Things in Jars

Nobody does characters like Jess Kidd. Every person in this story is bizarre—a monster, misfit, or malefactor—yet not one feels contrived. I adored Bridie Devine, a small, rotund, pipe-smoking detective who begins to see the same ghost everywhere she goes.

Bridie’s quarry is a strange girl who’s been kidnapped and might (depending on who you ask) have supernatural powers or be a “lovely grotesque” who’s caught the eye of collectors. I fell in love with Kidd’s imaginative Victorian London, where nothing is as it seems, and evil lurks around every bend.

Bridie Devine, an impoverished Irish detective in Victorian London, loathes wealthy gentlemen who fancy themselves amateur “scientists” and compete with other millionaires to collect oddities, both inanimate and alive. Her new case, presented as the kidnapping of one such toff’s missing “daughter,” is actually to recover a young mermaid: the fantastical, venomous-toothed crown jewel of his collection. Bridie collects oddities too (a retired circus-performer housemaid; the charming ghost of a boxer) but shelters and protects them.

This book indites exploitation of the (seemingly) helpless and societies fixated on status, whatever the cost. Kidd’s vivid portrayals and wryly humorous prose create… show more.

Things in Jars is positioned at the meeting point of three Victorian obsessions: anatomy, entertainment, and spectacle.

It features Bridie Devine, a female detective tasked with finding a kidnapped child. But the child is not like other children. And Bridie, ‘the finest female detective of her age’ is not like other detectives. Not only is this an outstanding detective novel, at its heart lies a beautifully observed, genuinely moving, if somewhat unconventional love story.

I loved this novel by Jess Kidd (and all her novels, natch) from the moment I started reading. Who wouldn’t love a Victorian-era set story of spectacle and sideshow, featuring lady detective Bridie Devine as she sets out to find a mysterious child who has disappeared? The child in question, Christabel, is rumored to be a Merrow, a kind of mermaid. Ruby Doyle, a dead man who may or may not be a hallucination (brought on by whatever it is that Bridie is constantly smoking) assists her in her investigations. The prose is charming, entertaining, and gripping. There is magic,… show more.

I adore magic realism and Things in Jars follows the best traditions of the genre. Set in Victorian England, the supernatural and uncanny are seamlessly intertwined with reality. Jess Kidd avoids whimsy, instead, she uses the magical elements to add grit and atmosphere to an already dark story. The characters - both alive and dead - are beautifully drawn. They take in their stride natural floods, supernatural omens, murderous humans, pugnacious ghosts, and lethal mythological creatures as they navigate the intriguing plot. Both characters and setting have lived with me long after reading. I still yearn for a sequel.