I found this to be rather a disappointment. My spouse and I have begun watching the popular TV series, Murdoch Murders, and have enjoyed them quite a lot. While this book contains characters with similar names, their characteristics aren't much like the video characters. In the video, William Murdoch is a highly educated person who employs scientific investigations to help his investigations along. In the book, we learn that Murdoch was poorly educated and began his working career as a lumberman. Also, he has a mustache, unlike the video character. Then too, Insp. Brackenreid turns out to be an Irishman of the "orange" variety, who had emigrated to Canada as a child, so never darkened the doors of Scotland Yard, and George Crabtree is a bit of a jock. So, it would seem that the only similarity between the book and the video series are the names of three characters and the fact that things are set in the 1890s.

But, I think the biggest disappointment for me is that even the educated people in the book, doctors and lawyers and such like, don't understand grammar. While it's rather common that younger people who have come of age since the 1990s don't don't properly differentiate between objective and nominative case, find it hard to believe that educated people in the 1890s would do likewise. Interestingly, these rather glaring grammar faux pas are also a feature in the videos. I find myself correcting the characters multiple times per episode. Really, they shouldn't talk like the people on sports talk radio in the 21st century. Gah!

Sorry, I got distracted.

Now, as for the story. A young woman, a Therese Laporte is found frozen to death in the snow. It turns out that she had been drugged with opium first. Later on, before her body was discovered by the authorities, her clothes were stripped off. Therese was a maid in the household of Dr. Cyril Rhodes and his wife, Donalda. It seems that Therese was several months pregnant. The only two people in the household who mourned Therese's demise were Donalda and the stable boy, Joe Seaton.

Two people who might have been involved were two young women, Bernadette Weston and Alice Black, who allegedly sewed gloves for a living, but who also seemed to derive most of their income by "entertaining" gentlemen, might know something. Their lodging was near where Therese was found, and Murdoch, upon talking to them, is sure they're hiding something. Later on, he finds Therese's clothes hidden in the outhouse behind the women's lodging.

Another line of inquiry, of course, is to look for the person who got Therese "with child". Might it have been her employer, his son, Owen, or perhaps, the butler? Then too, it could be the not so punctilious father of Owen's fiancée, Harriet Shepcote.

A while later on, Alice is found frozen to death on a lake, having also been drugged with opium.

So, anyway, we have lots of suspects and lots of blind alleys. Eventually, it all gets figured out. I dunno, I gave it 3*, but were it possible on GoodReads, I'd likely give it only 3*-, which to my mind makes it better than 2* , but still only a vaguely GoodRead.

( )

I have been watching the Murdoch Mysteries series for all the years that it's been aired on television. I absolutely love it and I love the characters When i received this book as a gift I was thrilled because, for some reason, I hadn't read any of the books that inspired the series. Well, I was in for a bit of a surprise. This book is not at all like the series. The names of the main characters are the same and the setting is Victorian Toronto, but that is where the similarity ends. This is a much more gritty and explicit Murdoch than what I'm used to seeing. In this book Murdoch is an Acting Inspector at Staton 4 in Toronto. He's bright and has excellent detective skills. He is trying to make his mark and get a leg up in the police department. When the body of a young, naked woman is found on a snowy, frozen street in Toronto, Murdoch is assigned the case. His investigations take him to all echelons of Toronto society, as well as the backroads and byways where the not-so-respectable "night people" live. During his investigation, another woman is killed and Murdoch is placed at great risk for his own safety. This is an engaging historical mystery that kept my interest throughout, and now I want to read the other five books in this series. ( )

I read this because I love the Canadian TV series "The Murdoch Mysteries". In the TV series, a range of characters is interesting and attractive, the setting is intriguing, and there is often a light-hearted atmosphere. In the book, however, many of the characters in the series are missing, and Murdoch himself is a duller and less individualized personality. The setting is much darker than in the series -- still Toronto, still 1890's, but bleak (one might almost say "in the bleak midwinter": it's cold and dark). The story is interesting enough, but I doubt that I will go on to read the rest of the series. ( )

You know how librarians wil tell you that the book is always better than the movie. Turns out it's not always true. If you love the Murdoch Mysteries TV show, you may be sadly disappointed. Save your money for a subscription to Acorn TV. ( )

I love the Toronto based Murdock Mysteries. This is a different kettle of fish to the tv show but I still enjoyed it. ( )