Miss Aldridge Regrets is a well written historical standalone mystery by Louise Hare. Released 5th July 2022 by Penguin Random House on their Berkley imprint, it's 368 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
Told in first person PoV as well as through parallel diary entries from another PoV, this is a subtle and engaging mystery set in the 1930s. The author is especially adept at setting and the primary scenes onboard the Queen Mary on a crossing of the Atlantic readily call forth the golden age of mystery. Readers of Marsh, Christie, Blake, and Crispin will find much to enjoy here.
The writing is more than competent and the mystery, clues, and plotting are well engineered and intricate. The protagonist is out of the ordinary, a multi-ethnic singer/actress who is passing for white; which itself lends a frisson of danger to the story. There are several distinct plot threads and the isolation aspect of a ship at sea mirrors a lot of the greatest classic mysteries.
Four stars. This is an engaging and beautifully written mystery with a denouement which would've done E.C.R. Lorac proud.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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