I love locked-room mysteries, and this was a fun read. The topic of passing was well handled and thought provoking as well.

It took me a little while to be fully immersed in the story but I really enjoyed the lavish ship setting - it would make for a great film!

It took a long time for me to even get to 10% into this novel. The pace was too slow for my liking and although I gave it many chances, unfortunately it isn’t for me. Still grateful to @netgalley for the advanced copy.

(Content warnings: murder, racism, classism, sexual assault, death of parent (pre-events of the book, but heavily discussed))

This book was kind of a mess. The premise and setting were so promising, but jeez, the execution's ROUGH.

Let's start with the good stuff: the way the race and class dynamics were handled was one of the few genuinely compelling parts of the book, and the romance was quite sweet and well-paced - a welcome respite from the frustrating wreck that was the main plot. As for everything else...

The supportive cast feels flat and uninteresting, and the main character, Lena, feels like a passive participant in her own story - she seems to hardly make any decisions at all, the plot sort of just happens to her. Most of my issues, though, have to do with the murder mystery plot. So this is a murder mystery, right? It's marketed as a murder mystery. So, naturally, you'd expect the main character to maybe try to figure out the murder mystery at some point. Wrong! Lena at no point tries to solve the murder. She doesn't take initiative, doesn't do any sort of investigating, snooping, even thinking about it that hard. Despite being one of the main suspects. (The one time she does go sleuthing in someone else's cabin, literally nothing comes of it, and it ends up completely pointless.) Furthermore: there is a surprising lack of tension in the story, considering the murderer on the loose and all, and the book's slow pace certainly doesn't help with that. The weird interludes from the murderer's POV - essentially Villain Monologues™️ - feel unnecessary, taking away suspense instead of building it up. Seriously! There were multiple points in the book where i went "oh, that would've been an actually cool plot twist, if we WEREN'T LITERALLY TOLD ABOUT IT BY THE MURDERER IN ADVANCE. why?!" I'm honestly still SO baffled by this choice. It'd take some seriously good writing and editing to pull off intertwining the main narrative with long flashbacks and the antagonist POV interludes without making it feel disjointed, and this book just doesn't manage it. I hoped the reveal of the murderer would redeem the book a bit, but oof, nope. It's.... not great, either. I can't really get into it without spoilers, the antagonist motivations feel flimsy, and it required more suspension of disbelief that I was willing to give. Overall, it leaves much to be desired, I think. 😔

(Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!)

I sadly didn’t get to finish the book before my e-ARC expired, however I’ve bought a copy and can’t wait to finish it. My review will be updated afterwards.

I really enjoyed reading this book, this historical fictional is full of intrigue and glamour and memorable characters!

I found this book quite hard to get into ;the premise is interesting but it’s very long-winded and I found the conclusion really hard to believe.
Lena Aldridge is a singer in 30s Soho,who is given a chance to escape London following the murder of the owner of the club where she sings. .She is offered an all expenses paid passage to New York on the Queen Mary to audition for a part in a Broadway musical ,where she meets and befriends the wealthy Abernathy family.
However,when the family members start to die in suspicious circumstances ,all implicating Lena ,she realises that her life is also in danger and she has to take action to protect herself.
There are interesting ideas about race and prejudice ,but it just took too long to get to the point ,and the jumping back and forth between time frames and locations was confusing.
I really enjoyed this Louise Hare’s last book ,but this one wasn’t as enjoyable for me.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review which reflects my own opinion.

There’s a lot to like in the latest novel by the talented Louise Hare.

The setting aboard the Queen Mary is excellent. The dynamics between the family are vividly portrayed. There are scenes where the atmosphere is both strange and strained with a lot of subtext. The events on the liner present us with a ‘locked liner mystery’ and parts of this are very good and feel very Christie-esque which fits nicely with the 1930s timeline.

The book was engaging and it held my attention throughout. I was eager to find out who had it in for Lena and why. I liked how the plot evolved and the fact that it all takes place on the ship. In the middle of the ocean, there is no place to escape, so we knew the murderer has to be on board the ship.

As for the murder, I was surprised and didn’t figure it out until the characters did. Although there were plenty of clues.

Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare is glamorous historical fiction set on the famous ocean liner, the Queen Mary. Most of the action takes place on the ocean liner, with flashbacks to London. A fabulous historical crime mystery that was decently paced and kept me guessing for most of the book.

I thought This Lovely City was a strong and entertaining read so was excited to read the author’s next novel. Unfortunately it turned out to be a major disappointment.

None of the characters rang true to me nor the situation with which they were faced. The pacing was very slow and the flashbacks broke the flow of the story.

The occasional observations by the villain seemed intrusive, spoon feeding readers details which they would likely work out for themselves.

Add in an implausible ending and we’re left with an unhappy and dissatisfied reader.

It’s 1936 and Lena is on the way to New York. She’s leaving her troubles behind and moving on from her job singing in a nightclub in Soho to a role on Broadway. But first she has to negotiate a luxury cruise ship journey and when a wealthy and aristocratic family take her under their wing things start to get complicated. Then someone dies. This has glamour, intrigue, a whole bunch of secrets and a slowly unravelling mystery. If you look at the list you’ll see it’s took me a while to read – but don’t let that distract you – really I started it, got distracted by other books and then came back to it and read most of it in a week. It would be a great book to read on a sunlounger this summer. But maybe not on a cruise ship!

‘Miss Aldridge Regrets’ was right up my street! Set in the 1930’s, a nightclub singer, an aristocratic family and a murder on a ship travelling London to New York- it has all of the elements of a slick, glamorous mystery and didn’t disappoint.
Contextually this book is well done and doesn’t shy away from the societal changes and issues of the time, mostly evident in the MC of Lena. Lena is mixed race and a theater girl looking for a fresh start, she is written as an incredibly self-aware young woman and flits between the two social groups on the ship during her investigation. My only slight point was that sometimes Lena’s narrative sections sometimes go a little long or focus on unnecessary details, when I was eager to get back to the mystery element of the plotline.
I loved the vividness of the entire setting and cast of characters, this mystery really pays homage to the locked- room style of the genre. Hare writes with ease and it makes for an intriguing and wonderful read.

I loved this book. The story, cover, characters were amazing. A book I would happily read again and recommend to all my friends.

Miss Aldridge Regrets is a well plotted whodunnit with a nod towards Agatha Christie. However, it is not an old fashioned novel as the story centres on Lena who is mixed race but ‘passing’ as white which brings in race and class issues.
The story is set in 1936 on board a luxury liner heading to New York where Lena has been promised a role in a Broadway musical. When a wealthy American is murdered, Lena realises things are not looking good for her, as the murder was very similar to a recent murder at a Soho nightclub where she was a singer.
I found the book a really good read with my interest held throughout as it kept me guessing who the murderer was.

“Anyone could travel on the Queen Mary, they said, and that was true enough as long as you knew the rules. Up here, mingling with the likes of Frankie Abernathy, the air was reserved for the wealthy.”

My thanks to HQ for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Miss Aldridge Regrets’ by Louise Hare in exchange for an honest review.

London, 1936 and 26-year-old Lena Aldridge had hoped for a career in the theatre; instead she finds herself singing in a sleazy basement club in Soho. Then she is approached by Charlie Bacon, an American there on behalf of an old friend of her deceased father. He is offering her the chance of a lifetime: an audition for a starring role on Broadway and a first-class ticket on the Queen Mary bound for New York. The timing is perfect as there has been a murder at the club and Lena is happy to leave England behind.

During the voyage there is another challenge for Lena: “Charlie Bacon had told me that Americans could be funny about things like that, that even though segregation wasn’t strictly a concern in New York the way it was further south, it didn’t mean that people would turn a blind eye. To pass, to fit in, was paramount on the voyage itself.“

To cover Lena invents an Italian grandmother yet she’s always on alert, especially with the wealthy passengers that she and Charlie are assigned to share a table with for meals. However, when someone at their table is murdered, Lena becomes caught up in a complex mystery.

While Lena serves as the novel’s narrator as readers we are made aware that there is someone else behind the scenes, observing Lena and planning to use her as a scapegoat in their schemes.

I always find mysteries set on board cruise ships and ocean liners interesting and here having the iconic Queen Mary as its backdrop added to the atmosphere. In addition, Louise Hare utilises her period setting to explore issues of race, class, and privilege. I will note that there is some usage of racist language by certain characters as well as discussion about the situation in mid-1930s Europe.

‘Miss Aldridge Regrets’ had the feel of a classic Golden Age mystery with a well realised period setting and engaging characters.. I adored Lena - without doubt a woman used to living by her wits yet with a vulnerability. I wanted her dreams to come true.

Overall, a satisfying and entertaining historical mystery that incorporates serious themes within its glamorous shipboard setting.

On a side note I found the Art Deco cover very appealing.

This is a decent Christie-style murder mystery where every character has a clear motive. I loved the premise! The setting on a 1930s sea crossing from England to New York provided a fun ‘locked room’ element to the story and paid tribute to the golden age of crime.

There wasn’t anything I particularly disliked and I wanted to love it, but something about the writing didn’t quite do it for me. I wasn’t gripped by the story and didn’t really feel anything much for the characters. I think there was perhaps too much going on at times and a bit more focus on fewer elements to the story might have made it more impactful.

That said, there were elements I really liked. Lena was sort of leading a double life between her time trying to impress the upper class Abernathy family, vs the bond she forms with an African American jazz singer. It really brings out the context of the Great Depression and the contrast between rich and poor. I found the discussion of race really interesting too and how as a mixed-race woman, Lena feels stuck between two worlds. Should she keep trying to pass as white to make it in the showbiz industry, or should she embrace her black roots and be truer to herself?

Overall, a solid and entertaining read. Thank you to HQ and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

sorry i just could not get into this - i tried twice and had to give up not my style type of book i do not know what else to put. i have also given star rating

Lena is offered a position on Broadway with a free first class ticket on the Queen Mary to get there. This story goes back to the events in the week before when her boss gets murdered, and the week of the journey where more people start getting killed. What is this all about?

In interwar London, a young singer is presented with an offer she can’t refuse: one that holds that promise of stage success, and will allow her to escape from the quandary in which she finds herself. But aboard the luxury liner taking her to America, all is not well, as she is instantly plunged into the secrets and illicit relationships of a dysfunctional, wealthy family and its entourage, where the patriarch is murdered before the end of the first day of the voyage.
As Miss Aldridge tries to make sense of the intrigue around her, suspicion increasingly points in her direction, but she has secrets of her own…
This enjoyable closed room mystery beautifully captures a sense of time and place and engages the reader’s sympathy for the title character. A thoroughly entertaining novel that resonates with the style of the thrillers from the era in which the story unfolds. I will be recommending it to my book group, although as a children's librarian I am unable to purchase it for our library.

When Lena Aldridge finder herself at the heart of a murder investigation she has to take a strong look at her life and what left her in this vulnerable situation. Out at sea, Lena has to help solve the crime to exonerate herself. How can she do this when she is al alone without anyone to vouch for her?

Miss Aldridge Regrets is a cosy crime novel set at sea. It is one of those novels that you can pick up and put down without overthinking things and getting too stressed out. It had layers to it. Besides looking at the underbelly of crime it also looked at racial issues during the 1920s. It was a brilliant amalgamation of contentious issues along side a crime story.

A really enjoyable read.

Miss Aldridge Regrets by is available now.

For more information regarding Louise Hare (@LouRHare) please www.louisehare.com.

For more information regarding HQ (@HQStories) please visit www.hqstories.co.uk.

Lena Aldridge has never known her mother and, after the death of her father, lurches from one poorly paid job to another. She dreams of stardom but is still singing in seedy nightclubs. Then one day it appears her fortunes have turned, she is offered a job on Broadway and is whisked away on the Queen Mary. However this lifestyle seems to come with a few catches and death seems to be following Lena.
Despite the plots holes wider than the Atlantic, I loved this book. Maybe it was the sly hint at Cole Porter in the title or the aside that Lena loved Agatha Christie that made me smile. More likely it was the way that a golden age murder mystery has kept its 30s setting but been given an update. The race element is to be expected from Hare but she is becoming expert at making this integral, not a deliberate plot device unlike many others. Essentially it is just a great read again from a very accomplished writer.