Years ago, Inspector Charles Field, Dickens' inspiration in Bleak House, was sent to Crimea to track down a serial killer threatening Florence Nightingale and her nurses, Now it looks like the person he accused was innocent - and the real serial killer is back.

This follow-on to The Darwin Affair was just as good, just as edge-of-your-seat as the first. Mason's plot is superb, and I loved how he pulled me into the Crimean War. Highly recommended! ( )

A murder mystery with a dual setting (Scutari Turkey in 1854 and London of 1867), THE NIGHTINGALE AFFAIR by Tim Mason was totally absorbing. The Nightingale of the title is Florence with her political connections and her belief that sanitation and nutrition were key elements in treating the war wounded. Other historical figures also appear in the story - Disraeli, Dickenson, Wilke Collins - to name a few. A consistent theme in the storyline examines the historical controversy of women as autonomous beings. Well worth the read ( )

I asked to review this book for Library Thing’s Early Reviewers solely because of the involvement of Florence Nightingale in the plot. I tend to like Victorian mysteries, and the storyline seemed to be an added bonus. Well, that was the only part of this historical mystery that I liked. I found the writing abrupt, scattered, and hard to follow. It wasn’t poorly written—just not to my taste. As this is my second attempt at this series, I think I’m giving up.

This is a well written historical novel covering both the era of Florence Nightingale's pursuit of bringing modern nursing to hospitals in the crimea in 1855, and the later era of the expansion of voting rights in London. The two time periods are tied together through the efforts of the detective Charles Field's attempt to stop the murders of women (and men) who have the temerity to challenge these particular areas of male dominance. ( )

I love Victorian Age novels. And The Nightingale Affair is filled with personalities and history from the age, and reads more Victorian than contemporary.

Inspector Charles Field was known as the inspiration for Charles Dicken’s character Inspector Bucket. Everyone understands the connection, and fame is a tiresome burden. During the Crimean War, he was sent to the Crimea to investigate a serial killer who left a calling card of an embroidered red rose. Florence Nightingale and her nurses were in danger. Now, Field is now a private investigator asked to aid with the investigation into a new series of murders with all the hallmarks of the Beast of the Crimea. The man accused of the murders in the Crimea is dead–Field saw his death. Either he had the wrong man then, or there is a copy cat killer in London.

The London murderer has chosen his victims with a purpose: they are bluestocking ladies and men who support women’s suffrage. Florence Nightingale may be a well-off society lady, now retired from the world, but as a nurse she stood up to the male dominated medical profession to promote practices that forever changed how the ill and wounded were cared for, concerned with cleanliness and healthy food and palliative care for the dying. Field married one of Nightingale’s nurses and they have two adopted children. They are, like Nightingale, all at risk. The threat becomes very personal.

The novel takes us back to the Crimea for the back story, then forward to Field’s new investigation. It is a complicated, serpentine path to the truth.

I enjoyed this mystery for it’s atmosphere and how it is peopled with characters including Prime Minister Disraeli, philosopher and member of Parliament John Stuart Mill, and Wilkie Collins, Dicken’s friend and author of The Moonstone and Woman in White. Those in the know will love references such as Field getting his start as Mr. Fielding’s Bow Street Runners, a group began by Henry Fielding, author of The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling, and his brother John. The Bow Street Runners are known as the first professional police force.

I found it fairly quick reading and an enjoyable, atmospheric mystery.

Thanks to Algonquin Books for a free book. ( )