The Poisoner’s Ring: A Rip Through Time Novel

In her second time-bending mystery (after 2022’s A Rip Through Time), Armstrong again pulls off a conceit that might land as ludicrous in less-gifted hands. In 2019, 30-year-old homicide detective Mallory Atkinson is attacked while visiting Edinburgh and loses consciousness, only to regain it “through some inexplicable whim of the universe” in 1869, in the body of 19-year-old maid Catriona Mitchell. Catriona is employed by Duncan Gray, an undertaker who works with the Scottish police as a medical examiner. Duncan soon figures out that his servant’s body harbors the soul of a detective, and he enlists her to assist him in a special investigation: ferreting out information about a rumored ring of women who’ve been poisoning their loved ones. When Duncan’s half sister is suspected of poisoning her husband, the case takes on added urgency. Armstrong fashions a satisfying narrative out of familiar parts and nails her lead’s cheeky, anachronistic narration. This is winningly silly and satisfying. Agent: Lucienne Diver, Knight Agency. (May)