The Alchemist of Lost Souls is Book 4 in the Bianca Goddard Mysteries by Mary Lawrence. Although this was my first time reading the series, this book reads well as a stand-alone.
Title: The Alchemist of Lost Souls
Author: Mary Lawrence
Series: Bianca Goddard Mystery #4
First Published: April 30, 2019
Publisher: Kensington Books
Categories: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Acquired: from the publisher via NetGalley
*** Thank you to Kensington Books for providing me with a digital Advanced Reader Copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. ***
DAUGHTER OF A DISGRACED ALCHEMIST
Bianca Goddard, the protagonist, is an herbalist and the daughter of a disgraced alchemist. When The Alchemist of Lost Souls begins (in Spring 1544), we see Bianca’s husband, John, get conscripted to fight in Henry’s wars as a pikeman (a dangerous position). Now Bianca has to worry about John, as well as their soon-to-be-born child.
To make her life even more complicated, Bianca’s father, Albern Goddard, visits her to ask (well, demand) her help in recovering his stolen discovery – a new ‘element’ that glows brightly without any fuel source. Bianca teams up with Constable Patch, who she has had dealings with before, to try and find the stolen element and ends up finding a series of murders instead. The murders become personal when Bianca’s father, Bianca’s mother and Bianca’s long-time friend all become suspects.
THE ROUGHER SIDE OF TUDOR ENGLAND
I found the historical descriptions of Tudor London utterly fascinating. Lawrence depicts life in the less-glamorous parts of England in a great detail. The writing is realistic and colourful. Much of the historical fiction I read that is set in Tudor England focuses on the castles and royalty of the period – it was a nice change to read about the common people and the everyday problems that they faced.
Bianca is a really likeable character. She is competent, smart and caring, but also has faults that make her easy to relate to. I wasn’t a fan of many of the other characters, like Albern (what an ego!) or her mother (too many secrets) but the dislike wasn’t because they were poorly written but because I liked Bianca so much that I felt slighted on her behalf when she was treated shabbily.
The science-lover in me was also fascinated with the mysterious element. I spent half the book trying to figure out what Albern had discovered based on the few clues that were presented. I had to wrack my brain back to high school chemistry class to try and remember what element would react the way this mystery element did. (Maybe if I ask nicely, Mary Lawrence will let me in on the secret?)
WHO IS THE RAT MAN?
The only part that I found a bit confusing is the mysterious character, The Rat Man. This other-worldly character, who lurks on the edges for most of the book, takes on a very central role in near the end of the story. It seemed like an odd supernatural addition to an otherwise realistic story. I wonder if I would have been less confused if I had read the previous three books in the series? I’m sure I’ll find out as I definitely plan on going back to read them.
This was definitely a nice find for me and I’m looking forward to going back and catching up on Books 1-3, The Alchemist’s Daughter, Death of an Alchemist and Death at St. Vedast.
READ IT FOR YOURSELF
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Fabulous review, Stephanie. The mystery element in this book sounds very interesting!
Thank you so much Stephen! It was definitely a fun find!