{"id":23365,"date":"2024-03-09T09:28:54","date_gmt":"2024-03-09T14:28:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=23365"},"modified":"2025-10-01T18:25:53","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T22:25:53","slug":"speculations-in-sin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/23365","title":{"rendered":"Speculations in Sin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speculations in Sin<\/em><\/a> (2024) Jennifer Ashley<\/a> (Kat Holloway \/ Below Stairs Mystery)<\/p>\n

\"Speculations<\/a>Set in London in 1883<\/p>\n

Joanna–Kat’s best friend and the woman who keeps Grace, Joanna’s daughter, is in trouble. Her husband has been accused of embezzlement, and if he loses his job not only will Grace have nowhere to live, but Joanna and her family will be out on the streets.<\/p>\n

The start of the mystery is fraud and embezzlement–things about which Kat has absolutely no knowledge–so she immediately turns to those who would have (or be able to get) more knowledge.<\/p>\n

“Daalman\u2019s does investments, speculations, that sort of thing. It\u2019s called a bank because it does take some deposits, but it trades with other banks and funds merchant voyages to India and other far-flung places. Been around for ages.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cDo you know much about them?\u201d I asked hopefully. <\/p>\n

\u201cOf course not. Most of these grand establishments of the City won\u2019t let a lady walk into them\u2014at least not one unaccompanied by her father, uncle, husband, or some other overbearing male member of her household.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I appreciated the reminders of how difficult things were for women of the time–in so many areas of their lives.<\/p>\n

“Uncle Neville likes when I ask about that sort of thing. He actually does believe a woman should know about finance, to keep from being taken advantage of. Auntie believes a woman\u2019s husband should be in charge of all that, but Uncle\u2019s job has showed him that many a wife has been duped by an unscrupulous or incompetent husband.\u201d She huffed a laugh. \u201cUncle is not so much forward-thinking as practical.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She doesn’t immediately show financial savvy and figure things out, but leans upon her friends–and she does so in a way should would never have done for herself. <\/p>\n

That was one of the most interesting parts of the story, as it showed us Kat’s character in a way we knew already, but we could see it more forcefully.<\/p>\n

Kat is usually hesitant to ask anyone for help, but here she willingly uses every resource she can think of to help her friend–and not just because of Grace. Daniel repeatedly reassures her that Grace will be kept safe and taken care of, but that doesn’t change Kat’s determination to help Joanna and Sam.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Fielding.\u201d Joanna let out a breath. \u201cPlease thank Mr. McAdam for lending him to me. I know he is a charlatan, but I was very grateful for his presence. He kept those belligerent young men, who were certain Sam is a vicious murderer, from terrorizing me.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Things are ever so slowly becoming settled between Kat and Daniel. He still is tied to Monaghan for one more job, but Kat has learned to trust him.<\/p>\n

Publisher: Berkley<\/p>\n

Cover photograph by Larry Rostant; Cover design by Emily Osborne<\/p>\n

Rating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Speculations in Sin (2024) Jennifer Ashley (Kat Holloway \/ Below Stairs Mystery) Set in London in 1883 Joanna–Kat’s best friend and the woman who keeps Grace, Joanna’s daughter, is in trouble. Her husband has been accused of embezzlement, and if he loses his job not only will Grace have nowhere to live, but Joanna and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,30,292,204,33,8],"tags":[372,870,616,456,457,557],"class_list":["post-23365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-5-10","category-british","category-ebook","category-good","category-historical","category-mystery","tag-ashley-gardner","tag-below-stairs-mystery","tag-cooking","tag-jennifer-ashley","tag-kat-holloway","tag-victorian"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-64R","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24683,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24683","url_meta":{"origin":23365,"position":0},"title":"Speculations in Sin, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"June 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Speculations in Sin, Audiobook (2024) Jennifer Ashley narrated by Anne-Marie Piazza (Below Stairs Mystery #7) Set in London in 1883 \u201cDo you know much about them?\u201d I asked hopefully. \u201cOf course not. Most of these grand establishments of the City won\u2019t let a lady walk into them\u2014at least not one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Speculations in Sin","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Speculations-in-Sin.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24078,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24078","url_meta":{"origin":23365,"position":1},"title":"A Measure of Menace","author":"Michelle","date":"November 13, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"A Measure of Menace (2024) Jennifer Ashley (Kat Holloway #7.5) Set in London in 1883. Kat Holloway is once again asked to assist in a mystery--this time by Lady Cynthia's father, Lord Clifford, who is more than a bit of a cad. Couldn\u2019t you have used that to pay back\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"A Measure of Menace","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/A-Measure-of-Menace.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/A-Measure-of-Menace.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/A-Measure-of-Menace.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24593,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24593","url_meta":{"origin":23365,"position":2},"title":"Scandal Above Stairs, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"May 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Scandal Above Stairs, Audiobook (2018) Jennifer Ashley narrated by Anne-Marie Piazza (Below Stairs Mystery #2) Set in London in 1881 I renewed my conviction that he was not married as I viewed his rumpled frock coat and noted a missing button on his waistcoat. No wife would let her husband\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio Book"","block_context":{"text":"Audio Book","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/audio-book"},"img":{"alt_text":"Scandal Above Stairs","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Scandal-Above-Stairs.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24640,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24640","url_meta":{"origin":23365,"position":3},"title":"The Secret of Bow Lane, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"June 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Secret of Bow Lane, Audiobook (2022) Jennifer Ashley narrated by Anne-Marie Piazza (Below Stairs Mystery #6) Set in London in 1882 Characters: Mrs. Kat Holloway, Mr. Davis, Mrs. Redfern, Mrs. Bywater, Mr. Bywater, Tess, Lady Cynthia Clifford, James McAdam, Daniel McAdam, Mr. Errol Fielding, Caleb Constable Greene, Mr. Thanos,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Secret of Bow Lane","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/The_Secret_of_Bow_Lane.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24438,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24438","url_meta":{"origin":23365,"position":4},"title":"Death Below Stairs, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"April 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Death Below Stairs, Audiobook (2018) Jennifer Ashley narrated by Anne-Marie Piazza (Below Stairs Mystery #1) Set in London in 1881. I'd completely forgotten I had several of these audiobooks. Since historicals and mysteries are mostly what I'm in the mood for, I was delighted to start listening to a series\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Death Below Stairs","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Death-Below-Stairs.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24638,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24638","url_meta":{"origin":23365,"position":5},"title":"Death at the Crystal Palace, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"June 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Death at the Crystal Palace (2021) Jennifer Ashley narrated by Anne-Marie Piazza (Below Stairs Mystery #5) Set in London in 1882 Characters: Mrs. Kat Holloway, Mr. Davis, Mrs. Bywater, Mr. Bywater, Mrs. Redfern, Tess, Mrs. Millburn, Mr. Elgin Thanos, Mr. Errol Fielding, James McAdam, Daniel McAdam, Lady Clifford, Lord Clifford,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Death at the Crystal Palace","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Death-at-the-Crystal-Palace.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23365\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}