Series: Leo Stanhope #1
Published by Bloomsbury Raven on May 3, 2018
Format: Audiobook, eARC
Source: Library, Net Galley
Pages: 377
Amazon UK
Goodreads
Everyone has a secret... Only some lead to murder. Introducing Leo Stanhope: a Victorian transgender coroner's assistant who must uncover a killer without risking his own future
Leo Stanhope. Avid chess player; assistant to a London coroner; in love with Maria; and hiding a very big secret.
For Leo was born Charlotte, the daughter of a respectable reverend. But knowing he was meant to be a man – despite the evidence of his body – and unable to cope with living a lie any longer, he fled his family home at just fifteen and has been living as Leo: his secret known to only a few trusted people. But then Maria is found dead and Leo is accused of her murder. Desperate to find her killer and under suspicion from all those around him, he stands to lose not just the woman he loves, but his freedom and, ultimately, his life.
A wonderfully atmospheric debut, rich in character and setting, in The House on Half Moon Street Alex Reeve has created a world that crime readers will want to return to again and again.
I absolutely loved this book it is like nothing I’ve ever read before. I was in love with the story, the characters, just everything. It was absolutely just spot on. Leo is fascinating and his story needed to be told, did I say already I loved it?!
I loved that it was set in a time where there was no technology! I also loved there was very little police presence in the book. This book was solely about Leo and the murders, well until the police questioned Leo, then they reared their ugly heads.
The story behind the murders and the ways and hows of it all was heartbreaking. I mean that ending, I get it, I really do but when you read the book it’s not the ending you want but it makes the most sense. The thing is it made me love Leo more for it. A man of integrity.
I am so excited that there are more books in this series as I can’t wait to see what happens with Leo again. It is just such a fascinating story. I can’t spoil this for you in any way because I really did go in blind, I had no idea of the true story here. I thought it was just another murder mystery, which it is, but it is so so so much more than that!
I listened to the audiobook of this and I have to say the narrator was completely spot on! He got the characters, he knew just went to up the anty with the thrill of it all. He knew when to be sombre and fraught. It just all worked perfectly and was everything I wanted in a book and narration. There is a scene where Leo is hiding in someone’s house, and he can hear movement downstairs, the narrator got everything in this scene spot on. He made you sit up and stop what you were doing whilst holding your breath as you wait to see what Leo’s fate would be. This is not only a credit to the narrator but to Alex and the power he holds with his words, his writing is just sublime.
I really can’t express how much you need this book in your life! Leo deserves to be there. Just go in blind and enjoy the journey, which is exactly what I did. I won’t read the blurb for the next book, I am just going to jump in. If it has Leo’s name on the cover with Alex Reeve, I am there.
I truly just loved everything about it!
Until next time xxx
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