Jack the Ripper was never arrested. Nor was a similar murderer in Austin, Texas. Maybe it was the same killer.
Queen Victoria’s great-granddaughter Annie can’t work in England as a constable, so she works in the US as a Pinkerton detective. She partners with Isiah Joplin. A future together is highly unlikely, given her family.
Crime investigations in those days seem slipshod at best, with neighbors, reporters, and curiosity seekers disturbing the scene.
With no historical arrests, this book’s conclusion is wholly fiction, but it makes a good tale.

What a wonderful book from the True Colors Crime series made available by Barbour Publishing Inc. The Black Midnight is a fictionalized account surrounding the crimes of Jack the Ripper. The writing flows throughout the story with carefully crafted characters who are interesting and believable. The focus is on finding who committed the murders and not on the guts and gore of the crime. I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys good writing and an unsolved mystery.

I received an Advanced Reader's Copy from the author and Barbour Publishing through NetGalley. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

#TheBlackMidnight #NetGalley

First and foremost, a huge thank you to NetGalley, Barbour Books, and Kathleen Y'Barbo for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

With every book I read in the True Colors series, it gets just a little bit better than the last. I enjoyed The Black Midnight. In fact I would love another book that features Ike and Annie. They were interesting to meet and made a great team.

I will admit when I picked up this book I thought it was going to be mostly about Jack the Ripper with a little Midnight Assassin tossed in. It was truly a pleasant surprise to have a good portion of the book focus on the Midnight Assassin.

I would absolutely encourage people to give the book a try. And one of the best things about this series is that you can start on any of the books and not feel like you are missing information.

In this story the author takes a strong female character, as the request of her aunt (the Queen) on a true crime adventure that spans two continents and many years. The addictive nature of this story had me turning the pages to see if there really was a connection between murders in American and the Ripper murders in England. I loved the balance of historically accurate true crime with the fiction within this story. It makes for a wonderful read.

I found myself taking notes and trying to piece the puzzle together before the main character, but the author kept both me and her on our toes and so I was excited to find the twists and turns outside of the box. The overall story flows nicely with a few instances of flashbacks that caught me by surprise. I think the author did an amazing job with this story and it was a great read.

This is one story in a series of standalone true crime reads that are quite clean and readily accessible to all readers. I will be continuing to devour this series and have found a new author to follow. I received an ARC via Barbour Books and NetGalley and I am leaving my honest review. 4.25 stars.

I picked this book because of the description. I’ve recently got into historical fiction and really liked the Jack the Ripper mystery. I think the author did great with the development of the main characters. I had a few issues with the flashback. I feel it made the story harder to follow. I would recommend to book to others.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

The Black Midnight is part of a series of books dealing with crime. Each book is written by a different author and is entirely standalone.

I don’t usually pick up books like this. I am not a fan of true crime stories. But the description of Queen Victoria’s great-granddaughter being a Pinkerton agent and working to capture Jack the Ripper? Count me in!

I had a bit of a challenge at first with this story, because so much of it was a flashback. It felt odd and I never really got comfortable with it. But given the Jack the Ripper/murderer angle, I can live with the discomfort as part of the story.

The characters were interesting, but I found myself wanting to know which child of Victoria she was related to! I’m a history buff, and this drove me crazy! She at one point said she is about 100 people away from the crown, so that makes me think a younger child but.... This bothered me! It might not bother anyone else, but it did me.

My other criticism was that in the “current” time we go from Texas to London with little explanation. Not a big bother but a slight bother. Overall, I did enjoy the book and would be happy to read both more in the series and by this author.

I received a copy of this book to facilitate a review. All opinions are my own and I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise.

This novel was very compelling and while I didn't intend to read so late, I really wanted to know what happened. I thought that this book could be made into a series about the main characters only to discover that it is a series written by a variety of authors! The common thread is that the authors use a combination of fiction and historical facts. Kathleen Y'Barbo points out which is which at the end of the book and I found this interesting! As I result, I'm definitely interested in reading the rest of the series.

I wasn't sure before reading it whether it would be something I would buy (I primarily chose it because of the author and it interested me). Upon reading it, my conclusion is that had I not got it free in exchange for an honest review, I would definitely have purchased it. Instead I will be recommending the purchase of it for my library and telling others.

I was excited to hear of another book in the series True Colors. I was also excited that it was written by Kathleen Y'Barbo. I have enjoyed this series and I have always enjoyed books by Kathleen Y'Barbo and this book did not disappoint.
Most of the books in this series are true crimes committed in America. This book covered both America and England. It covers the murders in Austin, TX and "Jack the Ripper" in London.
The book was an ARC and so the editing wasn't perfect but very well done. It is also a Christian series and I'm sad to say there wasn't much in the way of Christianity in this. It was a very clean book but not preachy in any way.
The main characters were quite well developed. I was a bit confused at first to realize that the book started in one year and then jumped to another year and I didn't catch it, but that was my fault as it was listed at the top of the chapter when it did change. Other than my missing the time jump, the story flowed well. It was well written and entertaining. I would recommend this book to my friends. I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars. Five stars are reserved for superbly excellent books.
I thank Barbour Books and Netgalley for giving me the ARC copy to read. I am not required to leave a review and this review is my own opinion.

I have mixed feelings about this story. Anyone at all familiar with Jack the Ripper knows that mystery shrouds the man who was an infamous murderer in London in the late 1880’s. There are rumors of a tie to a string of murders committed earlier, in Austin Texas.
The author weaves a lot of fiction around a few historical facts. It makes for an interesting, well written, and somewhat fanciful read. I guess I was expecting a more historical read but if you want to use your imagination, you should enjoy this tale.

I am just getting in to the true crime fiction and Kathleen has done a great job of keeping my interest. I loved how she brought Alice-Anne back to America this time with her great-grandmother's permission to get help from her friend and partner, Isaiah to help solve the killing spree on women dying in their beds. Anne and Isaiah had a previous affection for one another and now that they are back together it has sparked their hearts. Can they get her great-grandmother to approve of the two being together? Will the killer be found before more women die? Is the killer one of her relatives? This book kept me up at night reading to see who the killer was. I would highly recommend this book.

Rating (on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being excellent)
Quality of writing: 5
Pace: 3
Plot development: 4
Characters: 4
Enjoyability: 4
Ease of Reading: 5

Overall rating: 4 out of 5

Historical mysteries are a big hit. At least for me. I have been fascinated with the murders done by Jack the Ripper for a long time. So when I read the synopsis for The Black Midnight, I couldn't wait to read the story. While I like my mysteries to focus on the solving of the crime, The Black Midnight does that at times, but to me, it read more like a contemporary romance with a hint of the mystery. Not a lot of thrills. It did jump from London to Austin, Texas and ended up in London. I am obsessed with London and hope someday to visit, but for now, I visit through stories. I wanted some more of the setting too. It seemed to not be that important. Overall, the mystery is safe with plenty of romance. I just wanted a little more to satisfy my taste. I'm sure others will love this story.

I received a complimentary copy of The Black Midnight by Kathleen Y'Barbo from Barbour Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

Another sweet story from the True Colors series. The nature of the crimes, etc. is more "PG" than in the Blue Cloak (if that's what you prefer). I liked that the story was half past half present (at the time). I do feel that the wrap up between Annie and Ike was a little rushed at the end, as well as their solving the crime. I would have liked to see the final chapters be a little longer with details laid out more. Overall, I have enjoyed reading through this series and look forward to reading the next one!

There is a killer loose in London. Five women have been murdered in Whitechapel and more could be in danger. Queen Victoria asks her great-granddaughter, a former Pinkerton detective, to take the case. Alice Anne accepts, and travels to America to ask her former partner to help.

The last case she worked with Isaiah was a serial killer who was never caught. The Midnight Assassin killed eight people in Austin, Texas, before he disappeared, leaving the people scared. Alice Anne was called back to London, and the case went cold.

Now they must work quickly to find a killer before anyone else dies.

I enjoyed this book. It was an interesting look at two separate unsolved crime sprees from the 1880's. Each new character introduced needed to be scrutinized to see if that person was capable of such violence.

The Black Midnight is a fantastic addition to the True Colors series.

The Jack the Ripper mystery is unsolved up to this day. Jack the Ripper is still on a rampage, so the Pinkerton Detective Agency is involved, and one of the agents, Anne, is Queen Victoria's great-granddaughter, and the other is Ike Joplin, an Austin, Texas attorney and former Pinkerton Detective.
A serial killer has been killing women and men in the Austin, Texas area, using Jack's signature trademark, an axe. Anne and Joplin are attracted to each other, but there are laws about who she can marry - will they catch Jack and each other?

I couldn't stomach this True Crime novel after all. Maybe it is the craziness going on everywhere with covid-19 but this would be too dark for me.

A good book for crime bluffs though, I'm sure!