Reviewed: 19 May 2025

The Picture House Murders

by: Fiona Veitch Smith

Miss Clara Vale - Book 1

Rating: (4/5)

If you enjoy the Cleopatra Fox series by C.J. Archer this one may appeal to you as well. Set in 1929, Clara is a woman a bit ahead of her time with a degree in Chemistry from Cambridge and little desire to take an allowance from her father while looking for a suitable husband. Like the Detective Murdock series by Maureen Jennings (and adapted on PBS as Murdoch Mysteries) the beginnings of forensic sciences and other investigatory techniques touched on as Clara discovers not only the culprit but also the reasons her uncle left her his detective agency.

A quick, informative, and fun read.
Happy Reading!

Release Date: 29-August-2023

British, Audiobook, Historical Mystery, Female Sleuth

Plot Summary

Murder is no occupation for a lady... or is it?

1929: Miss Clara Vale is a woman ahead of her time. Rather than attending Oxford to bag an eligible Duke (as her mother, Lady Vale, so desperately hoped), she threw herself into a degree in chemistry, with aspirations to become a scientist in her own right.

But the world isn't ready for Clara. Unable to land a job in science because she's a woman, she is stuck behind the desk at a dingy London library.

Until her estranged Uncle dies suddenly, leaving her his private detective agency, and laboratory, in his will.

Clara couldn't become a detective, could she?

The decision is made for her when one of her uncle's old clients comes to her for help with a case surrounding the local picture house and invites Clara to see the latest show, before they discuss the details.

But during the film, a fire suddenly engulfs the picture house, with tragic consequences.

It seems at first an accident, but Clara soon begins to question if it was in fact a carefully orchestrated murder.

She's suddenly in the middle of a deadly mystery and will discover her scientific skills make her a sleuth to be reckoned with... Can she catch the killer before they strike again?