Dolly Butler's Eight-Day Week

Delightful period piece, mystery and women‘s history
This delightful period piece set in the early years of the 20th century in London had nearly slipped under may radar if not for netgalley alerting me. From the outset Kane weaves a wonderful tapestry with rich and colorful details of London middle and lower classes‘ lifes at the start of the new century. I truly enjoyed e.g. the musings of the maid - something we rarely encounter when the focus is on the adventures of the main character or just plain on the coming and goings of the upper class.
The main character Dolly Butler, queer, women-loving and at times cross-dressing, tries her hand at being a detective. Her work leads her to the squalid workshops and the hard life of women - there is more than a pinch of feminism here which I relished. There is more detective work going on than the obvious and the story surprised me with some unexpected turns. I loved the vivid descriptions of characters - cheerio to Australian Queenie who makes quite the entrance: hope to see you again. Because not everything seems to be solved at the end - so there is room for another adventure with Dolly Butler and her unlikely assistants. Something I look forward to reading - hopefully soon.

Thanks for the ARC via netgalley. The review is left voluntarily.

This was a very happy surprise as it's a very entertaining and poignant books. There's serious issues like intolerance and women abuse and there a lot of humour.
I read it as fast as I could and thoroughly enjoyed it
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A fantastic first novel, looking forward to more!

The book, is well written and I couldn’t put it down, reading it in one sitting.

I enjoyed the setting of the early 19th Century London. The book was full of interesting characters which includes the main character of Dolly Butler who has started a new career as a detective with agency in Soho. I especially enjoyed the gang of female shoplifters called the Forty Elephants.

I don't know where to start. This book is just totally amazing in so many different ways. Dolly Butler is an extraordinary creation. She's brave, willing to take on the establishment which frowns on her dressing as a man, and thinks her a freak for her same sex relationship. She's also funny, and kind, and resourceful.
Great characters are everywhere: Blanched Bolton, the pipe-smoking, store detective; Maggie Fisher, the downtrodden but determined maid-of-all-works; and wheelchair bound Cyril Hare (perhaps a bow to the great crime writer of the same name?).
I love the author's ability to change tone with such versatility: Edwardian farce; cozy crime mystery; and then the deprivations of women working in a sweatshop factory, and knife-wielding thugs.
A fabulously entertaining novel.

Dolly Butler's Eight-Day Week is an interesting historical British mystery set in London and environs by debut author Annette Kane. Released 28th July 2023 on indie press Book Guild, it's 336 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is an Edwardian mystery drama full of suffragist history, animal exploitation, sexism, and other less-salubrious facts of the middle and lower class existence in very early 20th century life in London. It features a rough and ready private inquiry agent who is gay, cross dressing, and disinclined to live inside the lines imposed on her by society. In fact, the book's opening sequence sees a ladies "convenience" in a department store emptied post haste because she has the audacity to actually urinate in the toilet where others could -hear- her biological function hitting the porcelain.

The ensemble cast is full of oddballs, square pegs, and misfits. It's written compassionately however, and the author does a good job of pointing out their idiosyncrasies without making them freakish or poking fun. The prose is well crafted and descriptive. There are some pacing issues throughout and it does move quite slowly in places; but overall a very good read, and full of verisimilitude and real history interwoven into the text.

Three and a half stars. It would be a good choice for public library acquisition as well as for fans of historical British mysteries. It's not a cozy, and there are some mentions of stark realities of life during that time period, especially for women in non-traditional roles. It's fairly clearly foreshadowed that this is the first book in a series and that new adventures await. No publishing timeline given for a sequel.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.