Erica Vetsch: Children of the Shadows

By Kelly Bridgewater

Welcome to the Blog Tour for Children of the Shadows by Erica Vetsch, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

About the Book

Title: Children of the Shadows
Series: Thorndike & Swann Regency Mysteries #3
Author: Erica Vetsch
Publisher: Kregel Publications
Release Date: October 23, 2023
Genre: Christian Regency Mystery

Detective Daniel Swann and debutante Juliette Thorndike once again team up to solve a dangerous mystery--while trying to keep their growing romance secret.

Someone is preying upon the street children of Regency London. They seem to think no one will notice when urchins go missing--and even if they are noticed, who will care?

Daniel needs to do something about the missing children. But with recent revelations about his past and an unexpected, somewhat unwelcome inheritance to deal with, this is a terrible time to dive back into the seedy underbelly of the crime world. Nevertheless, he's still a Bow Street runner, and his partner Lady Juliette is sensitive to the plight of these wayward youngsters. They're on the case, searching shadowed alleys and coal-drenched streets to find the missing.

But the tangle of expectation and the dynamics of power cannot be easily ignored, even if there are children in danger. When Daniel's past threatens to overwhelm his future, he will need a miracle and the help of his friends to both apprehend the villain and unravel his tangled family web. And it may be that his new responsibilities demand that he leave the children of the shadows to their terrible fate--or lose everything.

Erica Vetsch's popular Regency mystery series concludes with a bang, sure to satisfy readers who have hung on every page since book one.

 

My Thoughts:

Missing Children. Rightful heir to a name. Emotions running wild. These are some of the events that will happen when readers approach and dive into Children of the Shadows by Erica Vetsch. I enjoy the tame mystery element of the Regency era mystery. Nothing over the top, but enough of a head scratcher that readers will keep flipping through the pages to find out what is happening to the children. I love how seamless the story flows. Once I dove into the lives of Daniel and Juliette, it was like returning to friends that readers have not seen for a while. It was nice to play catch up and feel the hurt and love just alongside them. The setting is nicely handled and developed in my imagination as the characters roam through London from the wealthy to the poor side of town. Readers should definitely read the first two books in the series to help set up some of the backstory for Daniel. Not that this story cannot be read as a stand alone novel, but the first two stories give more information on what happens in this story. Vetsch does a wonderful job at crafting a couple of threads that has woven through all three stories and delivered them nicely to the readers like she promised. Overall, Children of the Shadows by Erica Vetsch is definitely a book that I want to own in my personal library and would recommend this story to young mystery lovers.

I received a complimentary copy of Children of the Shadows by Erica Vetsch from Kregel Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating:   4.5 out of 5 stars

PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | ChristianBook | Bookshop | BookBub

More in This Series

 

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About the Author

Erica Vetsch is a New York Times best-selling author and ACFW Carol Award winner, and has been a

Romantic Times top pick for her previous books. She loves Jesus, history, romance, and watching sports.

This transplanted Kansan now makes her home in Rochester, Minnesota.

Connect with Erica by visiting ericavetsch.com to follow her on social media and sign up for email updates.

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Tour Giveaway

(1) winner will win a complete paperback set of the Thorndike and Swann series, and a $10 amazon gift card

Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight October 23, 2023 and will last through 11:59

PM EST on October 30, 2023. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48

hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.

Enter Giveaway

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Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!

Erica Vetsch: Millstone of Doubt

By Kelly Bridgewater

Regency London's detective duo is back on a new case--and this one is going to be a killer

Caught in the explosion of the Hammersmith Mill in London, Bow Street Runner Daniel Swann rushes to help any survivors only to find the mill's owner dead of an apparent gunshot.

Even though the owner's daughter, Agatha Montgomery, mourns his death, it seems there are more than a few people with motive for murder. But Daniel can't take this investigation slow and steady. Instead, he must dig through all the suspects as quickly as he can, because the clock is ticking until his mysterious patronage--and his job as a runner--comes to an abrupt and painful end. It seems to Daniel that, like his earthly father, his heavenly Father has abandoned him to the fates.

Lady Juliette Thorndike is Agatha's bosom friend and has the inside knowledge of the wealthy London ton to be invaluable to Daniel. She should be in a perfect position to help with the case. Still, her instructor in the art of spy craft orders her to stay out of the investigation. But circumstances intervene, dropping her into the middle of the deadly pursuit.

When a dreadful accident ends in another death on the mill floor, Daniel discovers a connection to his murder case--and to his own secret past. Now he and Juliette are in a race to find the killer before his time runs out.

 

My Thoughts:

Millstone of Doubt by Erica Vetsch is a stunning historical mystery surrounding a dead body and a blown-up mill. From the first chapter, readers are thrown into the world of the mystery and the time period without hesitation. Vetsch does a wonderful job at capturing the time period and immersing her audience into the world. The interaction between Daniel Swann and Juliette Thorndike are necessary, and I love seeing how well-prepared they are to work together. They are fine tune machine. Even though the solving of the mystery is during the Regency era, and the detectives did not have all the equipment as current detectives do, they did a skillful job at capturing the villain and putting them away. The romance is a little more than the first one. Nothing really over the top. Novels where the romance builds over two to three novels are my favorite. It makes their romance a little more realistic and relatable. Overall, Milestone of Doubt by Erica Vetsch is a thrilling Regency murder mystery where the detectives have to actually solve the mystery with clues and initiation. I hope there is a third book because readers need to know what happens to Daniel and Juliette.

I received a complimentary copy of Millstone of Doubt by Erica Vetsch from Kregel Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

Purchase Millstone of Doubt