This historical mystery first in series revolves around a woman determined to discover why her husband was murdered and the details of his secret life.

I found this story well written and the plot fairly interesting. But overall, I felt it was a bit too easy for our heroine in her reasoning and unearthing of aspects of the mystery. I felt that there wasn't enough depth to her thought process. I was told rather than shown in some instances. And her partner and friend, a former news reporter turned stay-at-home mom, stole the show for me. With her spunky attitude and general know-how, Penny pretty much stole the show from Emma. I was also bothered by the almost constant condescension from the male characters over the females not being smart enough or too delicate to participate in almost everything. I realize that those were different times for women, but I felt like I was being bombarded with it too often.

So, while it had its good points, I was not pulled in enough to read further for now.

My thanks to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for providing the free early arc of The Whitechapel Widow for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

Title: The Whitechapel Widow
Author: Emily Organ
Publisher: Storm Publishing
Release Date: March 27, 2025
Rating: 4⭐️

The Whitechapel Widow combines all of my favorite elements - a female lead with a surprisingly steely strength, a mystery, the 19th century, with a hint of Jack the Ripper tossed in for good measure. Emily Organ manages to perfectly capture the fear, the darkness, and the seediness that surrounded Whitechapel during Jack the Ripper’s reign of terror.

I love Emma - she has so much grit and even as her husband’s secrets began to unravel, she never fell apart or let her nerves be shaken. She is bold and persistent.

The one thing keeping this from a 5 ⭐️ review is the slightly weak dialogue - it was occasionally used to tell rather than show but this wasn’t so jarring that it took me out of the story. Even with this minor complaint, I couldn’t put the book down. I had to know what happened!

This was the first of Organ’s books I’ve read and I will certainly be picking up the sequel as well as Organ’s other series.


Thank you @netgalley and @stormbooks_co for the ARC.

I thank NetGalley and Storm Publishing for an advance reader copy of “The Whitechapel Widow.” All opinions and comments are my own.

Emma Langley and her husband were supposed to be on to a wonderful new chapter in their life, away from congested London. But very soon it’s apparent that the husband has run off and left her. And young women have been turning up dead in Jack the Ripper’s old hunting grounds. Is it possible that her husband…? And then his body is found. Enlisting the help of a female reporter who had been instrumental in finding the murderer of her brother several years before -- Penny Green -- Emma is determined to solve two crimes; prove her husband wasn’t the serial killer and find his murderer at the same time.

“The Whitechapel Widow” has a lot going on in its pages, and author Emily Organ makes sure that readers have plenty to ponder; no mid-book slow down here. There’s the husband’s secret life, Penny Green’s personal business (she’s married now to a police inspector who’s not at all happy about what she’s involved in -- we’re talking about Victorian attitudes towards women), and if that wasn’t enough, why not throw in a whole story line involving legal fraud and deception? Emma and Penny tie it up all very neatly, making sure that everyone that needs to be brought to justice gets found out; well, more or less, of course. There is that Jack the Ripper fellow that managed to elude the rope, after all. And we have one last little tidbit that probably will work into a future adventure for new friends Emma and Penny. Clever, that.

The Author’s Note contains info about Jack the Ripper and the real places that appear in the book, many of which still exist, and the real stories behind the fictional story. “The Whitechapel Widow” is an entertaining addition to Jack the Ripper whodunit theories as well as Victorian historical mysteries.

Quite the mystery! Emma's husband is murdered, and she is determined to find his killer since the police are extremely busy trying to find Jack the Ripper. There were many clues which led to different theories, but the ending was a total surprise!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Emily Organ for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for The Whitechapel Widow coming out March 27, 2025. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I have several of this author’s books. I was definitely excited to check this one out. This was a fun spinoff series. I love Victorian murder mysteries. Of course solving the mystery about Jack the Ripper is interesting. I thought Emma was a strong character who goes through a lot with the death of her husband. I’m definitely excited to see what’s next in store!

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Victorian murder mysteries!

Emily’s husband misses the train he is supposed to be on with her on the way to their new life – to a place and an aunt of his that Emily has never encountered. She has no home, limited funds, and no family to help her figure out what is going on. This book is a testament to the fact that women can do more than they ever imagine when they find themselves in the circumstances that require it. I love that Emily is able to build a new circle of people around her who help her see things about her husband she had not understood, encourage her in her investigation, and support her as she finds out more than she bargains for. On the other hand, there could have been more nuance to the characters, including Emily; for instance, I did not get the sense of fear and despair that I know I would have been feeling from Emily at all. Nonetheless, I found the book a fun, fast, and interesting read.

Thank you to Storm Publishing, Netgalley, and the author for early access to a digital copy of this intriguing new series.

Emma Langley and her husband, of 4 months, William, are leaving London behind, for health reasons they are heading to the Suffolk country side.
Right before the train leaves, William decides to get off the train to buy a paper, the train leaves without him. Emma switches trains before reaching Suffolk and heads back to London, expecting William to be waiting for her, but he is not there, instead he is found dead near Whitechapel. Emma sets off to find out what happens, and contacts Penny Green, a once newspaper reporter, for help.
Could William be Jack the Ripper?
A great first book, in what I hope will be many. Penny Green has her own series, so I will have to look into those.

As a longtime reader of this author’s books, I was expecting another good read, and was not surprised that I thoroughly enjoyed this spinoff from her Penny Green series. The book caught my attention from the first pages and kept my interest throughout the book. The plot and character development did not disappoint. There were many twists and turns in the story and the maturing of the main character as the plot unfolded was engaging and well done. The inclusion of characters from the original series added well to the story and was a nice, familiar inclusion. I look forward to more books in this series and highly recommend this book!

This was an intriguing start to a new series featuring a naive woman who finds out that her husband was living a totally false life and had deceived her while spending all of her inheritance. He abandoned her on a train with no money or home and then turns up dead. So Emma proceeds to try to figure out what happened. She’s helped by various people, especially Penny Green, a previous heroine of Organ’s historical mysteries. Penny is married now with two small children and finding herself constricted by expectations that a married woman in Victorian England should not do anything besides take care of her home and family. But she’s missing her job as a journalist who solves murders. She can help Emma get her start as an unexpected detective.

It looks like things are set up for Emma to solve more mysteries considering her sleaze of a husband’s shenanigans. And there’s a hint of a possible love interest for Emma to be introduced in the future when there’s a superfluous mention of a male journalist who is a dogged researcher. I’d predict that, when he’s introduced in person, he and Emma will eventually fall in love.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

3.5 ⭐

The Plot: The story was quite interesting, especially with how the author tied the murders done by Jack the Ripper to the mystery surrounding Emma Langley’s husband’s murder. (Did that make any sense?) But I will say that the plot was underwhelming. Chapter after chapter, I was waiting for a fight-off or a chase through London’s wet, gloomy streets, but none of that happened. Maybe it’s my fault for having high expectations and thinking it would be like an Enola Holmes film, but I was wrong. I’m not mad about it, but it did take me a good minute to finish the 102 chapters. I will say, though, that I was shocked when I found out who killed William Langley. I was like “No, no. It can’t be so and so. It has to be that person.” And, yet again, I was wrong. 😂 What also turned me off about the story was how I felt like I was a new character in the last season of a show or a new friend in a group that had known each other for years. The author alludes to the previous encounter between Emma and the Blakelys. They referenced many things about their past and I felt like a bystander and not part of their friend group. Besides those things, everything else went on swimmingly. 😊

The Characters: Emma Langley was an okay character. She was smart, kind, and outspoken when the occasion arose. She was, however, kind of boring, naive, and too trusting, but she wasn’t annoying, insufferable, or arrogant. So she gets a thumbs up for not being like other FMCs. 👍 Penny was far more interesting than Emma and I wished I knew that Emily Organ had a whole series on Penny Green’s investigative work as a journalist. But, hey. Better late than never. 😉

The Writing: Emily Organ did a great job creating an eerie environment for her novel, leaving me guessing the entire time. As I said, there are 102 chapters, but they are short, which kept me on my toes. Her writing helped me visualize London and the pubs, offices, and homes, which set the stage for this story and the characters who told it.

Overall Thoughts: Although there were a few things I didn’t like about this book, I enjoyed myself. I can (for the most part) figure out the guilty party in mystery novels, but I am pleasantly surprised that I didn’t have a clue who killed Langley. I plan on reading more of Emily Organ’s novels and am excited for the second installment of this mystery series!

Thank you to Storm Publishing for gifting me this digital arc. All opinions and statements are my own.

#TheWhitechapelWidow #NetGalley

It's 1888 and Emma Langley, recently married to husband William, sets forth on a train with him, bound for a new life away from smoggy London. When William steps off the train briefly to buy a newspaper and doesn't return, Emma is frantic and she eventually returns to London to search for him

When he is found murdered in a seedy part of London, Emma is shattered and when the police are unable to find the culprit, she turns to her friend Penny Green, a former newspaper reporter, to help her find the truth. The trail takes them to the underground society of London exposing blackmail and corruption along the way with possible links to Jack the Ripper who is stalking women across the gaslit streets. During her search for the truth, Emma has to face the terrible question - just who was the man she married?

An interesting historical mystery set during the late 1800s and the 1st book in a series about Emma Langley. The book's pace is good and it builds the tension and story well. The setting of the story in Victorian London is described beautifully in a manner that makes it easy to imagine. Emma's character is well-drawn for a woman of her time seeking answers to her husband's death in a world with certain views about the role of women in society.

Thanks to Netgalley for my opportunity to read and review this book, which I enjoyed and would recommend for people who enjoy this genre.

Publication date 27 March 2025.

This is not my usual read but I was hooked from the beginning and read it in two days.Emily and Willian are on the train ready to move from London when he goes to get a paper but doesn’t return too his seat.. Where has he gone too and why.. Emily then seeks out the newspaper reporter Penny Green that help found out who murdered Emily brother a few years ago.Will they be able to solve where William was and what happened too him.Thank you Netgalley and Storm Publishings.

I received this arc from NetGalley and Storm Publishing. This book is set in London during the time of Jack the Ripper and focuses on recently widowed Emma Langley. She is shocked after her husband, William, was found murdered, but that shock soon intensifies as she comes to realize that she may not have known the man she married. And she even begins to ask herself if her own husband could have been Jack the Ripper. Emma knows that the police are very busy trying to solve the mystery of who Jack the Ripper is and realizes that her husband’s case is just not a priority for them, so she tracks down a former reporter named Penny Green, who has actually helped solve a few cases for the police in the past, and requests her help to track down the person that murdered William. As Emma and Penny dig deeper into the mystery of who William really was and what secrets he had been hiding, Emma herself realizes that someone is watching her from the shadows, and that whoever murdered her husband may be coming after her next!
I love a good mystery, and I especially love a good mystery that leaves me guessing until the very end. And this story definitely delivered. I can’t wait to read the next book to see what mystery Emma will be solving next! Be sure to grab your copy of this fun mystery when it releases on March 27th!

I thought this was a fast moving and well written book.
I’ve already been a fan of this author’s books and was excited to see a new series.
I liked Emma and it was nice seeing Penny again. The mystery was good and kept me guessing to the end.
Looking forward to the next one

Being abandoned at the train station by her new husband as they are on the verge of leaving London for their new life in the country is only the first of many surprises for Emma Langley. After determining that her husband’s relatives that they were going to live with do not exist, Emma returns to the city in search of answers. Instead, she finds that her husband has been murdered on the streets of Whitechapel—a place he had no business being, especially with Jack the Ripper stalking the streets. What was her husband doing there? And could he be Jack the Ripper? Emma teams up with former reporter Penny Green to delve into her husband’s mysterious life of blackmail and deception.

Having read the Penny Green mystery series, it was nice to see her get back to investigating crime around London. Penny is as tenacious as ever. Emma Langley is a compelling new lead for a Victorian Era cozy mystery series. She starts out very naive, but, with some help from Penny, Emma quickly learns and matures. I look forward to Emma’s next adventure.

This book this not disappoint! I was hooked from the beginning to the last page. Set in the background of Jack the Ripper and Whitechapel, this was a mystery. Who was Emma's husband? What secrets did he have? I did like the twist and turns of this book and even though this is a mystery it was a fun read.

A promising debut for Emma, aided and abetted by old hand Penny Green. Good plot well developed with lots of Victorian atmosphere. Look forward to next in new series. Thanks to publishers and Netgalley for providing review copy..

Thank you, NetGalley and Storm Publishing, for the e-ARC of The Whitechapel Widow in exchange for my honest review.

The Whitechapel Widow, set in Victorian England when Jack the Ripper reigned, is a fast-paced mystery novel. The setting and premise were exciting! Sadly, the execution was a little bit of a miss for me. The short chapters felt jarring, and I think the book as a whole suffered a little from "telling" over "showing" the plot to the readers.

That being said, the characters were interesting, and I loved the side characters! And despite the plot falling victim to It was nice to feel how invested they were in Emma, the main protagonist.

I think this is a fine book, nothing earth-shattering, but it was very enjoyable. I think fans of this era will like this a lot.

BOOK: THE WHITE CHAPEL WIDOW
AUTHOR: EMILY ORGAN
PUB DATE: MARCH 2025
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REVIEW
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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THINGS I LIKED
1. I liked the FMC, Emma, and Penny. They had good personalities.
2. I liked the setting and storyline of the book, but it fell flat.
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THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE
1. The book was too slow. There was no reason for it to be 356 pages
2. I expected to know a lot of things about William Langley, Emma's dead husband, but I was disappointed. The book didn't really cover much about him. It's like the mystery concerning him will be continued in the next book in the series.
3. Emma was an okay detective, but it felt far-fetched considering her background and history. I just couldn't believe she would be as good as that at her first try.
4. Again, it felt too long and slow for me
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I didn't really like this book, but I would still like to give Emma Langley another chance.

A really good read, based in Victorian London, specifically the Whitechapel area, infamous as being the are where Jack the Ripper butchered several working women. Emma Langleys new husband goes missing just as they set off to make their life together outside of London. Devastated when he is found dead, she is determined to find out why he was killed. Unfortunately this just shows her how little she knew about him.

A historical thriller/ murder mystery, it is a well written story, nicely paced, with enough twists and turns to keep the reader interested. I liked the partnership that Emma had with Penny, who was desperate to get her teeth into something other than children and housework. It also made me appreciate how hard it was for women of that era to have any independence. And I like the idea this pair with have more adventures together, Recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.