Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Beyond the Page Publishing, and Nancy Herriman for the advanced reader copy of the book. This review will also be posted on NetGalley. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

In post-Civil War San Francisco, a former soldier who is now a detective is still feeling intense grief over his younger sister’s suicide. When the body of a man is fished out of San Francisco Bay that is wearing a locket with Meg’s picture in it as well as a lock of her hair, Nick Greaves must come to terms with the fact that he may not have known his sister at all. Together with the widowed Celia Graves, who was a nurse in the Crimean War and runs a free medical clinic, they chip away at a mystery that exposes police corruption, smuggling, and encompasses many of the City’s rich elite.

Not having read any of the prior books in Herriman’s series, there were some things that are assumed a reader knows coming into this that lost me for a while. Fortunately, throughout the story, many gaps are filled in so I didn’t feel completely lost. Still, my first recommendation is that if this story interests you, I’d go back and start at the beginning. I liked it enough that I am adding the series to my “to be read” pile.

The setting has a feel akin to the Andrea Penrose books I’m reading which take place in Regency London. Celia and Nick are outsiders to the city’s elite. Neither come from a real affluent background and are living their lives in a way that helps those around them. Celia has a collection of people living at her place, which includes her half-Chinese cousin. There’s a backstory to that hinted at, and I’m excited to read it eventually. Nick became a police officer following the horrors of the Civil War, following in his Uncle Asa’s footsteps, but still carries survivor’s guilt from the War as well as not being there to save Meg.

I enjoyed the story but felt Celia was a bit too brash in her investigating. In the beginning, she seemed more nuanced, trying to engage people in conversation and steer them into giving her the information she wanted. However, soon she is just outright interrogating people, including Nick’s fellow police officers, and it was hard to believe that people who possibly were involved in crimes up to and including murder would just talk to her. It’s not even that she isn’t known to have worked with the police before, as it’s brought up that she’s appeared in the newspapers for this in the past.

The mystery is a good one as it slowly unravels, bringing up Meg’s death and the possibility that something was missed all those years ago as more of the circumstances surrounding it come to light. Even at the end, I wasn’t sure I had a clear picture of what had been going on. It’s quite a convoluted mystery, but in the end, it makes sense. There are some people that Nick and Celia cross that may come back to haunt them in the future, as it’s not exactly sure who was really involved.

There is romantic tension between Celia and Nick. Celia is still wearing widow’s black and Nick is still focused more on himself than living his life. There is something between them, but neither of them seems to possess the inclination to do anything about it.

I did enjoy reading No Rest for the Departed despite the shortcomings. The mystery was enticing and well-paced. It flowed nicely and the characters were interesting, even if Celia was over the top at times. I like the characters enough to catch up with the previous books in the series and see how they got to this point.