Deeds and Words

Louisa & Ada #2

by Sarah Bell

June 1913

Leeds, England.

When a man is shot dead in an alleyway and a suffragette arrested for the crime, Louisa Knight and Ada Chapman are once more pulled into a case that hits too close to home. It’s not long before they're mired in both the investigation and their local branch of the WSPU.

Amongst the suffragettes, they'll find dedicated women fighting to secure the vote through whatever means necessary but also missing money, blackmail threats, and an unexpected familial connection.

As questions arise and doubts surface, they not only have to face a difficult investigation but a reckoning with their part in the suffrage movement.

Genres: LGBT, Lesbian

394 pages, Paperback

First published October 21, 2023

About the author

Sarah Bell is a queer indie author. She has enjoyed reading and writing since she was a child, and loves the chance to lose herself in other worlds and times.

Outside of fiction, her interests include history and language. Not too surprisingly then, she has a degree in History & English from the University of Huddersfield.
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Her debut novel, The Murder Next Door, was released in June 2021.

Reviews

[Jude Silberfeld-Grimaud · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t realize I’d missed Ada and Louisa so much! Sarah Bell’s debut, The Murder Next Door, was one of my favourite books of 2021, and one of the reasons for that was this established couple, two women in their mid-twenties who couldn’t be more different nor more suited to each other. Ada is passionate, an artist from a working family. Louisa is more subdued, wealthy, levelheaded. And questioning why she doesn’t desire the woman she loves the way she thinks she should.

The plot this time involves the Suffragette movement (the title and cover are pretty explicit on that), a murder, spying, blackmail and more, and all sorts of interrogations and reflections on morality and necessity, on equal rights and class struggle, on forbidden love and propriety, on family and duty. Ada and Louisa face hard choices and though the author could have made some of them seemingly easy, she avoids that trap and highlights the grey areas politics and the advancement of a fairer society often entail. Real people and events are sprinkled in but even without them, the story, the vocabulary, the atmosphere would have felt immersive, making the characters’ moral dilemmas all the more relatable.

If you haven’t read The Murder Next Door, I strongly suggest you start there then move on to Deeds and Words. While it’s not absolutely required, there are a few characters whose backstories you’ll need, but most importantly you’ll have more insight into Ada and Louisa, both as people and as a couple. And they’re so lovely and interesting, you’ll want to spend more time in their company. 4.5⭐️

I received a copy from the author and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

Read all my reviews on my blog (and please buy from the affiliation links!): Jude in the Stars

[Sarah Bell]

I've read this book enough times this year that I should definitely get to include it in my Reading Challenge 😅

But anyway, just a little about what to expect in DEEDS AND WORDS:

Louisa & Ada will (obvs) return.

👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩 Still sapphic
♠️ Still ace
📚 Still the logical bookish one & the artsy impulsive one 🎨

Plus there's also:

💜 Suffragettes
✉ Blackmail
💗 Bi rep
👨‍👨‍👧‍👧 Complicated family ties
⁉️ Wait, you actually want us to investigate this murder?

And most importantly, a cat! 🐈

[Amy Marsden · Rating 5 out of 5]

9It was so nice to return to the lives of Louisa and Ada! This sequel was well written, and the murder mystery kept me guessing. I loved how queer it was too—there are numerous queer characters introduced, and it was lovely to see and read about, especially in a historical novel.

There are a lot of names introduced when Louisa and Ada start getting involved with the suffragettes. I grew up reading the Wheel of Time, so a large cast of characters doesn't bother me, but just a heads up for those who struggle with that.

I loved the inclusion of the suffragettes! It's always nice to read/learn more about them. They were some brave women!

It was nice to see Louisa and Ada again and explore their relationship more. I'm a bit unsure where Mabel fits in with everything tbh. There was a throwaway line that had me thinking there's going to be drama there if there's another book, but Louisa and Ada seem solid outside of that, so idk. And one of the new women introduced clearly *liked* Louisa, which was funny to read, especially given Louisa's inability to pick up on such things.

I really enjoyed this! I recommend this and obviously book 1 for anyone interested in sapphic murder mysteries.

Edited to add: they get a cat! Every book is better with cats!

[SSA · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️
I absolutely loved this. The set up for the mystery was compelling and the reveal was just as good. I loved learning more about Ada and Louisa’s relationship and what works for them. The thoughts Louisa had about her sexuality were really interesting to me and quite relatable at times. I also liked how different Ada and Louisa are from each other and the time and effort the author took to make them really distinct from one another. You could tell straight away when the POV shifted from Ada to Louisa and vice versa.

I also really liked the new characters that were introduced and how despite this being a historical story, it was wonderfully and diversely queer. There were asexuals, aromatics, bisexuals (men and women) and lesbians. And it was naturally integrated into the wider story.

I really enjoyed learning more about the suffrage movement. And there was also some interesting commentary about how women in sex work should and do have a place in women’s rights movements. Which are conversations that are very relevant today.

“Her skin crawled, all her hatred for being touched rushing over her in that moment.” I wonder if this reaction to people is related to Louisa's asexuality or something else. If there is another book, I would love more exploration about her touch aversion.

[Katherine Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sarah Bell has done it again with this superb follow up to her terrific debut, The Murder Next Door. Being back in the company of Ada and Louisa was wonderful, and I loved seeing Louisa develop more understanding of her own asexuality and how it fit into their relationship. It was done extremely well and was very relatable, and this character development was interspersed brilliantly alongside the main plot of the murder mystery the pair are trying to solve.

I really enjoyed the suffragettes being a big focus of this installment, and it was intriguing to see Ada and Louisa become more entangled in this world and motivated to take action themselves. I think any woman would struggle to read the actions of these historical heroines and not feel inspired themselves.

The murder mystery itself was intriguing throughout, and as always, Bell does an excellent job of setting the scene of Leeds in 1913. The characters feel rich and real, and everything is described in just enough detail for you to imagine it clearly in your mind. I will, of course, be picking up the next book in the series!

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book, possibly even a bit more than the previous book in the series.

It's full of good representation of the British suffragette movement circa 1913 in Leeds. It's also tied to history, and well-researched. (E.g., one scene plays out on a date and location that corresponds to one of several instances when Emmeline Pankhurst was arrested, as she was wont to do at the time.) And there's a murder mystery as well, tangled up with family dynamics. I really liked both of the protagonists (Louise and Ada), as well as their interactions. Both are "queer" in the modern sense, and other such characters are also introduced -- all of which totally makes sense given the set-up and the previous book (The Murder Next Door).

This is an indie publication, and I really appreciated that the author has made it (and the previous volume) for sale DRM-free on the Kobo platform, and at a nice price point.

Now, I sure hope there's another in this series coming soon.

[aspeccharactersoftheday]

Louisa Knight from The Murder Next Door is asexual!

https://aspeccharactersoftheday.tumbl...