Book Review: The Gang of St Bride's by Emily Organ

Goodreads Summary: London 1885. A gang of lady thieves is targeting Piccadilly's wealthy shoppers and no one seems able to stop them. As frustrations build, the body of a young woman is pulled from the River Thames. Reporter Penny Green has a lot to write about, and she faces a new challenge when a stranger approaches her with a riddle. Could it lead to a killer?
Time is running out for Penny - her impending marriage to Inspector Blakely signals the end of her Fleet Street career. The riddle could be the last case she works on and it's not without its dangers. Someone seems keen to ensure that Penny doesn't make it to her wedding day at all.
Goodreads Rating: 4.40 stars with 48 ratings
Genre Listing: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Previous reviews in the series: The Bermondsey Poisoner by Emily Organ, Curse of the Poppy by Emily Organ, Death at the Workhouse by Emily Organ, The Inventor by Emily Organ, Limelight by Emily Organ, The Maid's Secret, The Rookery by Emily Organ, An Unwanted Guest by Emily Organ
Goodreads Challenge: 14/60
2020 Reading Challenge: #45 Read a book about a writer, real or fictional (Find the full challenge here)

Book Review:

I didn't even realize that the newest Penny Green book had already dropped, so I was pretty excited when I found it. This is probably one of my favorite series. Each book is a quick read and usually around 300 pages. With this series, you get a little bit of historical fiction and some mystery. Everything I've seen says that these can be read in any order, but I personally disagree with that. There are a lot of subplots like Penny's relationship and the search for her father that I feel needs to be read to fully appreciate it.

In the Gang of St Bride's, Emily is dealing with her pending nuptials to Inspector James Blakely. While she loves her job as a writer for the newspaper she works at, it's a policy that a married woman can not be a reporter. The book is dealing with her internal turmoil of how much her life is going to change once married. Meanwhile, her sister Eliza is dealing with trying to petition for divorce. Both of these issues would be very scandalous for Victorian England, which is something that I absolutely love about this series. It heavily deals with women's rights and paints a picture of how it would be in the 1800s. 

I thought the crime and mystery in the Gang of St Bride's was interesting. The riddle aspect was different and made it feel a bit like a scavenger hunt. Plus, the story focused on a female gang of thieves, which I thought was unique. At least in most things I've watched or read, female criminals aren't depicted a lot. I wasn't completely surprised by who ended up being in charge of the thief organization, but Emily Organ does a pretty good job of offering up multiple potential suspects. One of them ended up being a private detective, which I thought was interesting. I'm kind of hoping that she becomes a reoccurring character. I think it could be interesting if Penny was a reporter turned Private Investigator. Please note there's no actual evidence, just a random fan theory I have.

A lot of this book also deals more with closing up the mystery that is the disappearance of Penny's Father. Throughout the series, there is a lot of trying to figure out what happened to her father when he went on an expedition to South America. Penny and her sister Eliza finally get a lot of answers in this book. Like all the books, the last few pages always have some kind of hook that makes me not be able to wait to read the next book. It might be one of the few series, possibly only, series that I actively try to read the next book as soon as it comes out. The Gang of St Bride's is no different. I can't wait to see how the story progresses with Penny and James married, stepping back from a reporter, and the news about her father.

I can't recommend this series enough to anyone who likes quick reads, historical fiction, and mysteries. Plus, it's on Kindle Unlimited, so it makes for a great series to binge read since there are currently 9 books available.