The Shadows of Kensington Gore – Stephen and Miss Decima Return With Their Second Mystery

Last year I read The Murder at World’s End, which, as it turns out, was one of my favorite books of 2025.

It has everything: a historical setting in 1910, a hapless under-butler called Stephen Pike, a formidable family matriarch in Miss Decima Stockingham, and a hefty dose of dry and witty humor. What’s not to love?

I genuinely could not wait for a second installment, and with rave reviews, author Ross Montgomery quickly put pen to paper and got going on The Shadows of Kensington Gore, the second of his Stockingham & Pike Detective Series.

I have been so pleased to get an early copy (scheduled publication date is October 22nd, 2026) and I can confirm that this is another 5* review.

Before I get into the nitty-gritty of this book, let me catch you up on how these two met. It was 1910, Haley’s Comet was on the way, and Stephen Pike had just started a brand new job as an under-butler at an estate called World’s End, given its location on the coast of Cornwall.

There he discovers an incredibly paranoid Viscount of Tithe Hall who is convinced that the world will end when the comet hits, and so he orders every room and window in the house to be sealed shut.

But when the comet passes and he is found dead in his locked study, Stephen finds himself as the prime suspect.

Enter the sharp-tongued Miss Decima Stockingham, who is eighty years old and beyond caring what anybody thinks of her. She is also profoundly intelligent and between the two of them they manage to prove Stephen’s innocence and catch the real killer.

And, we now find ourselves one year on from those fateful events and re-joining the sleuthing duo from their new residence in Kensington Gore, in the heart of London.

The Shadows of Kensington Gore Plot

It’s 1911, and Miss Decima has settled into her apartment residence in Kensington Gore, one of the most affluent suburbs of London.

There, Stephen Pike is her only staff and is expected to not only assist her with her detective agency but also run the household.

This is also at the height of suffragette activity, and when a policeman is murdered on Miss Decima’s street, three young women from the movement become the prime suspects.

Within hours, Emmeline Pankhurst has called on Miss Decima and hired her to find the real culprits.

Using her network of maids across the city, Stephen and Miss Decima must put the pieces of the puzzle together before the killer strikes again.

Hats Off To Ross Montgomery

Here’s the thing about a fantastic debut novel – you have to follow it up with one of equal brilliance, and in this case Montgomery has done it again.

I would even go so far as to say that it might be better than the first. The characters are fully developed and have settled into perfect rhythm, each knowing the other almost better than they know themselves.

The plot itself is fantastic, with so many historical references, and while the story is fictional, the setting and the timing of the Women’s Coronation Procession through London a week before the official coronation of King George V are all true.

Aside from the perfectly written characters, there were two elements that jumped out at me. The first is that despite being set in 1911, it was shocking how much society then mirrors the one we live in today – and not necessarily in a good way.

This is by no means a preachy book, but the suffragettes, despite what we think 115 years later, were largely seen as troublemakers and widely disliked.

I’ve seen social media posts from young women today claiming that they wouldn’t care if they lost the vote because they trust their husbands and fathers to vote on their behalf, a view espoused by plenty of women in 1911, and it just made me wonder if history is doomed to repeat itself all over again.

Of course, what most of these ‘enlightened’ young women fail to realize is that working men, at least in the UK, didn’t have the vote either. At the time, you had to be over 21 and own property, which excluded 60% of men.

But I digress. The book doesn’t labor on this topic; it’s just part of the overall setting and was an aspect that intrigued me more than making any kind of statement.

The second thing that I loved was how I didn’t guess the culprit, but as the layers of the puzzle are revealed, I quickly realized that the signs were there all along, and if I was half as smart as Ross Montgomery, I might have actually figured that out!

Huge Thumbs Up

If you haven’t read the first book, don’t worry, as you can absolutely jump into The Shadows of Kensington Gore and pick up the relationship between Pike and Miss Decima instantly.

The plotting of the mystery is first rate, and if nothing else, I learned a lot more about 1911 than I ever thought possible, and it was a joy.

I’m just crossing all of my fingers and toes that this time next year I will be praising the third book in the series!!