Murder in the Soho Graveyard
By: Emily Organ

4 Stars

In this third installment of the Emma Langley mystery series, Emma and Penny are back. When Emma comes across a young lady being looked at for a most gruesome murder she decides to help her by figuring out what really happened, with the help of her best friend Mrs. Penny Blakely, of course.

This story was a little darker but held true to the mystery of London at the time. Emma and Penny are a ferocious pair of ladies. This book was filled with so much mystery that kept me reading and kept me guessing. Im usually very good at figuring out "who done it," but by the end of this book, I was shocked and never saw it coming.

This was a book that combines romance, mystery, and murder with the old time history that only London can give you. Im so glad to be able to read this book and can't wait to see more from this dynamic crime solving duo.

*I want to thank Netgalley and the author for this book in return for my honest review*

Stormi Ellis
Boundless Book Review

"A churchyard discovery. A shocking secret. A deadly confrontation.

London,1890. When the body of a wealthy widow is found in the neglected graveyard of St Anne's Church, Soho, Emma Langley and Penny Green soon discover her respectable façade concealed a web of bitter enemies.

From a disgraced doctor stripped of his livelihood to a governess whose reputation was destroyed by lies, the victim, Mrs Melbourne, left a trail of devastation in her wake.

Then Mrs Melbourne's Belgravia mansion is consumed by a mysterious fire. Emma and Penny must race to decipher water-damaged papers salvaged from the ruins that could hold the key to the truth.

But as anonymous threatening letters arrive warning them to abandon their investigation, the friends realise they're hunting someone who will kill again to protect their secret. In the shadow-filled streets of Victorian London, can Emma and Penny expose the murderer before they become the next victims?

An atmospheric Victorian mystery that takes you from the crumbling graveyards of Soho to the grand squares of Belgravia - and will keep you reading late into the night."

But did the killer have to destroy a Belgravia mansion? Murder I can understand, arson of beautiful architecture is where I draw the line!

I'm happy to have Emma & Penny teaming up again to solve this mystery. I had wondered at the start of the series if Penny would fade away into her life as a wife and mother. It is interesting to hear her questioning how to balance her roles and feel like she is doing something worthwhile, despite criticisms. I was also happy to have Francis back and more involved in the storylines with a whiff of "will they are won't they" with Emma. I'm not sure which person I would pick for her, though, as she has several options. Emma is definitely still learning from Penny regarding how to go about solving mysteries and to build up confidence in her abilities. I think it was good timing to start this spin-off series and I can't wait to see what Emma & Penny do next.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for selecting me to read an advanced copy.

This is the second book in the series "Emma Langley Victorian Mysteries" involving dual sleuths Penny (Green) Blakely and Mrs Emma Langley. This historical mystery series is set in 1880s London and author Emily Organ has written another thoroughly enjoyable and intriguing mystery.

A rich, important woman's body is found in a disused graveyard amid the swirling fog of Victorian London. Shades of the moldering burying grounds in Dickens' "Bleak House". So many suspects and secrets, but Emma and Penny (with a little help from their friends, old and new) travel around London to track down the killer in spite of threatening letters telling them to stop.

This book is so well written and I didn't guess the murderer until the end! No need to read the previous books to enjoy this one, but I would encourage it. You will find it hard to put them down!

I really like all of Emily's series because they contain interesting facts about London at that time woven into the plot. She does exceptional historical research for each book. They are all Highly Recommended!

I really enjoyed this as a historical mystery element that I was looking for and enjoyed the overall feel in this world. I was engaged with this as a third entry in the Emma Langley Victorian Mysteries series, it continued the story perfectly. The characters were everything that I was looking for and enjoyed the overall concept that they were going on. Emily Organ was able to weave a strong concept and thought it worked well in this genre. It uses the time-period perfectly and was glad I was able to weave a strong mystery element.

Another really good detective story, with the delightful main characters,Penny and Emma. There were a lot of people who disliked Mrs. Melbourne and had good reasons to kill her, but the way the case was solved in the end was clever and showed true determination. Historical crime fiction is fun to read because there are none of the modern day tools, hence observation, questions and piecing together information is important. Thanks to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for making this series available to me, and I look forward to the next book in the series.

This book, the third in the Emma Langley Victorian Mystery series, firmly establishes the series as another well written, engaging, suspenseful, historically interesting series crafted by Emily Organ. As a storyteller, Emily is quite adept at creating a variety of believable and “full of life” characters, environments and situations. There are always multiple characters who have a plausible reason for being the murderer. The reader is kept guessing while following twists and turns throughout the book. I’d say this book has one of the most unforeseen outcomes of any in previous Emily Organ books.

One aspect of Emily’s writing acumen that repeatedly crossed my mind while in the Soho Graveyard story is her ability to paint a vivid picture with just a few well chosen words. The reader knows the characters and environments well without being bogged down in tedious descriptions. This aspect and the frequent, not too verbose dialogues among characters set a good pace for the book. I do enjoy reading Emily’s books, and I’ve read them all!

As a side note, I didn’t vote to indicate whether or not I like the cover. I like most of it but not the font size of the title. To me, it appears too big and heavy, pressing down on the graveyard gates and lady. Perhaps a slightly smaller size wouldn’t make the title seem so oppressive.

What a nice reading with a difficult culprit to guess!

Emma and Penny find themselves involved in investigating the murder of an old lady; on the surface she looked like a saint but once the duo starts digging deeper into her life, some disturbing facts come to life.

The plot is awesomely thought out, the mystery well designed and I am liking Emma more and more.

I am eager to read the next book in the series!

I received an advance copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily, thanks to the author for it.

A very pleasant and easy read! A good plot with a few very suspicious people.... I like Emma's character best, she really belongs to the time. Penny on the other hand could be placed in our modern times without any problem. I feel her personality could be more finely defined to be more convincing even with her feminist ideas I fully embrace. A promising series!
I received a digital copy of this novel from NetGalley and I have voluntarily written an honest review.

The murdered woman in the graveyard was found by a representative of a beautification project. Despite all the accolades for the dead woman, it seems that she was actually very cruel and vindictive. Emma is a teacher, and together with her ally former Fleet Street reporter Penny Green and her husband Inspector James Blakely of Scotland Yard she becomes involved with solving the crime. The DI assigned to the investigation seems fixed on the woman who found the body, but Emma and Penny resoundingly disagree. They do their best but come up against some people who are almost as nasty as the deceased. Several side plots add extra interest and kept me up late reading.
Pub Date Sep 25, 2025
I requested and received a temporary uncorrected digital galley from Storm Publishing via NetGalley.
#MurderintheSohoGraveyard by Emily Organ #EmmaLangleyVictorianMysteriesBk3 @stormbooks_co
#cozymystery #formerreporter #unputdownable #poisonpenletters #arson #extortion #hatred

Emma and Penny are back again, and better for it too. When the body of wealthy Mrs. Melbourne is found in an old graveyard a mystery breaks loose. Who killed her, and why? What was she doing there in the first place? Emma and Penny investigate. They soon meet the very shaken Clara who catalogs old cemeteries in hope of restoring the land into a park. From there we meet a cast of characters that make the book feel populated which is also a good thing. Each person had either their own dealings with Mrs. Melbourne who was not the person she presented herself as, but quite the opposite. Any one of them had reason to hate her, but the question is who would go as far as murder?

This book kept my interest well. I like that each character had his or her own story which makes them feel alive. Very well done. I did not read any of the Penny books or the first one on Emma, but I found out here that Jame's, Penny's husband, was engaged to another and broke it off for Penney. I found it strange that an employed woman as independent as her, and with plenty of other admirers should feel the need to go after a promised man. I cared for them a bit less after that, because it just seems wrong. Over all the book is a good entertaining mystery, Thank you Netgalley for the advanced read.

That gorgeous cover grabbed me and the intriguing murder mystery kept me turning the pages. Highly recommended!

As someone who enjoys the previous Emma Langley mystery novels this one did not disappoint me me. The skills of leadership abilities of our two main characters is well admired. The fact that there will be another book in this series makes me thrilled!

Both Emma abd Penny here return to solve yet another murder this time the vixtim is a middle aged widow. However, the case ends up coning up with dead ends and it seems like the widow had a sort of enemies. Worse is that her grand house catches on fire alnost destroying the work that Emma and Penny have put into the case. However, in the long run everything is worth it.

I received an arc from Netgalley and all opinions are of my own.

I loved this book. It was great from the first page. Lots of build-up to find out what happened but, it really kept my interest all the way through. My thanks to netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

What a delightful British murder mystery. Penny and Emma are a perfect combination of pluck, dedication and tenacity as amateur sleuths. I read the book in a day. A bit of romance, some evil people and good twists. Thanks Netgalley. Ill want more of this team.