The Business of Blood

Written by Kerrigan Byrne

Narrated by Justine Eyre

Dying is the only thing people do with any regularity, and Fiona makes her indecorous living cleaning up after the corpses are carted away. Her childhood best friend, Mary, was the last known victim of Jack the Ripper. It's been two years since Fiona scrubbed Mary's blood from the floorboards, and London is no longer buzzing about the Ripper, but Fiona hasn't forgotten.

And she hasn't stopped searching for Jack.

When she's called to a murder in the middle of the night, Fiona finds a victim mutilated in an eerily similar fashion to those of the Ripper, and only a few doors down from Mary's old home. The relentless, overbearing, and irritatingly handsome Inspector Grayson Croft warns her away from the case. She might have listened, if she hadn't found a clue in the blood. A clue that will lead her down a path from which there is no return. As a killer cuts a devastating swath through London, a letter written in blood arrives at her door, and it is only then that Fiona realizes just how perilous her endeavor is. For she has drawn the attention of an obsessive evil, and is no longer the hunter, but the prey.

Contains mature themes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: May 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9781705208724

Kerrigan Byrne

Kerrigan Byrne has done many things to pay the bills, from law enforcement to belly dance instructor. Now she's finally able to have the career she'd decided upon at thirteen when she announced to her very skeptical family that she was going to "grow up to be a romance novelist." Whether she's writing about Celtic Druids, Victorian bad boys, or brash Irish FBI Agents, Kerrigan uses her borderline-obsessive passion for history, her extensive Celtic ancestry, and her love of Shakespeare in almost every story. Kerrigan lives with her husband on the coast of Washington State's Olympic Peninsula in a Victorian-era town almost frozen in time. When she's not writing, you might find her on the beach with her dogs, lounging at a local vineyard or brewery, or buying things she doesn't need at antique stores. Her novels with St. Martin's Press include the Victorian Rebels series (starting with The Highwayman) and Devil You Know series (which begins with How To Love A Duke in Ten Days).

Reviews for The Business of Blood

[carvanz · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Audiobook: Narrator - Justine Eyre

I enjoyed this narrator's performance. Her voice was easy to acclimate to as these characters each have different accents. Nothing outstanding here, but I’d definitely listen to her again.

I was excited to stumble across this book as I’m a huge fan of this author. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations.

This is very well written and the characters are all well rounded and fully developed. However, I was expecting a mystery with some action and instead received a lot of dialogue that didn’t really revolve around the murder(s) that this heroine was investigating.

Don’t get me wrong, there was definitely some coverage of the mystery, but this story just meandered around so much that I lost ground with much of it as it droned on and on. When the end came and the resolution was announced, things definitely took an upturn and came alive and I loved every moment of it.

I’m wondering if the rest of the series is like this or if perhaps this book was setting up the foundation of characters that will support what’s to come. Unfortunately, I’m too stingy with my time to take a chance on it without reassurances.

[Jamie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

WARNING: it's a very gory book... I was warned, and it was still more gory than I thought. It was really shocking. That being said, it was also a really fantastic mystery. Storylines and backstories were interesting. Great complex heroine and supporting characters (including a historical writer). There was actually some diversity that was not just glossed over, which is so great and rare to find in a historical novel. The character development is great. This was one of those rare books that I was audibly gasping out loud. It was tender at some moments, disturbing at others... It was a rollercoaster all the way to the very last line. I can't to read this more from this series.