through a great deal, particularly in her earlier years, and that has shaped her into exactly who she is when we meet her now. 

Jacob Elliot is my favorite character. He is a newspaper reporter and acquaintance of Rachel, and he brings a lightness to the story that is needed. He is almost like the stand in for the reader, asking all the questions that they want to know the answer to.

This is a good, gripping read with a very surprising ending, and enough going on to absolutely keep a reader's attention.

This was such a great book for me!  Another great title from Poisoned Pen Press!  This is a wonderful golden age of crime drama with a Clue-like feel!  I have been a long-time fan of classic who-dun-it mysteries and this book did not disappoint!  Though it is the second book in the series, I was able to read it and understand everything, which I greatly appreciated.  

Rachel is a bit rough around the edges, but she is a very fun character as her personality and relationships develop through the narrative.  The story is suspenseful and an excellent example of the historical mystery genre! The pacing was very good and I zipped through this book quite quickly!  I don't really have any quibbles with this book!

I would recommend to fans of historical mystery, thriller, and suspense novels.  I really enjoyed this and I know others will too!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review!

this was a really enjoyable read, I really liked the first book in the series so I was excited to read this one. Let me tell you it did not disappoint, the characters were great and I really had a good time.

Eccentric amateur detective Rachel Savernake gets swept up into a twisty plot.  It involves a secretive but powerful shadow group as well as a devious criminologist with a checkered past who writes about criminals who have gotten away with murder.  The story begins with the violent death of a passenger on the funeral train returning from Brookwood Cemetery outside London and concludes at a Yorkshire country house (in NE England, Mortmain Hall) in a dramatic ending.
This is an old-fashioned mystery story told in the Golden Age style.  The English setting during the interwar Depression years provides an atmospheric backdrop for a cast of strong characters.    It's a busy story with plenty of red herrings.   The grand finale at an old country house during a violent storm has the killer revealed in spectacular fashion.
There's a good balance of a clever plot, excellent storytelling,  atmospheric settings and characterization. Gay men, of which there is several, are gratuitously portrayed as weak and unprincipled. They are shown as cowards and weaklings.  It's a stereotypical presentation, probably representative of the time, but unnecessarily homophobic now.  This is a sequel to the debut of Rachel Savernake in "Gallows Court" and can be read as a standalone without difficulty.  
I requested and received a complementary advance reading copy of the eBook from Poisoned Pen Books via Netgalley.   I appreciate the opportunity to provide an independent review of the book.

An excellent read, gripping and highly entertaining.
I loved the well researched historical background, the character development and the plot.
I can't wait to read the next book by this author.
I strongly recommend it.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and Net Galley for allowing me to read an advanced copy Mortmain Hall by Martin Edwards in exchange for my honest review. The book is set sometime in the late 1930s England. The main characters are the beautiful and mysterious Rachel Savernake and young crime reporter Jacob Flint. This is the second book in the Rachel Savernake series, but the first that I have read. Rachel is the daughter of a well known “hanging judge” and grew up on a remote island with the Trueman family her only servants and companions. The Truemans are more family to Rachel than servants. She is an amateur detective and is aided in her investigations by the Truemans. The story opens with the murder of a man returning to the country after having faked his death and moved overseas. The story then jumps to Jacob’s coverage of a courtroom drama involving the seemingly hopeless trial of a man accused of murder who wins a last second reprieve. A fellow amateur criminologist and author invites Rachel to the remote and mysterious Mortmain Manor on the northern English coast where she is hosting a get together of three people who were freed of seemingly open and shut murder cases who may have in fact gotten away with murder. Rachel herself is suspected by some of the murder of her father, who was the judge in some of the trials. The story has an air of Gothic mystery throughout. Rachel is a very enigmatic character who I waivered as to whether I liked her or not, but ultimately, I grew fond of her. I liked the character of Jacob Flint who is a rookie crime reporter who is often in over his head assisting in Rachel’s investigations. The story kept me guessing throughout and featured several very surprising turns. I recommend to anyone who enjoys a good Gothic mystery.

Rachel Savernake is hoping to save a man come back from his faked death from being murdered, but he is unwilling to listen. She finds herself entangled with one Leonora Dobell, an author obsessed with murders and those who escape the gallows, and decides to host a gathering of these people she believes have committed the perfect crime. When a murder occurs at Mortmain Hall, Rachel is determined to uncover the truth aided by her faithful and loyal servants and journalist Jacob Flint.

The second outing of Jacob and Rachel from the curator of the Classic Crime series, Martin Edwards.  This follows on from "Gallows Court" but readers should be able to pick this up fairly easily if they haven't read the first.

Interesting premise: a collection of those who have escaped the gallows being gathered together - and lo and behold - an accidental death - or is it?

I felt comfortable reading this as it reminded me of a couple of themes from Agatha Christie.

Looking forward to more from Martin.

First things first - this is the SECOND book in the series which I didn't know going into it lol. The beginning was a little confusing but honestly I was able to read and enjoy the story without the first book!

This is a mystery set in 1930 about murder, justice, and a house party that goes wrong! 

I found the characters (especially Rachel) to be very compelling and mysterious throughout. Loved that! I enjoyed the setting and how well the author portrayed society during that time.

The mystery itself was well done. There was SO MUCH to it. It was like 3 mysteries in 1 and then the twist at the end I sure did not see coming! 

I would recommend this book but would also say maybe read the first one if you can 😂

Mortmain Hall is a historical mystery set in 1930. It is the second in the Rachel Savernake series. The story opens with an epilogue which is continued at the end of the book. Mortmain Hall (like Gallows Court) is written as a Golden Age mystery - there is murder, an amateur sleuth, clues, red herrings, and an explanation. But the Rachel Savernake books are much darker than books from the Golden Age of detective fiction. Rachel is an enigmatic character - she is fascinated by crime and murder and likes to detect but her motives are hard to discover. I can't decide whether I like her or not - I don't think we know enough about her to really say. 

I loved the first sentence - "The ghost climbed out of a hackney carriage." It's intriguing and evocative. I also really liked that the first chapter was set on the Necropolis Railway. 

In a nod to certain novels from the Golden Age, the author has included clue-finders at the end of the book. It is interesting to read and see where I picked up on clues and where I completely missed them. 

There was the classic gathering of the suspects at the end, but I have to say that the conclusion was a bit unsatisfying for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for sending me a copy for review.

My first, instinctive description of Mortmain Hall is as the follow-up to Gallows Court, not only because it's a statement of fact but also because they are similar enough that most of my likes and dislikes are the same. Once again, a well-drawn gothic/noirish atmosphere calls back to mystery literature and tropes of the time; there is a murder dinner party (the thin man!) and an atmospheric lightning storm to accompany the dénouement, both of which absolutely delight me. Once again, Jacob Flint is happily clueless and Rachel Savernake is slyly oblique. I felt like she got more interaction with her servants and Jacob here and generally she seemed like more of a human, which I liked!

In the same vein, though, the plot takes a while to get going, and the final villains were too much of a stretch to entirely convince. The villain element got me in particular; I think this I would compare unfavourably even to Gallows Court, because where that one felt built-up this one almost seems out of nowhere, and all the worse because I'm not even persuaded that they needed to be involved in the plot at all. If anything, doesn't their meddling cheapen the achievement of any so-called perfect murder? I would have preferred a story more anchored to the personalities of the disparate characters brought together at Mortmain Hall; this is very much personal taste, and others' mileage my vary.

To wrap things up, the thumbs-down I have which is unique to this book is that the house party I was promised took far too long to get started and was over too quickly, but I think that's more a marketing issue that a book one. The corresponding thumbs-up is that the end of the book contains a list of hints and clues that the author put into the text, which I loved. Many thanks to NetGalley & Poisoned Pen Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Mortmain Hall is the second Rachel Savernake mystery. Rachel, her staff, Jacob Flint the reporter, and her favorite Scotland Yard officer return to a very different story. Rachel warns a man he will be murdered but offers to save him. He refuses and doesn’t make it to the end of the day. Meanwhile, Jacob is covering a murder trial that ends with a surprise alibi witness. Another court watcher suggests there might be more to the story.

Obviously, there is as just asking a few questions puts Jacob in jeopardy. Meanwhile, Rachel is invited to Mortmain Hall by a celebrated criminologist. The other guests are people suspected and cleared of murder. Surely something is up.



I was disappointed by Mortmain Hall, which is a surprise since I loved the first book in the series, Gallows Court. It seemed as though Edwards was undecided between writing an espionage thriller or a mystery and ended up with not quite enough of either. There are plenty of murders, all with indeterminate and frustrating resolution. I have loved every Martin Edwards I have read, so will chalk this up as a one-off aberration.

I received an e-galley of Mortmain Hall from the publisher through NetGalley

Mortmain Hall at Poisoned Pen Press
Martin Edwards author site
Other reviews of books by Martin Edwards.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press for this opportunity to review “Mortmain Hall.” All opinions are my own.

The enigmatic Rachel Savernake is back in this, the second in the series.  She’s confronting “ghosts” and other deep, dark secrets that in “Mortmain Hall” begins with the epilog – interesting, that.  

1930s England has plenty of secrets of its own, as readers will find out as the book progresses.  We read along as perfect murders seem to be presented – and a female criminologist, who lives in the namesake Mortmain Hall, and who definitely has an agenda, invites a bunch of folks home.  How are Rachel and Jacob Flint, the reporter present from “Gallows Court,” the first book, going to work this all out?   Jacob says that Rachel is the most ruthless person he has ever met.  Just the right kind for a murder mystery, indeed.  

“Mortmain Hall” has a Gothic feel to it, a sense of coming doom hanging over everything.  It’s a bit hard to place the time, although mention of people like PM MacDonald and Mussolini help, and eventually, we learn why things happened to the people in the story.  

Disappearances!  More murders!  Crazy conspiracies!  It’s a cornucopia of crime – stories.  You know something is going to happen, and you think you know what it is.  Are you right?  Did your idea of that epilog turn out to be right?  And who is there to describe the perfect crime?  Why, Rachel Savernake, of course.  And a vast (quasi) government conspiracy wends its way across the pages.  And at the end, we have a gothic thriller worthy of a Hitchcock finish.  After all and said and done (and there’s a lot said, believe me) simple family secrets are the underpinning to this tale.

I’m not that much of a fan of Rachel, myself.  I don’t find her engaging or her personality attractive to me as a reader.  She’s certainly a detective; you’d need to be, to work out this convoluted plot; but once she does it, I don’t feel any triumph.  One thing she is, is a history buff; Mr. Edwards has her espousing the theory that brilliant railroad timetables for moving troops led to WWI; for that, she (through the author, of course) can thank the historian AJP Taylor.  A nice touch.

An interesting footnote:  the end of the book tells readers how we should have figured it out long before the final page.  Mr. Edwards explains how these “Cluefinders” appeared in detective novels from the late 1920s.

Mortmain Hall by Martin Edwards is a true British mystery. Second in a series, with the protagonist a lovely female named Rachel Savernake who is the daughter of a judge, who is dead but not missed. Rachel lives in a mansion turned fortress (Gaunt House) with her three servants, Hetty, Martha, and Trueman. Trueman acted as her chauffeur and bodyguard. The others just helped. There is Jacob Flint who is a newspaper reporter and pretty decent guy. It is 1930 and England is still reeling from war and hoping to avoid another. There are people working for the government, covertly toward that goal. A seemingly diverse set of people all come together in several murders.

This is very much a Golden Age mystery. Very noir. Very proper. It is the time when great estates in England are struggling to stay afloat. Owners are doing various things to ensure their own prosperity. The book jumps from character to character; from locale to locale. There is perversity, plenty of pent-up emotion, and a real will to solve crimes. It was an interesting and multi-faceted crime(s). Rachel is an enigmatic character. Her staff is odd, to say the least. Jacob Flint is straight forward, naive, and young. It is an easy book to read, far less easy to see the outcome, and if the reader does figure it out, the reasons and relationships are impossible to foretell. This was an enjoyable, if staid, read. I recommend it. 

I was invited to read a free ARC of Mortmain Hall by Netgalley. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #mortmainhall

Even without having read the previous book, Gallow’s Court, I found the narrative of Mortmain Hall easy to follow. The story was a little slow at first, but it didn’t take long for the mystery and suspense to capture my attention. I did find it difficult to connect with Rachel despite my appreciation for strong, enigmatic female protagonists, but I think that once I read the first book my feelings will change. I did like her interactions with Jacob and her servants who are actually more like her family. All in all, I enjoyed Mortmain Hall, and I’m looking forward to not only the next book, but going back and reading the first.