The Anarchists' Club by Alex Reeve - Review

I read The House on Half Moon Street in June 2023 and reading back my review of it, it seems like I didn't like it very much! But I was reminded of the series and decided to request the second one from the library, and when it arrived I picked it up really quickly. I really enjoyed it, way more than the first one. I think the author has settled into writing a bit, which helps. There's a lot less detail and less description, meaning that the writing flowed so much better. I really fell in love with Leo a lot more, and I now want to read the next two books in the series quite soon. I hope this book is a sign of things to come!

As a reminder, Leo is a trans man, but because the book is set in the 1880s, he doesn't have that terminology to refer to himself. But we would now, so I'm going to. He used to be known as Lottie Pritchard, the well to do daughter of a vicar, but he always knew he wasn't a girl, and finally, aged fifteen, her left the family home and made his way to London. He now lives in a chemist with Alfie, his landlord, and Alfie's daughter, Constance, who is twelve. 

So the book is set about a year after Maria died in the first book. Leo is working as a porter in the hospital, but actually there's way less of that which I liked because it just wasn't relevant to the story. He's working in the chemist one afternoon when a woman arrives with two children, aged ten and six ish. She buys some bromide and leaves. Leo wouldn't think anything of it except that a few days later the police arrive at Leo's door. The woman has been found in a shallow grave and in her pockets was a piece of paper with Leo's name and address. Leo is baffled as he only met her very briefly and has no idea who she is. 

He goes with the police to a confusing courtyard and warren of rooms where Dora has been found. The kids, Aiden and Ciara, soon turn up, and Leo comes to be very fond of them. The rooms where Dora lived are part of an anarchists club. There, Leo meets a man from his past - someone who knew him before - who wants an alibi for Dora's murder and who blackmails Leo, threatening to expose him if he doesn't provide the alibi. Maybe John is the murderer, but there are so many confusing things about that case. Leo also has to get back in touch with his family, which is difficult. 

There's Rosie, too, who we met in the first book as her husband was murdered. Constance wants her and Leo to be friends, but it's difficult between them. 

I loved the mystery here and the setting. I really think the author just settled into the world a lot more. I'm giving this four out of five. 

The House on Half Moon Street by Alex Reeve - Review

 

I bought this book in the LGBTQ+ book shop in York, The Portal, when I visited a few weeks ago with my friend Jac. I was intrigued because it's historical crime fiction starring a trans man, which isn't something that you see very often. I will use the words 'trans man' even though they're not used in the book because that is how we would understand Leo these days, but in 1888 when the book is set he may not have had those words to describe himself. But he is a trans man. 

So, yes, Leo is a trans man, "hiding" his secret self which is that he grew up as Charlotte, daughter of a middle class vicar. He left home when he was fifteen, unable to survive that life anymore, and has ended up in London. He works as an assistant to the hospital pathologist; he sews up dead bodies after the post mortems have been done. He doesn't like his boss but it's a pretty good job. He rents a room above a pharmacy, living with the pharmacist Alfie and his daughter, Constance. Constance really likes Leo and if she beats him at a game he promises to take her out for a treat. 

Leo visits a brothel every Wednesday evening and spends some time with Maria, buying her affections. She knows the truth about him and does seem fond of him too. He asks her to go with him to the theatre one Saturday afternoon and he's excited about it, but Maria never turns up. But then Maria turns up on the slab at the hospital, murdered by someone, and Leo is distraught. Then he gets arrested for the crime, and is terrified that the police will find out the truth about his body and will arrest him for deviancy, and his life will be over. But then someone else intervenes and Leo is let go... but why? And by whom? And who really did kill Maria? And is it linked to the death of Jack Flowers, who turned up dead in the hospital just a few days before Maria? Leo has to do a lot of digging to get to the truth.

I had previously read that this was the first book in a series starring Leo, so that did intrigue me. However, on the basis of this one, I wouldn't rush to read anymore. It's really slow in places and seems quite bogged down by detail at times. There's a lot of characters and as Leo doesn't know their names it's hard to keep them straight. The book is incredibly violent in parts and there is a brutal rape scene, which I did understand the inclusion of but it was hard to read. In all I'm giving this three out five as I felt it dragged a lot.