As part of my 2023 Reading Challenge, I needed to read a book with green on the cover. Enter the book that’s probably been on my TBR pile the longest. Okay, probably not, but it has been on my pile for 6 years. Yeah, you can go ahead and gasp. But you know, some things are worth waiting for. I really enjoyed this story.
** Affiliate links used **
About the Book
The Bachelor Girl's Guide to Murder Author Rachel McMillan
Published by Harvest House Publishers
on April 1, 2016
Genres: Fiction / Christian / Historical, Fiction / Christian / Suspense, Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Private Investigators, Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths
Pages: 224
Amazon | GoodreadsIn 1910 Toronto, while other bachelor girls perfect their domestic skills and find husbands, two friends perfect their sleuthing skills and find a murderer.
Inspired by their fascination with all things Sherlock Holmes, best friends and flatmates Merinda and Jem launch a consulting detective business. The deaths of young Irish women lead Merinda and Jem deeper into the mire of the city's underbelly, where the high hopes of those dreaming to make a new life in Canada are met with prejudice and squalor.
While searching for answers, donning disguises, and sneaking around where no proper ladies would ever go, they pair with Jasper Forth, a police constable, and Ray DeLuca, a reporter in whom Jem takes a more than professional interest. Merinda could well be Toronto's premiere consulting detective, and Jem may just find a way to put her bachelor girlhood behind her forever—if they can stay alive long enough to do so.
My Perspective
The cover to this book just screams Sherlock Holmes, and I love a good mystery. Combine that with the fact that it’s written by the lovely Rachel McMillan and I was sold. I didn’t care that the book had been out forever and I was just now reading it. What matter is I read it, and now I want to devour the rest of the series.
Merinda and Jem are simply put, way before their time. And yet they didn’t let that deter them from solving a mystery, and quite well I may add. Some of their disguises were delightfully funny, and that made reading this story that much more fun. Not at once did I feel squeamish, but instead found myself rooting for these underdogs and trying to solve the mystery right along with them.
McMillan easily took me back in time to historic Toronto, somewhere admittedly I’d never been in a novel before, and I loved it. Her vivid descriptions made it easy to imagine every scene as it played out. This is a setting I want more of, and thankfully I will have that as I search out the rest of the series. I think historic fans will adore this charming mystery!
Favorite Quotes
Merinda was the most productively useless person she had ever met.
You know that I will always share whatever I have with you. Anything….from muffins to murder.
About the Author
Rachel McMillan is the author of the Herringford and Watts mysteries, the Three Quarter Time series of contemporary romances set in opulent Vienna, and the Van Buren and DeLuca mysteries praised for bringing an authentic 1930’s Boston world to life while normalizing the fictional conversation surrounding mental illness. She is also the author of Dream, Plan and Go: A Romantic’s Guide to Independent Travel and A Very Merry Holiday Movie Guide: which explores her love of made-for-TV Christmas movies. Her upcoming historical romances The London Restoration and The Mozart Code (Harper Collins) take readers deep into an atmospheric look of post-war London, Vienna and Prague. Rachel lives in Toronto, Canada.
What interests you about this story?