Dead Drop by Marilyn Todd

We had a weekend break after eleven months of not going anywhere. It is a part of our country called the up country and as it suggests are the hills in Sri Lanka. Tea grows there and just hills of green tea is in itself more than enough to satisfy the senses. Add to this quietness, a remarkable absence of many people and my happiness was complete. Sadly short lived and now back to bustling Colombo. On the reading front I've done well but been a bit remiss about reviews. So here goes. I've read one other book starring the bright Julia McAllister - a forensic photographer totally unheard of occupation for 1896. Getting by a carefully cultivated veneer of lies - a dead husband, a dead partner to the world not dead, because no one at the time will want to deal with a single woman running a business. Julia is stressed financially and her last scheme - was disrupted to put it mildly. Pornographic pictures for the titilation of the gentlemen of the aristocracy had to be closed down. It was lucrative while it lasted. Now Julia gets drawn into a murder once again. A circus is in town and she has offered three women accommodation in her house (so that she can cover her bills) and repay her loans. When one of them is found dead, thought to be initially suicide later ruled as murder, Julia takes it on herself to see that justice is done. The story runs the gamut of detection, false clues and suspects but the background to the story is the thing that adds so much color and interest. A circus in town, a lot of magic, a lot of characters all with plenty of secrets that they have no wish to be known. Very good reading. It cannot be just called a mystery murder. It was also very detailed and descriptive of the times it was set in. Sent by Sapere Books for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.