Title: The Shadow Princess
Author: Mary Hart Perry
Publisher: Diversion Books
Release Date: February 2014
Length: pages
Series?: Yes
Genre: Romance
Format: e-book
Source: Diversion Books
Find the book: Website | Goodreads | NetGalley | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Synopsis
To catch one of history’s most notorious killers, a princess risks losing her family, her life—and her heart…
London, 1888: A year after Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee terror mounts in the city’s slums. A killer has butchered two prostitutes, the crimes brutal even by London’s hardened standards. Rumors of the murders reach Princess Vicky, daughter of Queen Victoria and grieving widow of the German Emperor Frederick III. When her niece Princess Maud visits, she brings with her even worse news–the Metropolitan Police have a suspect. It’s Vicky’s nephew, Crown Prince Eddy. Desperate to clear her family’s name, Vicky rushes back to England.
Detective Inspector Thomas Edmondson believes there is a royal cover-up behind the killings. He will stop at nothing to expose the truth and bring a murderer to justice before he can kill again. But when Vicky joins him in searching for the man who will become known as Jack the Ripper, neither of them foresee the overpowering attraction that will draw together the royal and the commoner—or the danger their love puts them in.
Review
This novel was more than I expected. Somehow it this short historically-based novel, Mary Hart Perry covers a lot of ground.
It all revolves around Queen Victoria’s family. In this particular novel, the focus is primarily on Princess Vicky, Empress of Germany. Her niece shows up to Germany in tow with some very scandalous news: the English Crown Prince is under suspicion – for murder!
This novel delves into the division between classes, the differences between royalty and “commoners.” It is a topic that is generally considered in bad taste for the time, but comes up quite a bit from several characters. It is a blunt, honest and real look at how your “station” in life really was.
It also gives valid insight into the times in which these women lived, with London all but up in arms trying to aid in finding the fiend stalking the streets and striking fear in the heart of all. The sensational fear that struck London with the Whitechapel murders, commonly known to be done at the hand of Jack the Ripper, is not to be taken lightly – and indeed, Perry does this period in time justice. No one feels safe, even on their own street.
In stark contrast to the luxury and sedate lifestyle of royalty, Inspector Thomas Edmunson is working the beat, a “copper.” He grew up in the dredge of the low-life end of the city, and he swears he won’t go back to it. He has dedicated his life to helping the people, and he refusing to give that up, even at the suggestion from a royal. He is a working man, and quite intrigued by Vicky’s requests and offers in aiding the police in pursuit and investigation of Jack the Ripper.
Perry has starkly shown the contrast between the two classes, and yet these characters do not quite fit the exact stereotypes one would assume. She has brought each character to life with his or her own faults, fears and assumptions, and it all makes for a wild ride of a read!
About the Author
Mary Hart Perry lives in Washington DC with her husband and two feline writing partners, Tempest and Miranda. Author of over 40 novels, she’s written under her own and a variety of pen names that include Kathryn Johnson, Kathryn Jensen, KM Kimball and Nicole Davidson. She teaches fiction-writing workshops for the renowned Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland. In 2008, she founded Write by You, to coach other writers interested in reaching publication. She has been nominated for the prestigious Agatha Christy Award, and won the Heart of Excellence and Bookseller’s Best Awards (sponsored by the Romance Writers of America) in 2011.
Find the author: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads
Tour Stops
For more of Mary Hart Perry and The Shadow Princess, check out all of the tour stops. There will be a giveaway!
Feb 17 – http://booknerdloleotodo.blogspot.com/
Feb 18 – http://www.delightedreader.com
Feb 19 – http://www.cluereview.blogspot.com
Feb 20 – http://www.romantichistoricalreviews.com
Feb 21 – https://girlof1000wonders.wordpress.com/
Feb 22 – http://stephaniesbookreviews.weebly.com/
Feb 22 – http://www.mybookaddictionandmore.com/
Feb 23 – http://ilprofumodellepergamene.blogspot.co.uk/
Feb 24 – http://thebookishowl.wordpress.com/
Girl of 1000 Wonders 
Thanks, Charlie, for letting me visit with your readers. So glad you liked The Shadow Princess. I hope to write more stories for this series. . . but that’s a decision for my readers. As long as they continue to love stories about Victoria’s daughters and their imagined adventures, I’ll keep on writing them! Cheers, Kathryn (aka Mary Hart Perry)