Reviews

The Murder Next Door by Sarah Bell

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annettenis's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

lezreadalot's review

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3.0

‘What do they think this is, a conspiracy of women?’

This was fine. I wish I had stronger feelings about this, whether positive or negative, but I think this is destined to be one of those books that I just read and immediately forget. There was truly nothing really bad about this, and there's a lot of stuff here to recommend, but I'm just kinda underwhelmed.

This is a historical murder mystery with an established sapphic couple. It's a class difference relationship; Louisa is the daughter of a wealthy lawyer, and Ada comes from way humbler roots, and works as a sketch artist for the police. She and Louisa have dabbled in amateur sleuthing before, with mixed results. When the husband of the couple who lives next door is murdered, they soon find themselves mixed up in the investigation. The beginning showed a lot of promise, both with the investigation and the insights into Louisa and Ada's relationship. The middle part of the book dragged a lot for me. The women would often investigate certain leads on their own, and there was a lot of stuff that ended up happening off-page, even when those things were relatively important to the plot/figuring out what was going on. I never really felt fully immersed. The writing was just okay for me. This is set in 1912, but sometimes the dialogue didn't really seem to fit? I enjoyed the conflict with Ada's past and Louisa's morals but... idk. I do like it when, in mysteries, the sleuths end up getting closer to the case than they want, but I just didn't enjoy how it happened here. And the big conflict between legality and morality was annoying to me because, well, the answer as to what they should choose seemed obvious to me, lol.

Still, I really liked the reveals and the eventual solution to the mystery. It's not something that I guessed right away, which already elevates it above a lot of others in the genre. And I did like the characters (we got some great ace rep in here!), and I appreciate all the queer historical stuff I read. I just wanted a little more from this, I guess.

Content warnings:

Spoiler

murder, domestic abuse, abortion

nsmcfarlane88's review

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

merlinagarance's review

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mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I started this book in 2023 and stopped because I was strugglin to follow. I picked it back up in 2024 and made a real effort now. I enjoyed the story and the main characters, but I expected the story to be faster paced, considering this is about an investigation. I also got lost with all the secondary characters who were only called by their last names (like Clarke/Parks, forgot who they wefe after a while :( )
But the story was good, I enjoyed the historical aspect of it, it was easy to imagine the settings and atmosphere. By the 3/4 mark I nearly read it all in one go til the resolution.

sannesbookshelf's review

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mysterious

4.0

everett_'s review

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adventurous dark hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

randomhumanbean's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

madzie's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Bell crafts a story with great theme development which deals with women and queer history as well as the morals of oppression and crime. Bell says a lot in this book, wrapping up deep ideas about what love is and how others will use social standing to perpetuate hate - lessons still oh so applicable to daily life. She highlights a strong and realistic ace voice that is often never shown in media, giving life and understanding to the daily struggles of being asexual in an allonomative world. Everything Louisa thinks about her sexual orientation is definitely something I have thought at least once, and her constant navigation of love and relationships is very true to the asexual experience, reminding the world that different understandings of love are vital for all people and should never be silenced. Her tackling of sapphic characters and themes also develops similarly, demonstrating the cruel reality of the history of being queer while also offering hope of how people have continued to exist when they were told and forced not to.

Further, Bell demonstrates an insightful feminist commentary on how women have been treated throughout history and continue to be treated today. Her use of history is authentic and makes her work come to life. She highlights small points of the time period that make it feel like you are truly back in time. However, most notable is her use of mystery, always leaving the audience to guess what is going to happen next. Get out your notebook, though, because you may need to write down these characters who constantly interact and influence one another and how society has left them. Bell proves she can wind an irresistible complex plot and character cast flawlessly. Her main relationship between Ada and Louisa further invokes authentic life and gives a deeper look into how opposite viewpoints can support us and make us stronger, while love can bridge all sorts of gaps.

Bell’s prose is satisfying, beautifully using free indirect discourse and modern prose to be an easy read. My only complaint is some moments feel forced and unrealistic to recap events to the audience. Nevertheless, these moments are little in a novel that tackles great themes with well-rounded characters. Overall, I very much enjoyed this novel.

Content Warnings

amymarsdenauthor's review

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4.0

Murder mystery. Historical. Established lesbian couple. What's not to love?

This was a great debut! Set in Leeds in 1912, Louisa and her 'companion' Ada learn that their neighbour, Alexander Pearce, has been murdered.

I haven't read many crime/murder books (I think this is only my second, maybe) but the twists and turns kept me invested! I won't go into much detail because spoilers, but I was very satisfied with the ending!

The thing that stops this from being 5 stars is during the first half of the book Louisa and Ada don't communicate all that well, which was frustrating. This is eventually cleared up though, and the second half of the book flew by!

I just want to add that while I'm not from Leeds, I do live in Northern England and my aunt is from Yorkshire, and I loved the accents in this book! I had fun reading along in it.

Definitely recommend!

Rep: lesbian, asexual

gnomescottage's review

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dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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