Another splendid murder mystery from historical times. I enjoyed our illustrious Poppy roam London streets, tracking down a killer whose to close to home. I loved that Henry got some sense and did an about face to London to help his girl Poppy. I think that Poppy will make an excellent female Constable. How she worked around all those snide woman I couldn’t tell you.
But those women did help with the entertainment in the story. I enjoyed the shocking surprises of some characters as well as the ones I thought needed a new facial reconstruction. The story is a great read and I most definitely look forward to reading more from this writer. I give this story two snaps and a twist. Until next time my fellow readers. Read on!
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

I’ll start by saying that I didn’t realize this was part of a series, and that’s absolutely my fault. I do love historical mysteries and was able to enjoy the book without having read the previous books.

Poppy Morton takes the position of companion to a mistress in London. Yes, she wants to earn her own money, but really wants to find her mother. With the clues she found in her aunt and uncle's house and with her job, it should give her connections to find her. Poisonous letters are showing up in mistress's houses. Threats of death are real as bodies show up. Poppy makes it her mission to solve the murders. Constable Henry Dyngley is in London and becomes involved in solving the murders, too. Not so much of a surprise on the unveiling the murderers. A touch of romance, but I consider this mainly a murder mystery.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.

Entertaining Historical Mystery

Someone is killing mistresses, and Poppy is in the middle of the mystery. She goes to London to become companion to a lady, not knowing the woman is a mistress. Poppy wants to find her mother, who she found out recently is alive and well, and not dead like she was told. Having solved a couple of mysteries in her town, Poppy investigates the deadly letters. Then, her investigator love interest arrives in London, and the two investigate together, as they had done in the past. What will the two discover, and can they find the killer before more mistresses die? What will the cost be to Poppy’s reputation, and does she care in the end? I enjoyed this story and would recommend it to those who like historical mysteries with a dash of romance.

This is part of The Perfect Poison Murder series. What I like about this series is it perfectly blends the Regency genre with mystery. I read a lot of Regency, but not much mystery, but I like the way the author blends these two together and creates the perfect combination. The series continues with Poppy taking a job as a lady's companion hoping to have a chance to find her mother, not realizing that she would be companion to a mistress. When she finds out, she is worried how this will affect her reputation, but when she learns of threatening missives the other mistresses are getting with the end result being murder, Poppy decides to stay and get to the bottom of it. With her beloved partner Henry helping, she investigates who is behind the threats and attacks.
The author does a really good job of pulling you into the story and bringing it along with the characters to life. It's a well-written mystery story with intrigue and suspense with a hint of romance. The plot was well done and kept me guessing till the end. A very enjoyable and entertaining read!
I received a complimentary copy from Dragonblade Publishing via Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

The Mistress Murders by EL Johnson is a totally different kind ofplot. Poppy Morton is the orphaned niece of a clergyman, that is until she discovers correspondence from her mother. Her mother, who is alive and well in London. Poppy longs for independence and so answers an ad to be a lady’s companion. An appointment has been set and she is off, no matter how her aunt and uncle feel about it. When she arrives in London, she discovers the lady for whom she will will work for is a kept woman: a mistress. So are her friends, most of whom she likes. It causes her to change her outlook, especially when she discovers her mother is a mistress, as well, and has been for ever twenty years. Things get complicated when mistresses end up dead.

It is a refreshing change to see someone change long-held opinions based on their own experience. A lesson for modern times, which is, I’m sure, the lesson the author had in mind. Poppy was a naive character, but clever and open to new experiences. She is also supremely loyal. She needs to investigate the murders. That curiosity is innate. She is a well-written character.The plot is complex, but well done as more mistresses die. Her aunt and uncle even change some of their opinions. It is a delightfully different book!

I was invited to read The Mistress Murders by Dragonblade, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #Dragonblade #ELJohnson #TheMistressMurders

Poppy has lived with her aunt and uncle most of her life, believing her mother was dead. She helped the constable with a recent murder case and what happened has changed her.

Its time she took charge of her own life.

This historical murder/mystery has no real hero. Our heroine has two helpers in her latest investigation. There are a lot of lessons for our heroine to learn and danger around every corner.

Great fun.

This book is the third in the series featuring Poppy and Constable Dyngley and it just as good as the previous two. I first discovered this author on Netgalley where I read and reviewed both previous books. I suggest beginning with the Strangled Servant, the characters here are a departure from before as Poppy finds herself going to London to work as a paid companion. Unbeknown to her, her employer is a mistress and she enters the world of the courtesan where murder ensues. I greatly enjoyed The Mistress Murders, where we meet a new cast of fascinating characters and of course Constable Dyngley turns up to stir the pot. Guaranteed to amuse, I recommend this series. My thanks to Netgalley, the publishers and of course, the author for an advanced copy of the Mistress Murders

Poppy goes to London to search for her mother and takes a position as a lady’s companion to Beatrice. But when her new employer is revealed to be a mistress, Poppy is at odds with herself. To ally herself with a woman of ill repute could damage her reputation, but to leave her employ would remove all chance of finding her mother. Beatrice and her fellow mistresses have received threatening letters from an unknown person, with death as the end result. And with one mistress dead and another missing, these letters are no joke. Poppy decides to stay, even if it means risking her reputation and consorting with pimps and prostitutes to find the truth. Poppy and her beloved constable, Henry Dyngley, must find the poisonous letter writer behind these attacks.
The third book in the series & it’s easily read on its own. I love Poppy & how her character has developed. A well written entertaining mystery with the hint of a romance. There are twists & turns & yes, red herrings. I was kept guessing as to who the villain was as there were quite a number of suspects. I thoroughly enjoyed the book & look forward to more
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

I read a lot of books in the mystery genre, but I also enjoy historical fiction, which was why this book appealed to me, and I was happy to be approved for a copy to review.

I really liked the pretty cover illustration and use of colours - soft pink and deep purple.

When I started reading, I knew what I was hoping for, and the book was exactly what I hoped it would be, and I really enjoyed it. It was a tasteful, elegantly written historical murder mystery, with a strong female lead character. I wondered initially if it would be a romantic story too, and I'd say there were a couple of slightly spicy moments, but nothing that would distract from the rest of the story.

I think this is part of a series, so I would probably be interested in reading some of the others. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free copy to review.

4.5 stars

I liked this story. It's a series so our heroine is maturing. The hero has had a bt of shine taken off him and he looses a bit more in the middle of this story.
Poppy has found some letters that show her mother didn't die but was a mistress/courtesan so her sanctimonious uncle-in-law decided it was best for Poppy to grow up wthout her. Her aunt didn't necessarily agree but did realise any preceived bad character would rebound onto Poppy. Poppy goes to London to become a companion. She doesn't at first realise that her employer is a mistress and the man who rescued her purse was a pimp. The mistress and her friends are getting poison pen letters and soon the circle of women starts to get bumped off. Poppy starts to solve it herself and then Henry comes back into the picture and helps out some more. It's good that the reader can follow the clues and get to the solution quickly at the same time. IMO it was fairly obvious.. Poppy does meet her mother but it's short lived which is very tragic. I read that the author used the TV series Harlots as inspiration and that links in to the mistress circle way of life and the down sides of providing a sexual service in exchange for bed and board.

I'm enjoying this author and will look for more in this series. Heartily recommend.


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

Loved every single thing about this book I always thought about who was behind the murders. I loved the main character and how she was looking to find out who her mother was because they told her that her mother was dead. But in reality she was a ‘working’ woman.
I dont like how they made fun of prostitutes and called them whores in the book.
I also felt sad when they described the deaths of the ‘whores’ when she found Marie like in a lake dead decomposed and bloated made me sick.

The story was so good kept me flipping the page to find out more. I loved it thank you for the arc.
100 percent opinion of my own.

This murder mystery definitely had a lot of potential suspects. I had some guesses as the book progressed, but really didn't completely understand the whole detail until the big reveal at the end (classic style of the murder is in the room).

I really liked the character development in this book. Poppy moved to London to become a companion and to find her mother. To her surprise, she became a companion to a Mistress. Poppy got pulled into the murder mystery when each Mistress in the group of friends wound up dead after getting threatening letters. There were a lot of characters, but I thought the author did a good job at giving adequate description and introduction of each. I didn't feel like a ton of character were thrown at the reader at once, so it wasn't confusing to follow.

I liked that Poppy gained a bit of London flair in this book and was able to make friends with those at maybe not the highest of stations. I'm curious to see what mystery she gets into next, if her relationship with the Constable develops, and in her London friends make a reappearance.

Thank you to Dragonblade and Netgalley for providing me a copy of this ARC for my honest review.

Poppy goes to London to search for her mother. She takes a job as a companion, not knowing that her employer is a mistress. She meets the other mistresses in the group that they have formed and finds out that they are receiving threatening letters. When the murders start happening, she starts to investigate. This is the third book in the series, and even though it can be read as a stand-alone, I really feel I would have enjoyed it more if I had known Poppy's backstory. There are a lot of secondary characters and sub-plots in the story. I gave it 4 stars.

An entertaining murder mystery with lots of suspects to keep you guessing I did spot the perpetrators early on but there was still a twist which I missed. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I absolutely loved the first book in this series (The Strangled Servant) and do not know how I missed the release of the second book (The Poisoned Clergyman)! I will have to correct that in the very near future because I obviously missed some big happenings in Hertford. For readers new to the series, you do not have to have read the previous books in order to enjoy this one, but it would probably help you in understanding the relationships between the returning characters a little better.

Now, back to The Mistress Murders, I really really liked this book! For one thing, I love the author's writing style - everything flows so smoothly it makes for a very easy and enjoyable read. Secondly, I love the character of Poppy. She's smart, determined, and perseveres when things get tough. In this book we really get to see her standing up for herself and go after what she wants despite the men in her life constantly telling her what to do. Another reason I so enjoyed this book was the mystery itself. There were some parts I predicted and others that took me by surprise. Although, I couldn't believe Poppy had trouble figuring out the identity of one of the people she overheard (think about it, Poppy!).

I also loved that Petunia was such a complicated character. At first I didn't really like her, then I loved her for yelling at the minister, then went back to finding her sanctimonious, then back to liking her. She is definitely the type of character you need to take as a whole. She would certainly make for an interesting investigative partner for Poppy (although I doubt that would ever happen).

I'm not usually a big fan of any kind of love triangle, but I did like the introduction of Tom Harris in this book. And I'm hoping we will get a little more with him in future books - there is obviously a lot more to him than we have been shown so far. It's also nice to see someone else recognize how great Poppy is. And I want to know why he hates Henry so much.

I do like Henry (afterall, he was the first to see the potential and value of Poppy as an investigator) but he tested that a few times here. When I learned some of what happened in the previous book my first thought was "how dare he do that to Poppy?". One of my favorite scenes in the entire book was when Aunt Rachel basically yelled at him for his treatment of Poppy - it was so great to see her standing up for her niece like that.

I don't want to give anything away here, but I will say that the parts of the story involving Poppy's mother are both happy and sad. And there's a nice little bit with her father too that I'm sure will have an impact on Poppy in the rest of the series.

I went to a panel with romance writers a few years ago and one of the authors said that historical romance novels exist in a make-believe world where there are no STDs. Which is one thing that makes this story stick out - the dangers of STDs at this time in history are a big part of the story here. I really appreciated that the author stuck with what would have been said at the time about the spread of the diseases and how the blame would have been placed on the women. And although there is a resolution to the mystery, it's not complete satisfying but still historically accurate.

I can't wait for the next book!

The Mistress Murders is a entertaining murder mystery novel ... with lots of suspects that kept me guessing.

At about halfway through I had strong suspicions of the culprit but a few pages later I started to doubt myself.
Then Ms. Johnson wraps up this enjoyable puzzle in my favorite way - with a nice classic reveal with all the pertinent characters gathered to reveal who did it and how it all tied together.

All in all this was a fast paced whodunit with just a hint of romance, easy read with a cast interesting characters and a satisfying conclusion.

Only a few of the characters are carried over from the previous books and enough information is given to the reader so that you don't feel lost if you have not yet read the previous two books. Can definitely be read as a stand alone.

E.L. Johnson is new to me and look forward to reading other books by this author.

I received this ARC from Dragonblade Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, thank-you.

#TheMistressMurders #NetGalley

Will Poppy find her mother? Who will die? This is historical fiction that reads almost like nonfiction. However, it is almost impossible to believe at times.. the story moves quickly with likable quirky characters. Find out what happens to Poppy and enjoy. This book was sent to me electronically by Netgalley for review.

This story was truly captivating with a lot of suspense, few tears, laughs, &HEA which I love. You will so enjoy & I highly recommend this reading.