B+

The Rat-Catcher’s Daughter

Caution warnings: Misgendering; references to forced sex work; threats of violence, acid attacks, and torture.

The Rat-Catcher’s Daughter is a prequel to KJ Charles’ historical romance Any Old Diamonds. The focus is not on the Lilywhite Boys themselves, although they are an integral part of the story, but on their fence Stan and the music hall performer he admires, Miss Christiana.

Their relationship is very sweet, and a stark contrast to the horrible things that are happening around them. Christiana starts the story in debt to a crime boss who serves as pimp and fence, who kidnaps and intends to torture Stan by the end, so it’s not a sweet story by any means. But the way Stan and Christiana fumble towards trusting and being trustworthy after Christiana’s rescue was very believable and charming!

I did like the way that Stan and Christiana manage to talk about her being trans and their mutual asexuality despite the story being set in a time when neither of those things had easy shorthand. Stan is careful to make sure he’s not only using the correct name and pronouns for her, but thinking of her in the right gender, which was a touch that I appreciated. And as someone on the ace-spectrum, I was very happy with the scene of them laughing at how ridiculous allosexuals are!

I think my main issue with The Rat-Catcher’s Daughter is that it feels like a lot of set-up for KJ Charles’ most recent book, Gilded Cage. It’s introducing a villain that Any Old Diamonds didn’t have the opportunity to, and there are points where it feels like the protagonists are there as bystanders for the Lilywhite Boys. It’s simultaneously frustrating and immensely entertaining. The Lilywhite Boys weren’t the characters I picked the story up for, but they’re fun, and the aura of casual bastardry they bring to the story is the perfect counter to the tension of the scenes before they arrive.

The Rat-Catcher’s Daughter is short and manages to thread a lovely romance in-between the mortal peril. I definitely recommend it if you want more context for Gilded Cage.

– Susan

Music-hall singer Miss Christiana is in serious debt, and serious trouble. She owes more than she can pay to a notorious criminal, and now he plans to make an example of her. There’s no way out.

But Christiana has an admirer. Stan Kamarzyn has watched her sing for a year and he doesn’t want to see her get hurt. Stan’s nobody special–just a dodgy bloke from Bethnal Green–but he’s got useful friends, the sort who can get a girl out of trouble, for a price. Christiana’s not sure what it will cost her…

The two slowly reach an understanding. But Christiana is no criminal, and she can’t risk getting mixed up with the law. What will happen when Stan’s life as the fence for the notorious Lilywhite Boys brings trouble to his doorstep?

A trans f/m asexual romance novelette (17,000 words).