From Publishers Weekly
Vivid characters, notably Impressionist painter Claude Monet, distinguish this stand-alone historical by British author Jakeman (Death in the South of France). The shadow of the 1888 Jack the Ripper murders hangs over Scotland Yard's inquiries 12 years later into the deaths of two women whose mutilated corpses have been dragged from the Thames. Inspector Will Garrety, an honest and dogged investigator, is prepared to follow the trail wherever the evidence leads, but he's hampered by his superiors, who warn him to stay away from upper-class suspects connected with a secluded floor at the Savoy Hotel, which houses officers wounded in the vicious fighting of the Boer War. The author convincingly evokes fin-de-siecle London with its class and gender prejudices, but the early revelation of the killer's identity undercuts the suspense. Moreover, the path of the killer, whose personality will be familiar to Thomas Harris fans, never crosses that of Garrety's, making the ultimate resolution anticlimactic. Should Jakeman decide to make her detective into a series character, she might consider giving him a more challenging adversary and a better puzzle to crack in any sequel. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Jakeman spins a neatly plotted, finely phrased tale, full of period atmosphere, about Monet, murder, and London in the year 1900. Oliver Cranston is trying to get out from under the thumb of his overbearing father by working for the Foreign Office. Oliver's job brings him to the Savoy, where the French painter Monet tries to capture the light and mist he sees on the Thames every morning and where an entire floor is devoted to the care of officer victims of the Boer War. It is Oliver's unlucky fate to see a woman's body wash up from the Thames, brutally and surgically murdered; he is luckier to make the acquaintance of the painter's son, Michel. The police inspector investigating the murder, a doctor ravaged by both his childhood and the war, and a few unfortunate women people these pages, which are redolent of painterly description, ghastly procedural detail, and historical verisimilitude. A dark pot of tea, smoky and bitter. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Jane Jakeman's historical mystery is equally rich in period atmosphere and drama. This tale weaves together a fascinating cast of characters and a series of gruesome crimes. It immerses the reader in the lives of the great artist Claude Monet and his charming son; their young friend Rosa Derby and her eccentric mother; Oliver Craston, the young English member of the Foreign Office whom they befriend; and Inspector Garrety, the solid yet brilliant detective assigned to investigate the murders. And, as this powerfully written story unfolds, those lives and others are shadowed by a tormented soul whose love for women is a dangerously twisted blend of compassion, worship, and fear. The "Kingdom of the Mists" of the title is 1900 London, where Monet paints the ghostly fog over the Thames￯﾿ﾽand the bodies of two murdered women are pulled from the river's frigid depths. On the scene when the second body is discovered, Oliver refuses to embrace the Foreign Office's campaign to end the investigation (they want the deaths declared suicides, despite evidence to the contrary) as a means of stifling any potential scandal. Inspired by Inspector Garrety's sense of duty, which compels him to put his own career on the line for the sake of justice, Oliver makes a devil's bargain that insures his own future and ends the killings￯﾿ﾽat a terrible cost. Sue Stone

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"By now a celebrated and successful artist, Claude Monet returns to London to paint his famous Thames series. Nostalgic for his earlier visit in 1870, the old man busies himself with a frenzy of creative activity. Little does he know, however, that his haunting canvasses will act as a backdrop to a series of savage killings." Oliver Craston, a fledgling diplomat at the Foreign Office, happens to be nearby when an unrecognizable body is pulled from the Thames - and from then on, he's unwillingly drawn into the police investigation. Meanwhile, with anti-French sentiment running high in London, the Foreign Office wants Craston to keep a close eye on M. Monet and his son, who are staying at the Savoy Hotel. But none of the men knows that the source of the horror - a horror beyond even the imagination of an artist - stalks the floor above M. Monet's suite.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Vivid characters, notably Impressionist painter Claude Monet, distinguish this stand-alone historical by British author Jakeman (Death in the South of France). The shadow of the 1888 Jack the Ripper murders hangs over Scotland Yard's inquiries 12 years later into the deaths of two women whose mutilated corpses have been dragged from the Thames. Inspector Will Garrety, an honest and dogged investigator, is prepared to follow the trail wherever the evidence leads, but he's hampered by his superiors, who warn him to stay away from upper-class suspects connected with a secluded floor at the Savoy Hotel, which houses officers wounded in the vicious fighting of the Boer War. The author convincingly evokes fin-de-siecle London with its class and gender prejudices, but the early revelation of the killer's identity undercuts the suspense. Moreover, the path of the killer, whose personality will be familiar to Thomas Harris fans, never crosses that of Garrety's, making the ultimate resolution anticlimactic. Should Jakeman decide to make her detective into a series character, she might consider giving him a more challenging adversary and a better puzzle to crack in any sequel. (Mar. 2) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

In this fictionalized account of Claude Monet's trip to London in winter 1900, British journalist and art historian Jakeman (Death in the South of France) combines elements of mystery and literary fiction to produce a compelling portrait of the aging painter. Leaving his wife, Alice, in France to mourn the loss of her daughter, Monet travels to London to capture the Thames's thick mists. He is accompanied by his son, Michel, who hopes to master the English language. Monet produces many canvases in his attempts to capture his vision but with little satisfaction. As his struggles continue, he is haunted by memories of his youth, especially his first marriage to Camille. Jakeman's treatment of Monet is quite convincing, but his venture into a crime narrative (while Monet paints, the bodies of two women are pulled from the Thames) is less successful. Although the topic should interest any reader fascinated by Jack the Ripper and other mass murderers, the characters remain largely undeveloped and poorly integrated into the Monet narrative. While disappointing as a crime thriller, the novel should still be considered by larger public libraries with a demand for historical fiction.-Jean Langlais, St. Charles P.L., IL Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews