ARC Review: The Corpse Played Dead or when a book starts with a good pun nothing could go wrong!

Hello people! Are you ready for the Fall? I am so excited about it! And I know that I keep saying it over and over in all my posts, but I can’t help myself!
Anyway… today I am back with a review, isn’t this great?

Thanks to NetGalley and to the editor. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Title: The Corpse Played Dead
Series: Lizzie Hardwicke #2
Author: Georgina Clarke
Page count: 350
Pubblication date: August 19th, 2019

‘All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players…’
When an undercover assignment for the Bow Street magistrate sees prostitute Lizzie Hardwicke trade Ma Farley’s Bawdy House in Soho for life as a seamstress the theatre on Drury Lane, it becomes clear quite quickly – what goes on in the wings is much more intriguing than the theatrics being played out on stage…
Soon Lizzie is once again thrown together with the handsome Inspector Will Davenport when a high profile investor is brutally hanged at centre stage and Lizzie discovers the body. With the suspect list rivalling any casting call, Lizzie will have to use every trick she’s hidden up her sleeves to unravel the tangled threads and bring the culprit into the spotlight.

When I requested this book I didn’t understand that this was the second book in a series, but you can enjoy the reading without reading the first book so that was great (and now I have to go back and read the first one, too!), and I requested it because of the title. This is not one of my favorite genre (that’s to say, I read this kind of books, but I read few of them, usually I like them, but they are not my main course, so to say) but I was just so captivated by the title that I had to request it. I know… shallow reason, right?! But I am a shallow person, sorry not sorry!

But shallow reasons aside, I did well because this book was good. Really good. First thing first, the writing. It’s captivating and once I started the reading it was really hard to close the book and walk away from it. Lizzie’s voice (the MC and narrator) captures you and lures you in the story, and in just a moment you are not on your sofa, or on the train, but there, with her, in London, in the theater where a great part of the story takes part.
And then we have Lizzie herself. She is an unusual choice since she’s a prostitute who, from time to time, helps the police to investigate. So, she’s quite unique. And she has character, too. You just have to appreciate her! And I loved her “relationship” with Inspector Davenport. I am not so fond of him as a character, at least for now, but I think we would see more of him around in the next books, and I am so looking forward to seeing more of them together because those were my favorite parts of all the book. And even if he is not my favorite character I liked him and I loved the way they interact with each other.

For the historical part I can’t really judge, because I am not an expert, but it seems like the author did her research, because all seems pretty accurate and it seems so real, both the London setting that the theater with all its connotations: the workers, the social aspect of it, the relationship between actors and patrons. Again, I am not an expert, so maybe it’s not as accurate as I think it is, but I enjoyed it, and that’s the important part.

All in all it’s a quick and fresh reading, with some original points in it, that bring you in another time and space. I don’t think I could have asked for something more, and I enjoyed myself a lot. Now I have to patiently wait for the next book to be out, because I would read it, for sure! (But, since I am not so patient I think I would occupy myself with the first book on the series!).