Without Fear: A Martha Beale Novel

Martha Beale Mystery #3

by Cordelia Frances Biddle

Critics have lauded Cordelia Frances Biddle's historical series featuring heiress Martha Beale. The indomitable heroine returns in Without Fear when a decapitated corpse is discovered at Joseph Bonaparte's palatial estate near Philadelphia. A vanished wife, a former actress with an agonizing secret, and a mill worker accused of murder reveal the dark and convoluted connections between wealth and poverty, and the tenuous link between grief and joy.

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction

278 pages, Paperback

First published January 26, 2010

About the author

Cordelia Frances Biddle is a feminist and historian. Fiction: Listen to Me: The Women of the Bible Speak Out; They Believed They Were Safe; the Martha Beale series set in 1840's Philadelphia, and Beneath the Wind. Nonfiction: Biddle, Jackson and a Nation in Turmoil, and Saint Katharine: the Life of Katharine Drexel.
The River Was Waiting will be published January 2026

With her husband, Steve Zettler, she wrote the Nero Blanc crossword puzzle series.

She would love hearing from you, and would be happy to meet with your book club or reading group.
Please contact her through her website: www.CordeliaFrancesBiddle.net

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first Martha Beale Novel. I don't usually read mysteries, but a recent televised interview with Cordelia Francis Biddle made me search for her novels. I'm from Philadelphia (and love the City), so I gave this book a try.
The writing style and descriptive words put me in the center of the story and 19th Century Old City Philadelphia. I have been walking these streets for 60+years, and yet I learned so much 'back history' from this novel. The author writes about society in the 1840s. Many of us had family who worked in the harsh conditions of Philadelphia textile mills, and this novel presented the social injustices where wealth can purchase many things. There were interesting, engaging characters that made me want to turn the page to follow their story. And at the end, I was surprised . . . but will say no more.
I will be recommending The Conjurer to my Book Club for our mystery selection.
bcm.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the most entertaining aspects of a Martha Beale novel is the setting. Whether you are familiar with Philadelphia or not, Biddle does an extraordinary job of taking the reader down its historic streets and describing what it was like during the 1800s. The amount of research and detail she puts into her books is astounding. Among labor practices at the beginning of the industrial age and the treatment of factory workers, this third installation of the series also addresses the establishment of cadavers as medical school teaching tools (I expected Dr. Mutter's name to be brought up in some way, and was surprised when it was not).

The first book, The Conjurer, was a stellar opening to the series. Deception's Daughter was also well done, riding on the energy of the first book but good enough to stand by itself.

Biddle neatly ties the first two books of the series to this one, and a new crime is in need of solving. In this novel, her heroine, Beale, lacks a bit of the fortitude and righteousness I expect from her now, so in that way the story was a little disappointing. There was a stretch of pages where I was frustrated with Beale. Even though she was emotionally distraught, I was surprised at her dismissal of Ella's attempts to converse with her. Being that we are aware of Beale's contempt for the societal norms of the time, and with how Ella came into her life unconventionally to begin with, I would assume Beale would treat Ella in the manner she herself would have wanted to be treated as a girl. Beale is also surprisingly naive in this novel, which seemed out of character. While she is burdened with sadness and longing in this story, I did not expect her to react to it as she did, which was to become less observant of her surroundings.

Regardless, this book was worth the read. The plot had satisfying twists and genuine appeal. I will most definitely read book #4.

[Kathy Hale · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good detective story. What intrigued me was the author's name from a very old Philadelphia family.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like this book as much as the first (I have yet to read the 2nd in the series); I really missed the Thomas Kelman character, and found Martha to be a little obnoxious (the way she treats her children). So it was hard to get into a book where you're less sympathetic to the main character. I also didn't understand why she couldn't see the consequences of her actions sometimes - this is the 3rd mystery in the series, so she's been down this road before. If she's supposed to be intelligent, why isn't she getting the hang of this more?

That being said, the historical parts of this novel are great, and the author's research is clearly painstaking. The series is set up to continue, and I probably will pick up later novels, to see if Martha is able to overcome her inhibitions.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Martha Beale story set in mid-1900 Philadelphia with great details of life and the physical aspects of the city at that time. Martha is caught up in a hideous murder and twisted characters; people who are not what they seem. She is a character who is aware of her physical limitations and presses on using her high social and financial status. Very good story, believable; highly recommend it.

[Johanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wasn't as good as the others in the series. Too many loose ends, too predictable.

[Stephen Pflugfelder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad

Biddle does a good job of recreating Philadelphia, and there was certainly a good mystery at play. However it was tied up too quickly and neatly in the end.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: Philadelphia heiress Martha Beale is confronted with a decapitated corpse and a vanished wife.