I went into this expecting a historical fiction detective story and was blown away by the addition of so. much. paranormal. shit. Secret societies, witches and warlocks, alchemy… think of an insane plot device, and it’s probably included. This shouldn’t work, but it did, and I loved it.

I’m going to start with my only negative: the whole ‘I’m in love with my employer, but we’ve never had a real conversation, and I don’t even know what his job is” thing is a little overblown here. I could’ve handled Rose being attracted to Thomas – they’re living on top of each other and the whole power/social dynamic thing – but why does it always have to be love? Calm down, girl.

It’s all positive from here, though. I loved the twists and turns the story took; there were so many characters and exciting components. The dark underbelly of the upper class is a pretty standard plot device, but adding in a genetic paranormal ‘luck’ component made it so much more intriguing and certainly unique from other books I’ve read.

I wish Clara had been more involved; she seems to have a rich backstory that was only hinted at here. On that note, the level of control that Mrs Sellers had over Rose and Clara makes me question whether Thomas is a good person. Considering he doesn’t step in to correct her behaviour until he starts to recognise Rose as an actual human, he’s either disappointingly upper-class or overly oblivious to the world around him. How long have Rose and Clara been working for him, under Mrs Sellers, being belittled and abused under his roof? He’s not my ideal romantic hero.

I might be a little let down if this was a standalone, but as the start to the Rose Gallagher Mystery series, Murder on Millionaires’ Row is an excellent introduction to this world and its potential.