#BookReview No Cure for the Dead by Christine Trent @crookedlanebks

No Cure for the Dead by Christine Trent
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When a young nurse dies on her watch, Florence Nightingale must uncover the deep-hidden secrets someone will kill to keep buried.

It is 1853. Lady of the Lamp Florence Nightingale has just accepted the position of Superintendent of the Establishment for Gentlewomen During Temporary Illness in London. She has hardly had time to learn the names of the nurses in her charge when she suddenly finds one of them hanging in the Establishment’s library. Her name was Nurse Bellamy.

Florence’s mettle is tested by the dual goals of preserving what little reputation her hospital has and bringing Nurse Bellamy’s killer to justice. Her efforts are met with upturned noses and wayward glances except for her close friend and advocate inside the House of Commons, Sidney Herbert. As Florence digs deeper, however, her attention turns to one of the hospital investors and suddenly, Sidney becomes reluctant to help.

With no one but herself to count on, Florence must now puzzle out what the death of an unknown, nondescript young nurse has to do with conspiracies lurking about at the highest levels of government before she’s silenced too.

For fans of Anne Perry and Laurie R. King comes No Cure for the Dead, the rich and enthralling series debut from Christine Trent.

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As a big fan of historical mystery was I very curious to see how this new series starring Florence Nightingale would be. And, to my utter delight is this the first book in a series absolutely wonderful!

For one thing is it wonderful to get to know Florence Nightingale a bit more, yes this is a fictional book, but I found that Christine Trent has really captured the spirit of the woman who decided to follow the call from God to sacrifice a normal life with a husband and children to work with the sick. A job that's pretty much as low ranking as a being a prostitute. Which one will notice when you read this book and getting to know the nurses a bit better. They are far away from today's nurses. Then, we have the fact that she had to give up the man she loved as well. How many of us would do that? And back in a time when women's main function was to marry, and marry well.

Then we have the mystery of the nurse that is found hanging in the library. While the police quickly rule it as a suicide isn't Florence buying that and since she is new on the job is this murder really nothing she wants at the moment (or any moment). Especially since the risk is that she will lose her new job if she doesn't quickly solve it. Hence, she suddenly has to play amateur sleuth. Which she is pretty good at doing. And, I love the fact that there were some many shady figures, secrets, strange things going on that I couldn't figure out who was behind it.

No Cure for the Dead is the first book in this series and I can't wait for the next book. I had high hopes that this book would be good, but I was blown away by the strength of the plot and how much I adored Florence and how much she impressed me. 

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!