Thanks Hodder & Staughton and NetGalley for ARC.
Edinburgh 1948, the aftershocks of WWII still reverberating and the NHS in its infancy, Helen Crowther is trying to make a go of things in the new and sometimes poorly understood role of welfare officer at a doctors' surgery in a deprived part of the city, and reaching out to patients and the public to try and offer help in a range of ways. When a series of suspicious deaths of prominent local men begins, she happens to be right on the spot for a variety of reasons and feels compelled to help.
This is so much more than a period piece, as she navigates social mobility, a complicated family life, and tries to follow her ambitions in public service.
I immediately went to the first book in the series (which I'd missed) and eagerly await the development of this character and this milieu.

I enjoyed it even though the end was a bit of a cliff hanger! Hence the 3*. However, I really enjoyed the characters, Helen, the Welfare officer, Billy, the morgue attendant and both doctors, Sarah and her husband. They do make a wonderful team with distinctive and intriguing characters. The original and creepy murders showed original creativity from the author. This was very entertaining. The setting of Edinburgh post war makes for an interesting reading as well, and I will definitely read more novels by the author.
I have received a digital copy of this novel from NetGalley and I have voluntarily written an honest review.

It’s 1948 and Helen Crowther is a welfare almoner for the newly formed NHS in Edinburgh. It’s not an easy or a popular job, and her home life isn’t simple either but she keeps on going. While she’s at the bath house with one of her clients, the body of a man is found boiled to death in one of the cubicles. And then another couple of bodies turn up and Helen finds herself investigating because she’s noticed a few things that are worryingly close to home.

This has a great setting and a cleverly put together mystery to solve. I found Helen a really interesting character, and her job gives her an excellent excuse to be sticking her nose into other people’s lives. There aren’t as many historical mystery series set in the immediate post war period as there are set in the 1930s so that make a really nice change as well as the Edinburgh setting. I’m pretty sure this will work best for you if you’ve already read the first book, but I haven’t and I still enjoyed it! Like with McPherson’s Dandy Gilver series, the mystery is darker than you often find in historical mysteries, but it’s not too graphic although there are a couple of gruesome moments its more implied than right there on the page.

Set soon after World War Two in Edinburgh, the novel interweaves social issues of the day with a rather disturbing set of murders. This novel was not an easy read for me, and at times, I was sickened by the murder details and poverty. This was a testament to the power of the writing – the descriptions were incredibly evocative and vivid – the post war period really came alive and the voices of the characters had me easily believing these people were living and breathing on the Edinburgh streets at this time.

I really felt for our main character, Helen, whose personal circumstances were difficult. She knew a lot about the people in her community, but she couldn’t be open about her personal life even with her own family – I found this very moving and sad.

The murders and subsequent investigation started jumping in and out of the background a bit until near the end, where I just had to keep reading. The suspense and build-up was electric at this point – beautifully crafted to keep the reader hooked until the final reveal. A chilling outcome that could have gone on for a few more pages perhaps, but left me dangling for the next book. Just to note – I had not read any of the previous books in the series, but it was very easy to jump into the story.

The Edinburgh Murders follows Helen Crowther as she continues her work as a Welfare Officer - and an amateur detective. When a spate of gruesome murders hits the city and Helen's friend Billy overhears some disturbing conversations at the morgue where he works, Helen cannot stop herself investigating. Once I'd got over the gruesome nature of the deaths, I enjoyed this very much. I can't help feeling, though, that Catriona McPherson has subtly altered Helen's persona. I love her evocations of 1940s Edinburgh along with her social commentary on the city - which could probably be applied to any large conurbation of that time or any other.

The Edinburgh Murders by Catriona McPherson centers around Helen, by day working in a doctor's surgery, elsewhere living in an unconventional marriage, the details of which are hidden from her family.
Helen loves a good puzzle and, with the help of her friend mortuary assistant Billy, gets caught up when a body is found at the local baths.
As the investigation progresses, it is clear that serious injustice is being perpetrated against innocent people.

This book is set at the start of the NHS in the UK, at a time when tenements, steamies and bathhouses were popular. It gives true insight into the ways of Edinburgh at the time.

I received a free ebook in return for an honest review.

We're following Helen Crowther, a welfare officer working for the National Health Service of Scotland in its early days, while she tries to find the solution for a murder that happens in a public wash house. The story is intriguing and makes you to want to know what happens next up to the discovery.

I also liked that besides the murder, we also follow Helen's story and her relationships with family and other characters. I really liked the descriptions of Edinburgh, the clothes, and the domestic settings.

I didn't realise this was a second volume in a series, but I think I enjoyed the book anyway. It made me want to read the first, though, so I could know more about Helen. I also liked the final note the author wrote detailing what were facts and what was fiction.

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton to gift me an eARC through NetGalley.
This review was made at my blog (link below) and shared to several of my social networks.

Second in this series featuring Helen Crowther,a welfare officer for the NHS. Better for the background to have read the first . An interesting story with some gruesome murders.

This is the second book featuring Helen Crowther who we first met in In Place of Fear which if you haven't read it yet, I suggest you do to get the background foundation that this book builds on.
It is set in the post war, early days of the NHS, and Helen is a Welfare Officer - which basically means that she is a kind of social worker. She is married but it is in name only, her "husband" living with his male lover in the downstairs flat to where she lives. Needless to say that no one else knows of this arrangement.
She is at the public wash house one day assisting a lady of large proportions to bathe when she discovers a body. A man dressed in a Tanner's apron has been boiled to death in his bath. She also notices that her father is present, although he shies away from her. Obviously given the shenanigans of recent times, she is intrigued by this and luckily has a friend, Billy, who works in the morgue who can assist her interference in the investigation. But this macabre death is only just the beginning as the bodies soon start to pile up. They all have one obvious thing in common that links them, although the police do not appear to be investigating very thoroughly... It's especially weird as no one has identified them, let alone reported them missing, and they all appear to be of a higher station.
I loved this book. I really like Helen as a character. She is good at her job, often going above and beyond even when it gets her in trouble. She is respectful to the doctors she works with, loves her family, warts and all, and she has some good friends. Her tolerance and understanding of her husband's personal life is commendable, especially when it is now affecting her own potential happiness.
And the case she is drawn to in this book is both interesting and intriguing. It held my attention well all the way through, spitting me out at the end mostly satisfied. It was a tough one for Helen as it was a bit close to home at times. But I can understand why she did what she did and how the ending was justified.
I love the setting of this series. Both the time and place have been faithfully (to my knowledge) recreated by the author and it all feels completely real.
All in all, a cracking follow up book, which only leave me hankering more for book three. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Being familiar with the city and also the language helped make it an enjoyable read and Catriona McPherson captures the period perfectly.

Helen Crowther #2

Edinburgh, 1948. Welfare officer Helen Crowther has enough on her plate between her hectic job, her complicated love life, and her growing reputation as a troublemaker. Last year's scandal did nothing to help with the disapproval she already gets as a woman in her line of work. All she wants now is to focus on helping the poor of Fountainbridge ward i the city of Edinburgh. The ;asst thing she needs is another string of murders to distract her,,,,

Helen Crowther is a welfare officer for the newly formed NHS. While helping a patient, a corpse is found in one of the men's changing rooms. But the body count keeps rising.

I quite enjoyed this well-written story. The characters are well-developed, the pace is steady, but it's filled with gruesome deaths - it's not for the squeamish. I'm looking forward to reading the next Helen Crowther book.

Published 10th April 2025

I would like to thank #NetGalley #HodderStoughton and the author #CatrionaMcPhearson for my ARC of #TheEdinburghMurders in exchange for an honest review.

Helen Crowther, a professional welfare officer for the newly formed National Health Service of Scotland, is at the public washhouse helping one of her patients to wash herself when there is a great commotion and it turns out that a corpse has been found in one of the men's changing rooms - he looks to have been boiled alive in his bath and left wearing a Tanner's apron!

What follows are a series of macabre murders. All the victims are well-fed men with no signs of hard work on their hands or bodies. Each is killed in a bizarre fashion and left dressed in some strange piece of clothing that seems to bear no relation to the place or manner of their deaths. One thing that unites the bodies is that they each have evidence that a pinkie ring has been removed from the body, and nobody has claimed them or reported them missing. By some strange chance, Helen is there when several of the bodies are found and she and her friend Billy who works at the morgue are trying to uncover both the identities of the victims and the murderer(s).

I really enjoyed this, my only gripe is that it ended very abruptly. Loving where this series is going, the glimpses into a forgotten world, the clash of the post-WW2 world meeting the pre-War beliefs. Honestly, I have pretty much loved everything Catriona McPherson has written.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Helen Crowther has enough on her plate as it is, wanting to help those most in need in Fountainbridge, a ward in her beloved Edinburgh. However, murder and mayhem are never far away. She’s quickly brought back to issues she’s previously been involved in, when a dead body turns up in close proximity and a relative is caught in a mistruth. Squaring up, Helen’s more than capable of figuring it all out, even if it means she once again sees the less than desirable characters in her city.