Lovesey completely held my interest with this one. A beautiful (and truly photogenic) young wife of a professional photographer confesses in writing to killing the husband’s assistant. Her unusual calm is striking. Just to absolutely sure before her death sentence is carried out, Sergeant Cribb is asked to go over the case. He does…and things get very interesting.

I took a star off because the theme of Cribb being overlooked for promotion, despite stellar detective work, has become tiresome to me. That said, I would recommend this one to any lover of detective stories set in the Victorian era. I found the book somewhat reminiscent of John Dickson Carr, whose work I live. But Lovesey is a much better writer than Varr. ( )

Short but sweet. A very interesting mystery. Alas, Lovesey again telegraphs the result too early but it is still a fun read. ( )

Lovesey was rater a pioneer in the now-crowded field of modern detective stories set the Victorian era In this case, Miriam Cromer, wife of a photographer in Kew (where I go now for the National Archives) has been sentenced to death for poisoning her husband's assistant who was blackmailing her over a risqué photo she had been tricked onto posing for when young and naïve. She has confessed to the crime and seems to be taking her impending hanging very calmly, but then someone anonymously sends Scotland Yard a photo showing that her husband had is key to the poison cabinet with him when she supposedly took the poison --and the only other key was on the murdered man himself. Sgt. Cribb is asked to discreetly investigate. ( )

i expected this to be better. the killer's motive is really stupid. ( )

Miriam Cromer has confessed to the murder of her husband's photographic assistant. As she awaits her execution, Detective Sergeant Cribb is called in to find an explanation for the one small inconsistency in her confession. In his search, he stumbles across more information than his superiors are comfortable with. The stories of his investigation are interspersed with Miriam's prison life and the seemingly unrelated adventures of the hangman in London. A fun little mystery. ( )