I thoroughly enjoyed this story and also relished hating Crawford’s character as one of the novel’s evil protagonists. An interesting plot where ne’er do well manages to ensnare a naive young girl in an abusive relationship for his own gains. Equally fascinating, we learn about just how profitable cemeteries could be and how lack of grave space has been a repeating theme in London’s history. Many thanks to NetGalley for an arc of this book.

Bonnie and Crawford come from a place where they yearn to be someone. Crawford has more of a chip on his shoulder than Bonnie. He uses Bonnie to get what he wants, or what he thinks is his.

Crawford knows a well to do family who he believes owe him something. He places Bonnie in their home and plays with all of their lives.

An exciting tale told around the drive to build a cemetery for a loved one around their land.

This was everything I love in a book! I was fully immersed in this story and loved the writers style! I read this over two days as I couldn’t put it down! Brilliant!

I’ve held off reviewing as this book was not anywhere near as good as The Doll Factory. It had the potential to be great but there were parts of it that didn’t make sense including a woman dragging a man to a grave. I loved the idea of it but not as good as it should have been. So sad as I was looking forward to it.

As the nights darken I find myself drawn to darker books, particularly those with a gothic or supernatural element, so it felt like the perfect time to start this book. And it was. Darkly atmospheric, hypnotic and alluring, The Burial Plot is a gorgeous gothic thriller perfect for this time of year. It consumed me and I devoured it whole, enrapt by the story of murder, manipulation, secrets and betrayal. This is Elizabeth Macneal’s best book yet; a haunting tour-de-force that you won’t be able to put down.

It transports us to London, 1839, where we meet Bonnie, a young woman surviving on schemes and tricks she carries out under the guidance of her boyfriend, Crawford. But one night their tricks go too far and a man lies dead in a pool of blood. Bonnie needs to disappear. And, luckily, Crawford knows the perfect place. So, Bonnie travels to Endellion, a grand house on the Thames, to begin working as a Lady’s Maid. Endellion is inhabited by Aubrey Moncrieff, a strange man who spends his days obsessively drawing mausoleums for his dead wife, and his daughter, Cissie, who lives in a daydream scribbling imaginary love notes to herself. The late Mrs. Moncrieff died in mysterious circumstances, and it is soon clear that there are secrets hidden at Endellion. Secrets that some will kill to protect.…

It’s no secret that I’ve been a huge fan of Elizabeth Macneal ever since her debut and will buy anything she writes. Masterfully written, cleverly choreographed and intricately woven, I was bewitched from the start. Macneal’s meticulous research about the fascinating historical period and subject is expertly woven into the mystery, allowing her reader to lose themselves completely in the story. Dark, ominous, oppressive and foreboding vibes radiate from the pages and there’s a twisted game of cat and mouse being played between Bonnie and Crawford. Then there’s the overwhelming sense of claustrophobia that we feel as Bonnie wrestles with her conscience. She’s trapped. Imprisoned by not only her crime but by Crawford and the lies she’s already told.

The book is filled with very real, vivid characters. The protagonist, Bonnie, is a complicated and flawed heroine, an anti-hero who wades in murky moral territory with all of her lies, schemes and plots. But despite this she’s very compelling, likeable and easy to root for. You want her to win despite all she does wrong and you get the sense that many of her erroneous deeds stem from her toxic and controlling relationship with Crawford. I really hated Crawford. He’s a mass of red flags from the beginning but has a charm to him that allows you to understand Bonnie’s attraction to him. And as we hear about Bonnie’s past, we understand she thinks he saved her when she needed it, never realising he was trapping her in a cycle of abuse from the start. The background characters are equally as richly drawn and compelling, with young Cissie stealing my heart. My heart broke for this young girl and all she’d gone through and I loved the bond that grew between her and Bonnie.

Taut, twisty, unnerving and utterly breathtaking, The Burial Plot is a gothic masterpiece that demands to be read.

The Burial Plot is an unputdownable historical mystery thriller with a gothic vibe set in London back in 1839.

As Bonnie ran away to avoid an arranged marriage, she met Crawford, and since then, both of them have been making some money through fraud and theft. After one of their actions gone wrong, Crawford persuaded Bonnie to apply being a lady's maid at Endellion House owned by the wealthy Mr Moncrieff. 
As Bonnie managed to get into the house, she is now surrounded by the gloomy eccentric Mr Moncrieff who is obsessing over mausoleums and his odd daughter, penning love letters to herself from a mysterious Lord.

Driven by greed, Crawford starts to get his way into Endellion House with his fake identity and tries to convince Mr Moncrieff to use some of the estate's land to create a much-needed cemetery. Bonnie was torn apart between her love to Crawford and to protect the Moncrieff family. 
I love to follow Bonnie's character development from a naive girl into a strong woman.

My first Elizabeth Macneal read, and most definitely not my last as I am really keen to get a hold of The Doll Factory.

This is an atmospheric gothic thriller, filled with brilliant yet unlikeable, dishonest characters. Even though I was rooting for the main protagonist Bonnie, she was not a person I'd like to be friends with. She escapes marriage to a creepy minister her family plan for her to be married to by fleeing to London. Taking up with Crawford a petty criminal, she gets in a sticky situation from which she needs an escape, and manages to wangle her way into a job in service at a stately home. And thus begins a life of deceit and mystery. Its twisty and readable and a thoroughly gripping story.

Full of mystery and trickery, this is an exciting historical thriller, set between the worlds of the rich and poor. Bonnie finds herself employed as a maid in a grand house, set to run a con for her lover. However she soon finds a real fondness for the family, and for the master’s plans for a mausoleum, and finds herself torn between two lives.

Well worth a read, Elizabeth Macneal has created another page turner!

Elizabeth Macneal never misses, and this is maybe her best so far. The beautiful cover drew me in, and once I started reading I couldn't stop. Can't wait for her next one!

Blaming my current sleeplessness on Elizabeth Macneal herself

Elizabeth MacNeal is back! Creepy historical fiction! Her narratives disturb me so much. I love it. I am patiently waiting for her to disturb me again.

Bonnie has escaped a toxic situation and has made a life for herself in London only to be thrown into peril again when a man tries to assault her and she accidentally kills him. She escapes to the country to work as a lady’s maid to the daughter of a recently widowed man and lays low, but she feels unsettled by the situation. Did her employer’s late wife die in an accident as reported or something more sinister? Does Bonnie see strange familiarities in her new setting or is she simply haunted by her own dark past?

It becomes clear someone is hiding something from her, but what and why? Bonnie gets sucked into the design and building of a cemetery and burial to honor her employer’s late wife. The entire atmosphere of the narrative is deeply unsettling. Bonnie never knows peace, reminiscent of a du Maurier heroine. It is clear that there is a mystery to unravel at the heart of the house, but the nature of the mystery is part of the puzzle.

The plot points surrounding the Moncrieff house, the disturbed wife, the depressed daughter, and the lost man at the head of the household evoke themes from *The Crimson Petal and the White*, but the characters and plot structure are very different outside of these elements. The general sense of foreboding carries over, however, and fans of *The Crimson Petal* and the White would enjoy *The Burial Plot*, as well as Daphne du Maurier fans, especially ones of *Frenchman’s Creek*.

I love everything Victorian and Gothic, so I've had high hopes for the book. I really liked how the plot (pun intended) was unraveling, as well as the complex character history. I've felt real compassion for a few of the characters. That being said, I feel like the ending wasn't really satisfying for me for some reason. As if somehow the proportion of intrigue and resolution wasn't it.

But I think the biggest thing was the fact that I've kept thinking about Fingersmith by Sarah Waters while reading it, and it was very pale by comparison. Some aspects made me feel like I was reading Fingersmith fan fiction to be honest. And while I always appreciate such themes and settings, this book just wasn't good enough next to the other one.

Thank you to the Publisher and Netgalley for the e arc.

An unstoppable historical thriller about murder, manipulation, and a young women trying to wrestle power from the hands of a dangerous man. Where the cemeteries are full and there is money to be made in death, two people lead a life of trickery, serving off death touched coin and nefarious schemes. But one night their luck runs out when a dead bodies lies in a pool of blood at the feet of one of the duo.

Finding her way as a lady’s maid in a grand house filled with secrets, lies and manipulation she comes to understand this family. The eccentric man who obsessively draws grand mausoleums, the peculiar daughter who writes herself love letters from an imaginary man and the mother who may have perished under more mysterious circumstances than initially explained.

Perhaps she was always meant to end up her or is it all part of a larger scheme. She’ll need to keep her wits about her while everyone is watching her every footstep. This book was probably the best gothic thriller I’ve read in a while: perfectly mysterious, gothic atmosphere with an interesting cast of characters and an intriguing plot line. A determined and intelligent female character, a story that takes of manipulation, murder and freedom of choice: it a perfect gothic thriller for any reader.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐏𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐜𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐄𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐚𝐜𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐥

Unfortunately not one for me this time. Knew straight away after the first chapter I wasn’t interested in continuing

Gripping gothic mystery novel. Fascinating background about lack of burial space in Victorian cemeteries . Interesting multi dimensional characters, not all of whom were likeable .
Bonnie, the central female character moves from a life of petty crime in the city with her co -conspirators Rex and Crawford out to the suburbs. She becomes companion to a young disturbed girl who has lost her mother in mysterious circumstances. It soon becomes apparent that she is being manipulated by Crawford for his own end. Bonnie proves herself to be a lot stronger than she, or most women at this time, were expected to be.
An enjoyable historical read .

Bonnie and Crawford live a life of petty crime and schemes in London. When one of their crimes ends in murder bonnie has to hide quickly. Crawford finds her a job as a maid for a widower and his lonely teenage daughter. Bonnie fills the gaps in their lives but when Crawford appears at the house posing as her brother and encouraging Mr Moncrieff to build a cemetery to include a mausoleum for his dead wife, she starts to wonder if she is actually a victim in Crawford's schemes rather than his accomplice.

There's a lot to like about this if you like historical thrillers. The plots and crimes are the most interesting aspect, more so than the plot about the house and the cemetery which is a distraction for me. The story flips between who is conning who between Bonnie and Crawford which i liked, and there's a fair amount of violence towards the end which adds to the drama.

A chilling gothic novel, filled with secrets, death, and deception.

If you've read Elizabeth Macneal in the past, you'll know she's a beautiful storyteller, and The Burial Plot is no exception. Her distinctive writing style shines through, with detailed and captivating descriptions bringing the characters, events and settings to life.

Like her debut novel (that is easily in my top 10 books of all time), The Burial Plot is an atmospheric gothic novel set in London during the Victorian era. After fleeing an arranged marriage with the local rector, Bonnie escapes to London where she is seduced by the dashing Crawford, a cunning man who schemes his way through life with his sidekick, Rex. After Bonnie accidentally commits an unforgivable crime, Crawford finds her a job as a lady's maid out in the country so she can evade capture. From a distance, Endellion House is beautiful, however cracks are starting to show, both on the outside and in. Close to ruin, Mr Moncrieff is struck by Bonnie's suggestion to build a cemetery and mausoleum to honour his late wife. But did she really drown of her own accord? Endellion House isn't just home to the Moncrieff's; it's home to many secrets. And Bonnie is trapped at the centre of them all.

From the stench of death permeating central London to the gruesome descriptions of dog-killing rat pits, it's clear how much research the author has done to give the novel historical relevance. We are given a true insight into Victorian London from a range of perspectives, including paupers, struggling aristocrats, and conmen. Bonnie in particular represents how a poor, young girl can easily get caught up in crime, giving every part of herself to a dangerous man and unable to break free. Her flaws make her unlikeable at times, but it's because of her naivity that events unfold the way they do.

Despite guessing the ending (which let me down a little), I did really enjoy the build-up of events and the overarching storylines that made this a fast-paced and immersive gothic novel.

The Burial Plot is a dark and sinister slice of gothic historical fiction - the protagonist Bonnie starts off the novel as part of a con artist duo (very much reminiscent of Bonnie and Clyde), luring men to be robbed - she’s under the spell of a man known as Crawford - dark and handsome but sporting some terrible resentments, and we soon come to find out what a dangerous man he is. At Crawford’s insistence, Bonnie becomes a lady’s maid in an elegant country house, but her loyalties are tested as Crawford engineers her place there to his own ends. Bonnie soon realises she has no idea what his ends are and what she has tangled herself up in, and things get especially tense as Bonnie starts to care for the household she’s now set within, while Crawford appears to be working against them. Whose side will she pick? Those who enjoy Daphne Du Maurier would also enjoy this, I think. I did think though that here in contrast the eventual twists were obvious from very early in the novel, whereas you can never see a Du Maurier twist coming!

My thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher, Picador, for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

An excellent Victorian, gothic tale which kept me engrossed throughout. The story is intense and so well written that I was thoroughly immersed in the era. The main character, Bonnie is initially manipulated and tricked until she gradually develops the confidence to step away from her 'mentor' and find her own life in the Moncrieff household.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a DRC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Ooh The Burial Plot was a bit of me.

I bloody love Elizabeth Macneal. The Doll Factory was a chef’s kiss of a book. The Burial Plot did not disappoint. It had all the elements of spooky Victoriana that I just absolutely crave in a story with the added Rebecca vibes. I love it when a writer uses a house as almost an additional character.

Essentially, The Burial Plot was a story of manipulation and survival. Crawford was a brilliant villain who creeps the bejesus out of you and Bonnie is a heroine for the times. If you love a bit of Victoriana then The Burial Plot is a must.

The Burial Plot by Elizabeth Macneal is available now.

Very enjoyable, a great gothic read which transported me back to the early 19th century. There are lots of twists I didn't expect!