Review in the July/August 2018 edition

Silver Surfers 

Female First 

The UK’s largest independent lifestyle magazine

Criminally overlooked: the pioneering female detectives who were

airbrushed from history

The London Economic

“Innocent Bystander, the third instalment in Asbrey’s popular The Innocents Mystery series, doesn’t disappoint. It’s a fabulous ‘whodunnit’ that’s packed with strong characters and witty dialogue, a cinematic setting, and simmering chemistry between MacKay and her charismatic anti-hero, Quinn. It’s also meticulously researched and sheds fresh, historically-accurate light on the Pinkerton Detective Agency, a real crime-fighting agency established in the 1850s by the Scottish immigrant Allan Pinkerton, and its work.

Perhaps more importantly, and contrary to almost all ‘Wild West’ literature, Asbrey’s books – which include The Innocents and Innocent as Sin – celebrate the female protagonist and turn the idea of the “helpless damsel in distress” on its head. Madeleine, for instance, is no normal ‘victim’; she’s a bold, brave woman who refuses to play along with society’s rules. MacKay herself is a master of disguise and an expert in science who plays men at their own game – and wins. Asbrey has based her stories on real people and real events, and created highly believable, three-dimensional characters that readers can’t help but warm too – flaws and all.

Asbrey is clearly unafraid to highlight the real issues that women have faced – and sadly continue to face – in a male-dominated world. She touches on immigration and female sexuality, and on the misogynistic conventions that women are expected follow. [When discussing Abigail’s claim to be a married woman, Nat says: “She ain’t with him, that’s for sure. No man would allow his wife to behave the way she does. He’s either gone or dead.”] In so doing, Asbrey cleverly redresses the gender imbalance in historical crime drama and should be warmly applauded.”

Read more at the links below.

MS CHRISTINE ASBREY  – INNOCENTS MYSTERY SERIES

JOHNSTON PRESS SYNDICATION – ALL ARTICLE WEB LINKS