In Victorian England chimney sweep Tom Wasp is delighted to model for painter Valentine Drake. Especially as his co-model is the lovely Bessie Barton. But when her body is discovered in the mud of the Thames he is determined to find the guilty party. The story is told from Tom's point of view.
An enjoyable mystery ( )

I discovered this 'new-to-me' author during a recent trip to my local library. As a fan of murder mysteries, I decided to give this one a read, and I am happy I did.

Tom Wasp is not a police officer, a 'gentleman' detective or an inquiry agent as per other murder mystery series set in the Victorian time period. Tom Wasp is a poor but honest chimney sweep in London's poverty-stricken East End. He has his letters - can read and write - and has been raised to be God fearing. That being said, he knows that life in the East End is a hard scramble for survival. As a chimney sweep, Tom gets brief glimpses into the homes and lifestyles of the more well to do Londoners and Tom is flattered when a painter in fashionable Chelsea, Valentine Drake, asks Tom to model for a painting with the beautiful Bessie Barton. Bessie models for painters as a way to make ends meet and can relate to Tom's working class background. When Bessie's body is found on the muddy banks of the river Thames a few months later, Tom vows to find her murderer. His investigations, with the help of his 11-year old apprentice Ned, lead Tom down the twisted road of Bessie's hidden past, the mysterious Moonman and her connection to a group of artists, the Angels.

I found this to be a rather good book. IMO, the author has done a great job communicating the 'atmosphere' of Victorian London through Tom's eyes, creating interesting characters, provided the reader with a good mystery to solve and fantastic insight into London of the time period, including the Thames Tunnel, the Ratcliffe Highway and the Cremorne Gardens. The only part of the book that I started to tire of near the end was the continual use of analogies by the narrator between the investigative process and chimney sweeping. Other than that, I would rank this one up there with the other mystery comfort reads I have been enjoying this year. ( )