jacey | Booklog 44/2019 - Georgina Clarke: Death and the Harlot

A Georgian (1750) whodunit featuring Lizzie Hardwicke, once an educated lady, now earning he living on her back as one on Mrs Farley's girls (not the worst establishment of its kind). When one of her wealthy customers is brutally murdered, Lizzie comes under suspicion, so to prove her innocence to Constable William Davenport she begins a little amateur sleuthing. As the secrets and corpses mount up, Lizzie becomes deeply embroiled in the case, and works ever more closely with Davenport.

There's a growing attraction between Lizzie and Davenport, but it's not sexual. This isn't a romance book. Lizzie's profession, while not the subject of graphic descriptions, is always to the fore. She's a working girl in a reasonably upmarket brothel that is maybe less strict then most as long as no one forgets what the main business is. We see streetwalkers in much worse situations than Lizzie, though Lizzie never seems to be in any physical danger from her clients (of either violence or pox, though she never seems to take precautions by insisting her gentlemen use the sheep-gut prophylactics that were available in that time period.).

The whodunit element is always the main theme, though we do eventually find out what brought Lizzie low. This is a gripping read with a satisfying ending. This is obviously meant to be the opening of a series, but it reads perfectly well as a standalone.