Medium Dead by Paula Paul

Title: Medium Dead – An Alexandra Gladstone Mystery

Author: Paula Paul

Publisher: Alibi – Random House

Published: April 14th, 2015

Rating: 4/5

Set in Victorian England, the heroine of this murder mystery is Dr Alexandra Gladstone. She is highly unusual in being a Doctor for the village of Newton-upon-Sea, having taken over her father’s practice. She has a loyal maid, Nancy, and a very protective dog, Zack.

Queen Victoria secretly visits the area, endeavouring to access the services of the village medium/spiritualist Alvina Elwold. When Alvina is viciously murdered rumours and gossip sweep through the village and Alexandra is determined to find the murderer, aided by her friend and admirer, Nicholas Forsyth who is a barrister and recently became Lord Dunsford. This is a dangerous enterprise as royal sightings, mysterious strangers, oyster farmers and rumours all play their part as she tries not to be the killer’s next victim.

Although this is the fourth book in the series, it is the first that I’ve read and I still thoroughly enjoyed it and didn’t feel I needed to read the earlier episodes to appreciate this one. It does, however, mean I’m tempted to do so as I enjoyed this one so much! Alexandra and Nancy make a delightful combination and their interactions are, at times, funny. Nicholas would obviously like to be more than a friend but she’s too aware of their differences in social standing and his mother, well, the least said about her, probably the better! There are so many brilliantly portrayed characters, all with their own quirks, that this is a lovely murder mystery I recommend you go read!

Thanks to the author, publishers and NetGalley, too, for letting me read an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is available from a variety of sources including

amazon.co.uk    amazon.com     barnes and noble