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The Poisoner's Ring (A Rip Through Time, #2)

Kelley Armstrong

Start date: May 1, 2023

Finish date: May 31, 2023

Discussion: Book of the Month

Why we're reading this: Voted as our “Most popular books Published in May 2023” May BOM
[close] Voted as our “Most popular books Published in May 2023” May BOM

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* BOM: Group Read History [2025]
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last updated Aug 30, 2025 12:41AM

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What Members Thought

Apr 14, 2023 Vanessa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2023-books-read

One of the best qualities of Armstrong's characters is that they are always strong, complex, intuitive, and very clever. The Poisoner's Ring doesn't fail to deliver on all accounts.
Stuck in Victorian Edinburgh in the 1860's Mallory Atkinson, (aka Catriona Mitchell), a modern day police detective has been transported into the smaller body of a house maid with a not so nice reputation. In the first novel, "A Rip Through Time", Mallory/Cationa both proves and helps solve a murder.. During that inv One of the best qualities of Armstrong's characters is that they are always strong, complex, intuitive, and very clever. The Poisoner's Ring doesn't fail to deliver on all accounts.
Stuck in Victorian Edinburgh in the 1860's Mallory Atkinson, (aka Catriona Mitchell), a modern day police detective has been transported into the smaller body of a house maid with a not so nice reputation. In the first novel, "A Rip Through Time", Mallory/Cationa both proves and helps solve a murder.. During that investigation she has to reveal her actual origins.

In this story, Catriona acts as an assistant to her undertaker boss. Dr. Gray. He hails from a prominent family but because he is a half brother and a black man he is not respected as much as he should be. He is an unofficial medical examiner because the current one is incompetent and uninterested in finding the real cause of death. Mallory's secret is known to only three people, Dr. Gray, his sister Isla who is a chemist, and officer McCreadie,
McCreadie calls on Dr. Gray to verify, or in this case find the real cause of death in murder victims.

This installment is unusual in that members of Gray's family are suspected to have a part in the poisoning murder of Gray's s older sister Annis' husband , Lord Leslie.

Poison is usually considered a woman's weapon and because various men throughout Edinburgh are systematically being poisoned it is thought that a so called "ring" of women are obtaining poison from a common source, and many signs point to Gray's family.

All of Armstrong's female characters are highly intelligent and sometimes a bit quirky. This second book in the Rip Through Time series delivers a fantastic mystery and a tiny hope of a romance and while Mallory would love to return to her era, I hope that the prospect of a partnership/love affair makes it impossible for her to go back. All of the main characters are well defined and I am really enjoying their development as this series continues. This is a 5 star read for me. ...more

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