Under a Veiled Moon- Karen Odden
Crooked Lane Books
Release Date: October 11, 2022
Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚
Synopsis: One night, as the pleasure boat the Princess Alice makes her daily trip up the Thames, she collides with the Bywell Castle, a huge iron-hulled collier. The Princess Alice shears apart, throwing all 600 passengers into the river; only 130 survive. It is the worst maritime disaster London has ever seen, and early clues point to sabotage by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, who believe violence is the path to restoring Irish Home Rule.
For Scotland Yard Inspector Michael Corravan, born in Ireland and adopted by the Irish Doyle family, the case presents a challenge. Accused by the Home Office of willfully disregarding the obvious conclusion, and berated by his Irish friends for bowing to prejudice, Corravan doggedly pursues the truth, knowing that if the Princess Alice disaster is pinned on the IRB, hopes for Home Rule could be dashed forever.
Corrovan’s dilemma is compounded by Colin, the youngest Doyle, who has joined James McCabe’s Irish gang. As violence in Whitechapel rises, Corravan strikes a deal with McCabe to get Colin out of harm’s way. But unbeknownst to Corravan, Colin bears longstanding resentments against his adopted brother and scorns his help.
As the newspapers link the IRB to further accidents, London threatens to devolve into terror and chaos. With the help of his young colleague, the loyal Mr. Stiles, and his friend Belinda Gale, Corravan uncovers the harrowing truth—one that will shake his faith in his countrymen, the law, and himself.________________________________________________________________
Inspector Corrovan of Scotland Yard, now acting superintendent at Wapping, is faced with a double problem in Under a Veiled Moon, Karen Odden's newest historical mystery. The crash of the Princess Alice and the Bywell Castle on the Thames is the largest maritime accident to happen in London's history. Rising anti-Irish public sentiment wants to find the Irish, specifically the Irish Republican Brotherhood, guilty of sabotaging the crafts. Corrovan, Irish himself, wants to find the guilty party whether they are Irish or English- a highly unpopular sentiment as newspapers whip the general populace into a frenzy with or without worrying about facts. Knowing that political chances for Irish Home Rule are slipping farther away the longer the anti-Irish sentiments continue, that his job is on the line the longer he takes on the case, and that more lives are placed in jeopardy as the case takes him even closer to home, make this Corrovan's most difficult case yet.
Under a Veiled Moon takes place several months after the events of Karen Odden's first Inspector Corrovan book, Down a Dark River, although you don't necessarily need to have read the first book in the series to read and enjoy this one. If you did read DADR (and you should!) you'll be please to see the growth in Corrovan- both personally and professionally. A Scotland Yard investigator, he has now been given the temporary charge of Wapping Yard, a station he began at and knows well. He's in charge of more men, writing reports, and taking on a variety of more responsibilities than as 'just' an inspector. Personally he has taken to heart the lessons he learned on the "river murders" as he calls them and is working hard to temper his natural inclinations to act like a bull in a china shop and charge forward with every thing. He works better with his superior, Howard Vincent and is more empathetic with witnesses and victims when interviewing them. He often has trouble bringing that empathy to his young adopted brother, Colin Doyle. He sees Colin taking wrong paths and not listening to sense and you can feel Michael's frustration radiating off the pages in each scene between them. It's obvious he's as frustrated with himself for not being able to magically fix whatever problems Colin has as he is with Colin for falling in with gangs and trying to seem more of "a man". Michael still has lessons to learn about his own self-awareness and impact on others, and I think he has begun to realize that.
Revenge, regret, and prejudice swirl together at the heart of Veiled Moon: who feels what and what do we do with those feelings. Can we move past something if we understand it is an accident vs knowing someone is responsible for it? What does it mean if someone is responsible for something terrible? The IRB blame England for everything terrible that has happened to the Irish people and have begun to use violence instead of words to demand Home Rule. The reader sees the reaction of the average Londoner, which is often hatred of the Irish for these revenge acts, lumping all the Irish together as 'guilty' just as the IRB have done with the English. Neither side seems willing to admit that they both share blame, and that most people are innocent of any wrong doing and should be left alone. Politics and terrorism have changed the world scene and Corrovan, the Princess Alice, the Bywell Castle, and the innocent people of London are now caught in the middle without realizing it.
There is a lot of emotion in this book, both for Corrovan and for the reader. Corrovan must deal with family stresses as well as having to swallow all the hate being thrown at him as he tries to do his job. The empathetic style of writing Odden has means that the reader feels Corrovan's pain, his frustration, his anger, his worry. He sees both London in general and Whitechapel in particular changing thanks to this new kind of terror and it frightens him, as it does us, since we know it will become the new normal instead of an outlier.
As for the mystery itself- it is a brilliant puzzle of red herrings, clues within clues, layers within layers, and plots within plots that come together in the end to create a shocking and tragic solution.
If you love historical mysteries, and if you read and loved Down a Dark River, then I have no doubt you will love Under a Veiled Moon as much as I did. Make this one a must read on your TBR pile!
