A spiritualist, an insane asylum, a lost little girl . . .When Clive, anxious to distract a depressed Henrietta, begs Sergeant Frank Davis for a case, he is assigned to investigating a seemingly boring affair: a spiritualist woman operating in an abandoned schoolhouse on the edge of town who is suspected of robbing people of their valuables. What begins as an open and shut case becomes more … becomes more complicated, however, when Henrietta—much to Clive’s dismay—begins to believe the spiritualist’s strange ramblings.
Meanwhile, Elsie begs Clive and Henrietta to help her and the object of her budding love, Gunther, locate the whereabouts of one Liesel Klinkhammer, the German woman Gunther has traveled to America to find and the mother of the little girl, Anna, whom he has brought along with him. The search leads them to Dunning Asylum, where they discover some terrible truths about Liesel. When the child, Anna, is herself mistakenly admitted to the asylum after an epileptic fit, Clive and Henrietta return to Dunning to retrieve her. This time, however, Henrietta begins to suspect that something darker may be happening. When Clive doesn’t believe her, she decides to take matters into her own hands . . . with horrifying results.
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I was first introduced to the Henrietta and Inspector Howard series when I read A Veil Removed, the fourth book in the series. I fell in love with this historical fiction series set in 1930’s Chicago A Child Lost is the fifth book in the series. It could be read as a a stand alone but I think readers will enjoy reading the previous four books as well. This books revolves around two cases for Henrietta and Inspector Howard. One an investigation into a local spiritualist who is possibly scamming people and the other a case of a missing German immigrant. The cases take them to an old schoolhouse on the edge of town and to an insane asylum. Well researched and well written.
Guilty as charged. I have to admit, this is my first Michelle Cox book. Can you believe it’s book 5 of her Henrietta and Inspector Howard Series? Yeah, I had no clue. So starting out saying that doesn’t sound so good, does it? Let’s not take this review in THAT direction, I just wanted to be up front with you and let you know this is a series and an author I was unaware of before I dug in. It wouldn’t be fair otherwise.
So Michelle Cox writes historical fiction based on 1930’s Chicago, Illinois. Her main characters are Inspector Clive Howard and Henrietta Von Harmon, who meet in book 1 and carry on their investigations to this latest installment of book #5. Now don’t be alarmed, you most certainly can read this book as a stand alone and will enjoy it just the same, but I will tell you each book in consecutive order tells the story of how Clive and Henrietta’s relationship evolves and they do pull together if you read them as a series, (I know this from doing a bunch of research after finishing this, my first Cox read). So let’s get to my thoughts.
If you like historical fiction, definitely pick this one up. If you haven’t read historical fiction at all, and are interested in giving it a try, definitely pick this one up, If you have no interest in reading historical fiction ever because its not for you, still, I implore you, pick this one up. Michelle Cox has a way of writing that immerses you into a story so well, that you think you are actually there. The mystery, the suspense, the twists and turns all mixed with brilliantly researched history on the era make this book a page turner. Not to mention the grit and intensity of Inspector Howard and Henrietta that make you want to see these investigations though to the end right along with them. There are two very unique mysteries/investigations to solve that become a lot more than our sleuths expected, and take on quite the ominous turn. And then Michelle Cox does a wonderful job of leaving you with a sweet cliffhanger ensuring you’ll come back for the next installment. FYI: There are some strong themes in this one such as depression, miscarriage and mental health, as well as social issues, but they are not overly done (You just need to be aware in case you need trigger warnings).
In a nutshell, you are going to absolutely love this book. You will love it so much you will want to order the previous 4 installments. I might just suggest you order all 5 right now and start from the beginning. I know I will be ordering the other 4, and of course whatever books come next too. (The first 4 have absolutely amazing reviews). This was fun, intriguing, page-turning, unputdownable, and just a damn good. book, 4.5 Stars from me. A great read.
This book is the fifth book in the Henrietta and Inspector Howard mystery series. It takes place in Chicago in the 1930’s. Henrietta is suffering from depression due to a miscarriage and her husband, Clive Howard, thinks taking on a new case might be the thing to lift her out of her melancholy mood. They investigate a medium who says she can talk to the dead. Then Elise, a family member, asks them to help her find the missing mother of a young child. From a seance to an asylum they have their hands full. I found the book to be a very enjoyable read. Well developed characters and a very well written story makes this a book I definitely recommend!
A little historical fiction, a lot of mystery!
I always enjoy a book where there is a mystery to solve, and this book is no exception. Although it is #5 in the series, it can be read as a stand alone. I didn’t think the author referred back to the previous books much. There are a lot of players in this story, so i was confused about who was related to who, and how certain characters knew each other. No worries, it all comes together.
It made me laugh when Henrietta and Clive introduced themselves as wanna be private detectives. While they are not official, it’s not the first time they have helped the police.
They are on the case to help Gunther find Liesel Klinkhammer, Anna’s mom. Poor Anna has what they call in the book, fits, which are seizures. They need to find Liesel to see if there is a history of fits in the family, and to see if she is ok to take Anna back. Back in the day fits were viewed as the individual being cursed or crazy or both.
With the help of Elsie and Gunther, Clive and Henrietta uncover more than they bargained for. Their detective work leads them to Dunning, an insane asylum. Through Clive’s words, we get a glimpse into how awful the asylum is. Unfortunately the case of finding the missing woman opens up a much larger case at hand. One that Henrieta is not afraid to investigate, but it could cost her her life.
I felt there was a lot more attention on the missing woman case than the psychic. Although at the end I felt both Clive and Henrietta felt the psychic wasn’t a fake. The author did leave this open for another book, and it would be interesting to see where she takes the story next. Readers haven’t read the last about the psychic.
To put it simply, I love the Henrietta & Inspector Howard series! You laugh, you love, you cry, your heart pounds, your heart breaks, your heart soars. You feel all the emotions in these books & they never disappoint. If you need to escape from day to day stress, A CHILD LOST, as well as the rest of the series is definitely for you. I received a complimentary copy of this book from Michelle Cox and was under no obligation to post a review.
A Child Lost is an entertaining historical mystery set in Chicago in the 1930s the author masterfully combines an intricate plot with complex and fascinating characters. The setting becomes another character, brought to life by this talented author. I enjoyed this book as a stand-alone, but now I’m going to go back and read the other books in the Henrietta and Inspector Howard series to get to know Henrietta and Clive from the beginning!
This is my first-time reading Michelle Cox’s dynamic duo, Henrietta and Inspector Howard, a Historical Fiction mystery set in 1930’s Chicago. This is the fifth book in the series and read well as a stand alone for me. In this installment of the series, Henrietta is going through depression given a recent miscarriage and Clive (Inspector Howard) knows that a new case will certainly cure the blues for Henrietta. The cases they take involve an asylum, a hypnotist, and a lost child.
Michelle Cox writes masterfully in bringing to life in vivid detail and well researched historical fiction story about asylums and the management of depression/hysteria/epileptic fits in crossing the divide and the stark difference between men and women, those with money and without as well as the prejudices in mental health at the time. The characters’ depth and complexity is beautifully written and that I would appreciate more had I read the previous episodes to get to know Henrietta and Clive in depth. This is a truly enjoyable and addicting series full of personality and wit I truly enjoyed and highly recommend.
Linda’s Book Obsession Reviews “A Child Lost” by Michelle Cox, She Writes Press, April 29, 2020, for Suzy Approved Book Tours
Michelle Cox, author “A Child Lost” has written an intriguing, intense, captivating and suspenseful novel. The Genres for this novel are Mystery, Suspense, Fiction, with a touch of Historical Events. The timeline for this story is in the 1930s in Chicago. The author describes her dramatic cast of characters as complex and complicated.
This is one of the series of books in “A Henrietta and Inspector Howard Novel” and although this can be read as a stand-alone, it would be better to read the other books in the sequence they were written. Henrietta’s husband hoping to get his wife busy and out of a depression asks for a case to solve. The case they are given has to do with a woman, who claims she can read minds, and is psychic and can communicate with the dead. This woman has a complaint from a man that insists the woman stole jewelry from his wife.
Henrietta’s sister Elsie comes to her with a problem involving a handsome man, Gunter and a little 4-year-old girl that Gunter has been watching out for. The little girl belongs to a friend of Gunter who came to Chicago to work, and Elsie and Gunter want to find the mother. The little girl can’t stay with Gunter since he has to work.
Henrietta and Clive’s search takes them to a creepy and frightening insane asylum, where strange things seem to be happening. Henrietta and Clive have a strange feeling that something is very wrong at this place.
This is a story with twists and turns, betrayals, danger, and strange occurrences. There are parts of this story that are very edgy and intense. There are also quirky people and intricate clues.
I appreciate that the author describes the difference in class, between wealth and poverty, the way that ill people were treated in the 1930s, and the importance of family, friendship, love, and hope. I would highly recommend this thought-provoking story and look forward to Michelle Cox’s next adventure.
Michelle Cox has written another page-turner in her Harriette Inspector Howard series. It is filled with three major genres…mystery, romance and historical facts. The two super sleuths are involved with two interesting cases. Both put Henrietta’s life in danger. The romance is hot and steamy yet have a gentle side that makes the reader love Henrietta and Inspector Howard. The historical facts are well researched and transported me to the 30’s.
This book like the other 4 in the series is the best series I have ever read. Do not miss reading A Child Is Lost. Each character was written so clearly that I felt I knew them all my life.
Another great book in this series, however, I have to admit; this one is my favorite! Based on a romantic plot between two charming and witty characters, the story has some mysterious twists and turns. I just love it and can’t wait to read and to find out what happens next. I hope Cox will not let me wait for too long!!!! Strongly recommend this book to all of you who love romance with suspense, super entertaining! Best Birthday gift idea for those of you who don’t know what to get for someone who has it all. Get the entire series and you will be greatly appreciated for unforgettable memories.
It’s 1936 in Chicago
Elsie, Henrietta’s sister, is now a student at Mondelein an all-women faculty in Chicago. There she befriends the German custodian who’s looking after a little girl, 5-year-old Anna. She was left in his mother’s boarding house back home in Germany by Liesel who went to America to look for Anna’s father. Gunther has now followed her to the USA because Anna suffers from epilepsy (what was considered a mental illness at the time or even possession by the devil by the less educated people) and the nazi party is on the rise in Germany and they’re not tolerant towards handicapped people. He lost the trail of Liesel and can’t look after the girl and work at the same time, so Anna has to stay in an orphanage most of the time. Elsie asks her sister to look into the case and find the mother.
Henrietta is recovering from her miscarriage but suffers from depression. Her loving husband Clive notices this and hopes to lift her spirits through an investigation. He asks his friend Frank from Winnetka police if there’s something that he can send their way. He has a strange story about a man that came to the station and reported that his wife was hypnotised by a spiritualist and now she gives all her meagre jewellery to him. It’s not really illegal to give away your own jewels, but Frank sniffs some fraud and connery going on. When he comes home to tell her about the first case of their detective agency, she has found a case herself. So now they have two.
Then there’s Rose, a friend/acquaintance of the two sisters. Her story isn’t absolutely essential for the ‘cases’, but I like to hear more about the way people lived, worked, thought and behaved in the past especially when those norms are clearly deviant of those we live by today. It also ties up some loose ends from the previous books. She lives with her abusive (sexual, physical and psychological) dad and her retarded brother. But her dad gets worse and worse with the beatings of her brother and now her as well. She has a boyfriend Stan, who previously was in love with Henrietta first and later Elsie, who also lives with his mother. He’s not the brightest light but has a kind and loving heart and will do anything to not lose Rose. So, to save her and her brother from their dad he agrees to a secret civil wedding so they can get a flat for the three of them (not having to live in sin) and have the official church wedding later on as planned. How does this work out?
The visit to the asylum at Dunning is very confronting for Henrietta as she realises that it is only money that is the difference between the women inside and those with depression, melancholia, hysteria or other ‘typical female’ afflictions. She thinks that she herself may suffer melancholia and depression after her miscarriage and wonders if the women were like they’re now when they first came to the asylum or that the sorry state of the women that they witnessed is the consequence of therapies as water-hosing or electroshocks? Not long ago, I read another book about mental health institutions in the 1880ies and it doesn’t look very different from this account 50 years later and only 100 years ago.
The woman talking about the people that inhabit the centre of the earth may have read Jules Verne, who wrote a famous book about this subject, which is mentioned in the text as well. As he was a man, nobody put him into a madhouse. The book has a strong focus on the madhouse and what we consider as crazy and what is merely eccentric. And just as well today as in the past, money talks and those with enough funds are rarely incarcerated. Also, certainly in the past, it was a lot harder for women to avoid non-voluntary admission than for men. And till recently it wasn’t very hard for a husband to have his wife admitted.
This is a very pleasant and entertaining historical mystery. Mrs Cox has found the near-perfect balance between interesting historical details and being bombarded with facts that clutter the story. In her afterword, she says that finding this line is even more difficult when dealing with real existing historical figures. I think she did a great job here and enjoyed it that she disclosed some of those details in that last address.
I received a free ARC from the author and this is my honest review.
A Child Lost is #5 of Michelle Cox’s Henrietta and Inspector Howard novels. We are in the Chicago area, in the mid-1930s. I have missed a couple in this series, but this novel stands alone very well. Months after their European honeymoon was interrupted with the death of Clive’s father, followed just recently by Henrietta losing her baby at just about 2 months PG, we are again with Henrietta and Clive in the wing of his family home as they both try to interweave their own lives. Added to the mix, Clive is taking on his father’s role in the family business, both of them are working to get their private investigation business off to a good start, and Henrietta still mourning the baby that might-have-been and keeping in touch with her sister Elsie and the Hennessey family who practically raised her. Without much effort on their part, the two find themselves with two investigations added to their frantic-paced lives.
A friend and former co-worker of Clives with the Winnetka police department has a job he needs to be done, investigating Madame Pavlovsky, a fortune teller, who might be hypnotizing her subjects and having them bring in treasures which they will then give to her. If Clive and Harriette can solve that problem for them, the force at Winnetka will be pleased. It is certainly not considered something they would handle themselves, but they are getting grief from a politically connected constituent.
And then a big challenge – finding the four-year-old child Anna Klinkhammer- daughter of Elsie’s friend Gunther’s friend Liesel, who lived in the boarding house in Heidelberg run by Gunther and his English mother after his father was killed in battle. Gunther was a student at the same university that his father had taught at before he was conscripted, and upon his graduation, Gunther was also teaching there. Liesel, suffering postpartum depression, slips away in 1931, determined to find her lover who has since immigrated to the United States. She left Anna in Guenther’s mother’s care, meaning perhaps to come back for her. They received one letter saying she had found work at Mundelein in the Chicago area, and then nothing more from Liesel. Three years later, Gunther conveniences his mother to immigrate with him and Anna, to get out of this war zone and start fresh in a free country. Unfortunately, his mother does not live to see the end of that voyage. Gunther winds up in Chicago begins his search for Liesel. Anna is heartbroken and missing Gunther’s mother. Though Anna will not remember Liesel, Gunther is committed to finding her and reuniting mother and daughter. As he soon discovers, Mundelein was a very well-liked and respected Bishop in the Chicago area, and many many things are named for him. Streets, buildings, a city, a college, a seminary… Gunther soon finds work as a janitor at Mundelein College, hoping to find Liesel, but he has no one to care for Anna while he is at work, and so she must spend the week at a nearby orphanage, then home with Gunther on his days off. But Anna disappears after having a seizure while at the orphanage. She was transferred to a hospital and released from there, but Clive and Henrietta have trouble finding out whom she was released to – and against all hope, it was to Dunning, The Chicago State Hospital, a notorious asylum for feeble-minded and insane persons. This is the same place, they soon find, where Anna’s mother Liesel died after an electric shock treatment for her latest seizure. It seems Anna inherited epilepsy from her mother.
And in the world of 1935, epilepsy was considered the work of the Devil…
This book has all that is needed to fill my reader heart: a good mystery filled with danger and murder, romance and an eclectic cast of characters. Michelle Cox’s skill as a researcher simply oozes through her atmospheric prose, as does her obvious love of her setting, 1930’s Chicago.
One of my favorite detective duos, Henrietta and Clive Howard, hope to find distraction from their personal loss and grief while investigating a couple of cases. From their visits with a spiritualist to that of an insane asylum, they suspect there may be more than meets the eye.
I love Clive’s devotion to Henrietta, as this newlywed couple forges through the valley of grief so early in their marriage. Cox beautifully portrays their relationship as they seek to strengthen each other, facing danger and grief head on. I love that the character arc of Clive, Henrietta and her sister, Elsie, develop throughout the series. While this is a mystery, it is also a story of family and the different dynamics shared by each. Ms. Cox cleverly inserts a teaser of a cliffhanger that will have readers eagerly awaiting the next of Henrietta and Clove’s adventures.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the author/publisher. I was not required to write a review. All opinions expressed are my own.