[NOVEL] Murder by Moonrise by Patrcie McDonough

Third and last book in Dr. Julia Lewis series that concludes the story of her, Inspector Richard Tennant and a bigger plot at hand.

1867: For commoners and nobility alike, the Isle of Wight is an ideal holiday destination. Queen Victoria and her family frequently spend time at Osborne House, their stunning coastal residence. For the next few days the island will also be home to Dr. Julia Lewis, who is traveling with her grandfather and her great-aunt. But despite the pleasant surroundings, Julia is beset by worries.

Julia and Inspector Richard Tennant grew close during their last investigation, but he abruptly left England on a dangerous chase. She has heard nothing from him in weeks; meanwhile her maid, Kate, is nervous about rising anti-Irish sentiment. Editorials call for harsh retaliation against those determined to rid Ireland of British rule.

When Julia is called to perform an autopsy on drowning victim Lizzie Dowling, a young, Irish-born servant at Osborne House and a favorite of Princess Louise, she discovers that the girl was pregnant. Was her death a suicide? The distraught princess is eager for answers, and as Julia digs deeper, a second tragedy points to murder and perhaps a political scandal. There are rumors of smugglers funneling weapons to Ireland—and assassins who would target the Queen herself.

Motives abound but time is in short supply—and every day brings deeper urgency and threats that neither riches nor royalty may withstand . . .

Dr. Julia Lewis. Bok 3

Whe other books may be more about protagonists, I find that books about Julia are more people's books, like a group portrait. It has an abundance of characters who may not appear for long, but leave the ever-lasting impression.

Thanks to her extensive research and knowledge McDonough blends the truth and fiction together. You can read more about the true (or more acknoqledged / researched facts) and fictional parts in Acknowledgement.

The book picks up and treads carefully when it comes to the Irish-British conflict (and several incidents that indeed happened in 1867 when the novel takes place). It does not portray either side in black and white. It comes as more of a factual story where you are left to come to your own conclusions.

Just giving an example, one of the earliest incidents is the Clerkenwell that took 12 lives and left 120 wounded, this is a real incident. Not to mention that among the victims were fellow Irish, but the incident also sparked the anti-Irish sentiment. Like the novel described a stabbed Irish man who was just a simple and honest worker, but he died due to the unrest. The victim may be fictional but it doesn't mean such incidents didn't happen.

We also have the story of our two sisters who were the first murder victims that triggered the whole investigation. Like Sergeant O'Malley said their story is like something told ten thousand times about a family that was evicted and misplaced, who had to move for a better place.

Same goes for the royal family that makes an appearance, although we mostly see some fictional supporting characters and some of their thoughts on the royal family (the most frivolous I think is a comment about Victoria that she looks like a "pile of coal" when seated in her dress). But I'd say author does not impose any concrete thoughts on them. By that I mean the royal family don't express any opinion about the overall situation.

So you can witness more or less two sides of the coin, the actions and consequences, you can see the reasoning and motives.

It's just my impression that it was treated with care.

As for the plot, I found it interesting to evolve a murder and connect it to something bigger, well, all previous books picked up a part of the puzzle that eventually fell into place.

Here it is the same, Lizzie Dowling, an Irish maid is found dead in a well. Her death had no concrete conclusion if it was an accident or suicide, before her sister turns up and has something to say.

The death of Brigid Dowling rules out the accident of Lizzie Dowling, but now we have a killer on the loose and we have a short list of people who were present to hear about Brigid plans to visit London. They are our prime suspects.

Will there be surprises for you? I don't know, but two points made me think - oh, it might be this man. And eventually it turned out I was correct to suspect those two points of information.

As mentioned it's more of a group portrait rather than Julia galloping around London and investigating, her role in this is not big, she's a doctor and serves as a forensic for the police. There are many characters with their own little stories for you to see in this book. I often felt quite sentimental when reading even the small bits.

Another interesting side of these novels is that - lots of investigative work is done. Wrong to compare but in most of amateur sleuth mysteries a lot of time is spent on random stuff sometimes. But here I found that the progress was methodical, step by step process. It takes time, nothing is done in a day, it's meticulous. 

I pretty much described everything in general terms, but because I want people just to experience these books themselves.

For the last part, the romance between Richard and Julia. Some may not like how slow this burn was. But I think it was treated pretty well.

They did not have the best start before they became accustomed to each other. You can't call it a spark, but the interest was there. Eventually they grew closer before the second book made them separate when Richard was off to catch a criminal on the loose. This period made the string between them too taut. They had to find the way to each other again after the reunion, while also being constantly distracted by life that did not give them a chance for a proper conversation. But with time both realize they are lonely without the other person, something they haven't felt before and something only the other person can change.

For once we have a main female character who can calmly analyze the downside of marriage for women during her time, but she is not against a matrymony. I know their feelings are more subtle among all the fiery passion we're used to. But their feelings also were tested by time before they realized - oh, this is the person I love and I am ready to make the next step. Which I found particularly great.

RATE: 5/5.