Rating and Review
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Spice: 🌶️/ 5
- Available on KU
- Genre: Victorian Mystery
- Publication Date: 03/10/2026
- Format: ebook
- Chapters: 53 + Prologue and Epilogue
- Pages: 276
- Narrator POV: 3rd person POV
You might be asking yourself why I’m posting a review of book 7 in a series. Well, my friend, that would be because I didn’t know it was book 7 in a series and I found out AFTER I had read the entire thing. With that being said, I don’t feel as though it’s necessary to have read books 1-6 before reading book 7. However, I enjoyed this story so much that I do recommend it.
I had never heard of Irina Shapiro before seeing The Carnival Murders available as an ARC on NetGalley. I requested it and got approved. I fell in love with her writing style immediately! This story is set in the mid 1800s, and the writing makes it feel that way.
The Carnival Murders follows the story of nurse Gemma Tate and her fiancé, Inspector Sebastian Bell, as they discover the body of a young woman in the alleyway behind her home. They team up, Gemma working with the body and Sebastian tracking leads through their respected London neighborhood. As they’re working, they find several deaths that are very similar but haven’t been reported.
Gemma and Sebastian spend the entire book hunting, finding, and catching the killer. It was very hard to put this down to do other things! In addition to the mystery happening, this was also the story of Gemma and Sebastian trying to plan their future together in a time where it took meticulous planning.
I was in love with these characters from the beginning and will definitely be picking up book 8 when it’s released. I am hoping for more story on side characters Poppy and Colin!
I will also add, I know it was this kind of time-period and the story is written well to make that apparent, but it was very frustrating to read about the way women were underestimated and untrusted simply because of their gender. I would have definitely been staked if I had been alive then.
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