From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

Death in Soho (Augusta Peel, #1)

Emily Organ

Start date: March 1, 2022

Finish date: March 31, 2022

Discussion: Group reads

Why we're reading this: Winner of the poll for our March group read.
[close] Winner of the poll for our March group read.

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Group Discussions About This Book

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Group reads

* December 2025 group read - Winner!
By Judy · 28 posts · 32 views

last updated Oct 15, 2025 10:39AM

* Oct 25: Murder Included (#1 D.I. Price) by Joanna Cannan
By Susan · 11 posts · 17 views

last updated Oct 02, 2025 10:38AM

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What Members Thought

Feb 17, 2022 Susan rated it liked it

This is the first in a mystery series set in the Roaring Twenties. Augusta Peel has a workshop, repairing books, but we soon learn that she has some secrets behind her benign appearance. She is asked by a friend to chaperone her daughter, Harriet, on a night out with theatre entrepreneur Gabriel Lennox. When there is a police raid at Flo's Club, Augusta uses her friendship with Detective Inspector Fisher to extracate herself and Harriet from having to appear in Court the next morning. However, w ...more

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Mar 27, 2023 Daniy ♠ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: rod-read

Read the first chapters as my read or delete it, and then just kept reading lmao
The writing is nice, flowy and purposeful (is that a word?)
Loved the insight into every character, and the development of them too. Cissy was such a good character!!

Really liked Augusta too, hoping to learn more from her past :)

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 05, 2022 Indeneri rated it liked it

Shelves: crime, 2022

We get dropped into the middle of Augusta Peel's life as she gets roped into being a chaperone for her friends soppy daughter. Things go off with a bang when the night club they're at gets raided by the police and an actress is later found murdered there.

There were some interesting side characters with back stories that didn't really add much to the story. The main characters were compelling but their stories were just dropped unceremoniously at the end, and the protagonist has a Mysterious Pas ...more

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Jan 17, 2023 Cricket Muse rated it really liked it

A solid start to a mystery series with Augusta Perl, an enigmatic sleuth who is a bookbinder by day and has a background suggestive of being an operative during the war.

Set in London during the twenties there are references to speakeasies, the theatre, and the seedier side of London’s social life.

Augusta has moxie and has an ally with a Scotland Yard detective. The plot is fairly straightforward with a couple of unexpected twists such as a kidnapped canary which adds to this being an overall l ...more

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