Summary: The Body in the Garden
London 1815. Though newly-widowed Lily Adler is
returning to a society that frowns on independent women, she is determined to
create a meaningful life for herself even without a husband. She's no stranger
to the glittering world of London's upper crust. At a ball thrown by her oldest
friend, Lady Walter, she expects the scandal, gossip, and secrets. What she
doesn't expect is the dead body in Lady Walter's garden.
Lily overheard the man just minutes before he was shot: young, desperate, and attempting blackmail. But she's willing to leave the matter to the local constables--until Lord Walter bribes the investigating magistrate to drop the case. Stunned and confused, Lily realizes she's the only one with the key to catching the killer.
Aided by a roguish navy captain and a mysterious heiress from the West Indies, Lily sets out to discover whether her friend's husband is mixed up in blackmail and murder. The unlikely team tries to conceal their investigation behind the whirl of London's social season, but the dead man knew secrets about people with power. Secrets that they would kill to keep hidden. Now, Lily will have to uncover the truth, before she becomes the murderer's next target.
Lily overheard the man just minutes before he was shot: young, desperate, and attempting blackmail. But she's willing to leave the matter to the local constables--until Lord Walter bribes the investigating magistrate to drop the case. Stunned and confused, Lily realizes she's the only one with the key to catching the killer.
Aided by a roguish navy captain and a mysterious heiress from the West Indies, Lily sets out to discover whether her friend's husband is mixed up in blackmail and murder. The unlikely team tries to conceal their investigation behind the whirl of London's social season, but the dead man knew secrets about people with power. Secrets that they would kill to keep hidden. Now, Lily will have to uncover the truth, before she becomes the murderer's next target.
Review: The Body in the Garden
Recently
widowed Lily Adler is at a party at her friend’s house when she overhears a
quarrel between two men and a gunshot is fired. In this exciting story of murder,
blackmail and bribery, Lily is shocked to find who is involved.
The police get bribed and the case is put off because of «insufficient evidence». Large sums of money change hands and suddenly they are unable to identify the victim because they don’t want to try. The magistrate, himself is in receipt of 300 £ from the host of the party where the murder took place. Lily secretly witnessed this. As the police are instructed not to investigate, Lily takes it upon herself to do it, with the help of Capt. Hartley and Miss Oswald. She hasn’t the first idea how to investigate a murder case, but sees no way around it if she is to bring about justice for the victim.
The police get bribed and the case is put off because of «insufficient evidence». Large sums of money change hands and suddenly they are unable to identify the victim because they don’t want to try. The magistrate, himself is in receipt of 300 £ from the host of the party where the murder took place. Lily secretly witnessed this. As the police are instructed not to investigate, Lily takes it upon herself to do it, with the help of Capt. Hartley and Miss Oswald. She hasn’t the first idea how to investigate a murder case, but sees no way around it if she is to bring about justice for the victim.
The
scene of the crime is in a large mansion, so the party goes on unawares while
the investigation is kept secret. Pretty difficult to do, I’m sure, but the
hosts of the evening seemed to go to extremes to avoid scandal, which seemed the
crucial concern for people of “Quality” at the time.
In this plot the victim discovered
something worth killing to keep secret. I
found the circumstances around the murder interesting as well as exiting.
Difficult to find out who the culprit might be as the murder victims kept
piling up. I felt the West Indies connection added extra interest to the plot. I
have read some books set in the West Indies before, but not murder mysteries,
so this was a new angle for me which I enjoyed a lot. As I like stories with
multi cultural dimensions, this felt like a win. There seemed a bit of a
Sanditon feel about the part of the plot which contains the West Indian
heiress, Miss Ofelia Oswald, who is launched into London Society to find a
wealthy husband. Miss Oswald is, however, slightly less rich and therefore
slightly less aggressively chaperoned compared to Miss Lamb in Sanditon.
I found the progress and exiting
intensity of the plot more than made up for a slightly wordy start. I enjoyed
the writing a lot. Added bonus, I think, were the funny parts of the story,
particularly relating to the budding friendship between Lily and Capt. Hartley
as they were knees deep in trying to solve the murder. With a mix between light
hearted banter and the serious issue of murder, this was a story I was unable
to put down even well past midnight. I found it highly entertaining as well as a
quick and easy read. No shortage of suspects here, I can assure you. Well done
to the author for creating such a wide variety of realistic “good guy”
characters as well as the unsavory ones that both angered and unsettled me.
The Body in the Garden is recommended
for readers of historical fiction as well as readers of crime fiction. Thank
you to publisher Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for this eARC in return for
my honest review. All opinions are my own.
Book Details:
Print Length: 336 pages
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books (April 7, 2020)
Publication Date: April 7, 2020
Sold by: Amazon.com Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B07TY7NPQ1
About The Author:
Katharine Schellman lives and writes in the mountains of Virginia in
the company of her husband, preschooler, and the many houseplants she keeps
accidentally murdering. The
Body in the Garden is her debut novel.
To learn more about the author, visit: http://www.katharineschellman.com/about/
To learn more about the author, visit: http://www.katharineschellman.com/about/
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