Pretender’s Murder by Christopher Huang was exactly the kind of mystery I didn’t know I was craving—clever, atmospheric, and full of quiet tension that builds until it snaps. From the start, it had that classic whodunit feel, but with a refreshing twist on identity and deception that kept me intrigued the whole way through.

The story opens with a death that looks accidental—but of course, nothing is ever that simple. The more I read, the more I realized that every character was holding something back. Secrets aren’t just part of the plot—they’re the foundation of it. And what Huang does so well is explore not just what those secrets are, but why people keep them in the first place.

I loved how layered the mystery was. This isn’t just a case of uncovering a killer; it’s about unmasking truths people have worked hard to bury—some out of shame, some out of fear, and some for reasons that only become clear in the final pages. The title says it all—this is a book about pretending. About roles people adopt to survive, or to protect themselves, or to belong. And I found that theme really resonant.

What also stood out to me was how grounded the story felt despite its twists. The setting, the relationships, the tension between what’s said and what’s left unsaid—it all felt precise, intentional, and rich with atmosphere. It’s a quieter kind of mystery in some ways, but that just made it more impactful. Every detail matters, and every reveal hits harder because of it.

By the end, I wasn’t just satisfied with the resolution—I was impressed by how elegantly it all came together. A Pretender’s Murder is the kind of book that rewards a close read, and it left me thinking about how much of ourselves we show to the world—and how much we keep hidden.

If you love classic mysteries with a modern psychological edge and thoughtful character work, this one’s absolutely worth picking up.

Londinium was formerly an outpost of the Roman Empire. Surviving pieces of the wall built by the Romans were incorporated into the newer London buildings. In 1925, a pipe in the Britannia Club burst. Workmen uncovered a room that had previously been sealed. A proper entrance to the new pipe room would provide access from the kitchen to the back door.

Eric Peterkin was the new club secretary of the Britannia Club, in this Golden Age puzzle box mystery set in post WW I. The whodunnit explores themes of murder, the trauma of war, race and lies and deception of the intricately detailed protagonists.

“The Britannia was full of men still overshadowed by the war.” “Lieutenant Peterkin’s ears still rang from the shell…blind blackness, something acrid in the air…He felt around, pushing away…much of the collapsed dugout…His fingers found fabric…a sleeve…Private Dent…not all of Private Dent…” The explosive sound of the burst pipe triggered this memory.

Colonel Hadrian Russell was the acting president of the Britannia Club. He possessed great strength and fortitude despite the death of his four sons in the Great War. The Roster of the Fallen was a wall of brass plaques with the names of club members who’d fallen in battle. “Hadrian belonged to that class of officer, usually high up enough to see very little of actual fighting, who thought that shell shock didn’t happen to men of strong moral fiber.”

Hadrian, considered to be the “magnanimous patriarch”, was left with four daughters-in-law. George Russell, the eldest son died when his outfit’s attack on the Germans failed. His “gracious widow”, Lady Alice, was the de facto matriarch of the Russell family. She habitually wore black mourning attire. David was burned by mustard gas. His widow, Flora Grace, was a “glamorous (trouser wearing) vamp”. The trousers were "calculated to obfuscate her femininity, yet somehow managed the opposite.” Patrick died by sniper fire only weeks before the Armistice. Twenty year old Patrick had just married nineteen year old Lucy. Lucy, a “girl ingenue”, favored wearing white-and-navy sailor dresses. Andrew Russell’s cause of death seemed questionable. He died in a Parisian hotel while trying to flush out German spies. His widow, Madame Eliot was a “glittering professional” content with running her own business.

On the night in question, Hadrian Russell was visited by Capt. Gregory Ward. Ward had returned to England with the hope of reinstating his membership in the club after a lengthy absence. After fighting in the war, he came down with consumption and was sent to a sanatorium in the Swiss Alps to recover. With Eric Peterkin’s assistance, Ward recovered his father’s Webley revolver from the club vault. The revolver, wrapped in oilcloth, was scratched with a small rectangle divided into triangle quarters by an inscribed X. The same marking was found in the imprint of a woman's boot in the Parisian hotel room housing Andrew Russell’s body.

“A loud bang, another bang, and a crash like breaking glass-the window had been broken outwards-Colonel Russell on the pavement outside…the Colonel’s fingers were frozen around the barrel of a “Webley” revolver. Why had Hadrian gone back to the Britannia Club at half-eleven? Why was Ward’s gun in Hadrian’s hand?

Enter Inspector Benedict Crane…”his blond beard was cut in the fashion more common in Chinese caricatures. Benedict had spent a decade in Hong Kong. He made it clear that Eric Peterkin, an amateur sleuth, would only get in the way of his police work. Crane claimed to know how the criminal mind worked. A picture of pomposity! Eric had his own challenges. As a child, he watched his mother work with a tutor to “iron out” all traces of her Chinese accent. She knew the struggle of having to prove she was English enough. Did Eric, raised in England, have to prove that he was Chinese enough? Will the two detectives come to respect each other’s investigations and theories in an attempt to unlock the tangled mystery and solve Hadrian’s murder?

Author Christopher Huang continues to impress with his second Detective Peterkin novel. There are many intangibles implemented to resolve this complex, historical fiction mystery. Being trustworthy is not the same as being truthful!

Highly recommended.

Thank you Inkshares and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

An artfully crafted historical gentleman sleuth, a genre I think can always use more entries. Peterkin has none of the slickness of Lord Peter Wimsy, but none of the pretension of Hercule Poirot. Instead, we are left with a deeply human man born into prestige with just enough "other" to not be comfortable with the responsibilities others demand of him. While there is a cast of characters a mile long in this book, each person is uniquely crafted and memorable. The final whodunnit builds well and there's a satisfying end– plus a wink I think will be expanded on in future books with our night porter, Harvey. What's not to love?

Huang is definitely an author to look out for. I can't remember ever reading a contemporary writer emulating golden age mysteries so well. And with a main character that has neither suspiciously modern views, nor is a vehicle for the author grieving about the good old days, where you could still be racist. Peterkin is posh, but he's also mixed-race, so he is still an outsider. He views things differently than his white contemporaries. But not everything. While he has a charming relationship with his sister, he's still surprised (and slightly shocked), when he realises, that she has different plans than demurely sitting at home for the rest of her life. It's all really well done
And then the mystery is also brilliantly done. It's full of twists and turns and moments that make you think you've figured it out, only to go somewhere completely different a page later.

A Pretenders Murder is a delightful adventure into England of a century ago. It has all the elements necessary for a first rate mystery and is especially good at capturing the flavor of the Golden Age of mysteries. Lt. Peterkin is an admirable detective to rival Poirot or Alleyn or Campion. (He's not up to the Lord Peter novels.)
Lt. Peterkin has the onerous duty of securing the reputation of the venerable men's club he runs after the locked room murder of Col. Russell, a distinguished veteran who has paid the ultimate price in the Great War after all 4 of his sons die in combat. He is surrounded by his seemingly devoted daughters-in-law. Like a great game of clue no one is who the seem to be, nor where they are supposed to have been, and each of the DIL has a secret that puts them in jeopardy. And like all good mysteries of the space between the world wars, this one has character pretending to be someone else or pretending to have a nobility undeserved. It is all wrapped up in true Golden Age fashion with Peterkin confronting the murderer (s) in the drawing room.
This reader was enchanted by A Pretender's Murder. It has all the features of my favorite mysteries that introduced me to the genre as a young reader. It's easy to read in one sitting and be very satisfied when the last sentence is read.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. This is an independent review.

Christopher Huang has become a favorite writer. A Pretender's Murder, like his previous novels, embraces the twists and turns and unexpected events and people that surprise readers. Unnatural Ends was the first novel that I read by Huang, and what I have learned as to give this author time to explore the story and delve into the characters. In A Pretender's Murder, readers once again meet Eric Peterkin, who is seemingly thrust into solving a murder and a couple of mysteries he did not expect to solve.

Golden Age Mysteries are a favorite genre of mine. Huang has figured pout how to embrace this genre and how to create the intrigue that defines the genre. There is much history to explore in the Great War and the years immediately following, which have fed the Golden Age Mystery genre. A Pretender's Murder is book 2 in a series, with A Gentleman's Murder first introducing readers to Peterkin. And although A Pretender's Murder is the second book in the series, this mystery also works as a stand alone mystery. Huang writes thoughtfully, with careful pacing, without rushing readers through the story. The plot and characters slowly unfold, with deceptions that will surprise readers.

I do recommend A Pretender's Murder. Thank you to Inkshare Publishers and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my review. I did enjoy A Pretender's Murder very much. It is clever and smart and is able to pull readers into the narrative. Anyone fond of well-paced mysteries will enjoy this novel.

5 stars

A Pretender’s Murder is everything I want in a historical mystery—smart, atmospheric, and full of twists that kept me guessing. Christopher Huang nails the 1920s setting, weaving in post-war trauma, espionage, and social change without ever losing the thread of the mystery. Eric Peterkin is a fantastic lead—thoughtful, sharp, and just the right amount of skeptical. The story starts with a literal bang (a man thrown out a window!) and only gets better from there. I loved how the plot unfolded across different locations and layers of secrets. If you enjoy classic whodunits with depth and heart, this one’s a must-read.

Eric Peterkin is tasked with being the new secretary of the soldiers only club Britannia under Colonel Hadrian Russell.. That is until the Colonel is found murdered right outside his club. Reluctantly Eric begins his investigation into the mystery and soon discovers that very few things are what they seem.

I had a hard time getting into this book - the writing style feels very different from anything I've read recently, the sentence structure is different. Everything feels paced slower, the sentences longer, the descriptions flowing. Took a bit to get used to, honestly, but once you get into it, you're in. That's when the writing style fully unfolds and the book becomes so super enjoyable. This is definitively a book I'm buying myself in print version once it's out because it was just that good that I want to go back and reread it. I loved that writing style. And it fits so well with the theme of the book! Anything else would've just been too modern to be believable, I don't think the immersion you get here could've been created otherwise.

I loved the characters, especially Eric - he is reluctant to do what he's doing, he struggles with the lingering effects of the war, he's actually busy enough with his job and the manuscripts he's reading.. And yet he can't say no, when it's his men who get accused of the crime. But it's not only that - he's also half Chinese, yet can't speak any of the Chinese dialects, and still gets treated differently. Then there's the four daughters in law of Hadrian Russell - they really felt like thought through characters, everyone of them different from the rest, different focus, goals.. They felt real. It was a little difficult to meet them at first because you're kind of thrown in, here's the four daughters in law with their four late husbands, all of Hadrian's sons.. But since they've actually got personality, you can get to know them over the course of the book.

The story is very much an old times crime solving puzzle, the book feels like one and hey, look at that cover. Just fits. You don't get fast paced action, things take their time to unfold and there's clues to find and so many slow steps to be taken. This feels more in the vein of Sherlock Holmes and I love it for that reason.

Topicwise of course the Great War is looming over everything - it hasn't been long that it was over, people are still suffering of the aftermath and getting help for mental issues at all is very difficult if not just impossible. But it's not just the men who suffered, women lost their traditional roles and some don't mind but gaining the acceptance of their surroundings is a whole different topic. The story does not feel like it was just built around those topics to draw attention though, they're naturally woven into the book and it's just done so well, I could really imagine myself back in the times, fear still prevalent, but things not quite fully changed into modernity. This book did a great job at world building and keeping that world fully alive.

The one thing I was a little bit put off by was the whole traveling part - it felt so nonchalant, no one got informed of Eric and the other's absence, they just left she got their bags and ended up traveling to Switzerland and simply being gone. It felt a little rushed to just up and go, given that everyone involved has a job and positions you can't usually just leave and not turn up for.. And even being in Switzerland didn't do much for the story, except of course for the discoveries made there.

Speaking of discoveries - the plot is very well thought out. There's a few twists, that you can see coming but not fully, it's just that feeling you get when things add up too conveniently.. And that does nothing to change from the fact that the way the plot is built up makes this book just a fun read. It's like you're getting to collect your own clues as well, solving alongside Eric and if you missed something, he and his men will bring it up eventually. Like I said above - it feels like a puzzle and I loved it.

Overall, I definitively enjoyed that. Very much in the vein of Sherlock Holmes, very much a mystery you can unravel alongside the characters and very much a book that'll just keep you reading because you can't stop. It's just fun and a whole different world.

Thank you Inkshares for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

The book is amazing, set in a time forgotten yet relevant. This is something I did not know I needed!

Intrigues upon intrigues, oh my!! 🤩🤩 A Pretender's Murder is a fun murder mystery story set in the 1920s Britain. I love the cast here and really enjoyed reading from the main character's perspective.

Full disclosure, I was not aware that this is actually the second book in a series when I requested for this book in Netgalley. 😅 So it felt like jumping off into the deep end of the pool a lil' bit, but I wasn't too terribly lost at all. The premise/blurb sounded interesting, so I just went for it. And I'm super glad I did!

The mystery really picked up at about ~65/70% I think. The story leading up to the end was a blast, kept me guessing until everything was revealed.

Super fun, I'd happily recommend this book! I'll be looking out for more from Christopher Huang.