The Tumbling Girl by Bridget Walsh

 

The time is Victorian London.  The Variety Palace Music Hall is one place people can go for entertainment, trapeze artists, animal acts, singers, comics, acrobats and mediums.  Minnie Ward used to be a mimic on the stage but got tired of it and now helps run the Hall  She is shocked when her best friend goes missing and is found dead.  It's ruled a suicide but Minnie doesn't believe it nor does her friend's mother.

Minnie and the mother decide to hire a detective since the police consider the death a closed case.  Albert Easterbrook comes from money.  He was a policeman himself and a boxer but he left both professions to go private.  He starts to investigate and soon agrees that the girl's death was no suicide but murder.  Minnie insists on helping and soon the two are deep in the midst of a scandalous club whose members regard women as disposable.

This is Bridget's debut novel.  She was an English teacher for twenty-three years and has a degree in Victorian domestic murder so the setting and actions are quite realistic.  There is romantic tension between Minnie and Albert, as they both realize that a romance between two people from differing social classes is fraught with difficulties.  I enjoyed this mystery and will be looking for others by the author.  This book is recommended for mystery and historical fiction readers.