Author: Elizabeth Blake
Genre: Mystery
Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781643857305
Crooked Lane Books
336 Pages
$26.99; $13.99 Amazon
August 10, 2021
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When the quaint English town of York hosts a Jane Austen Society conference, bookseller Erin Coleridge is glad to get out of Kirkbymoorside for a while -- until featured speaker Barry Wolf suddenly perishes from what appears to be a heart attack.
Erin is suspicious, since Barry had no history of heart disease. But who did him in? Was it the decedent's assistant, Stephen, who was observed chatting to Barry's young wife Luca earlier that night? Might it have been Barry's ex-wife Judith, who was seen arguing with her erstwhile betrothed at the bar? Meanwhile, conference co-chairs Hetty and Prudence have been at one another's throat since the conference. Is one of them the culprit?
Matters of the heart are putting Erin off her guard. Both Detective Inspector Peter Hemming and schoolteacher Jonathan Alder have made gestures of romantic interest, but Erin isn't sure who is her Willoughby and who is her Colonel Brandon. DI Hemming tries to persuade Erin that her entanglement in the murder investigation is far from sensible, but his entreaties come to naught. Dauntlessly, Erin joins forces with Kirkbymoorside's cat lady, Farnsworth, to ferret out the guilty party.
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When Erin Coleridge and her best friend Farnsworth Appleby attend a Jane Austen conference, they're excited to stay at the best hotel in York and sample the food the restaurant has to offer in between their duties as moderators and panelists. The first night they meet Barry Wolf, their keynote speaker, and neither is impressed. The man is pompous, and obviously a bully. But when Barry is found dead not long after, Erin is suspicious. It looks like a heart attack, but she knows differently. Trying to convince DI Peter Hemming of that fact isn't working, so she decides to check up on the man herself. But in doing so, she opens a bigger can of worms than she ever thought. And if she doesn't figure it out soon, a murderer might be slithering away...
First off, I feel I need to correct the blurb. Judith isn't engaged, and Hetty and Prudence aren't at each other's throats. That being said, I also have to say that I really enjoyed this much more than the first in the series. I try to give authors a pass on the first, because they're still honing the characters and deciding what they want them to be. In this book, Ms. Blake seems to have found her way.
Erin is delightful; she's smart, witty (very), adventurous, attractive, thoughtful, and downright curious. She's inquisitive and knows she's invasive when she asks questions. What else would you expect a rural bookseller to be? Her emotions are explored in this book (and I'm grateful for that), because she lost her mother to cancer at an early age and is still coping. I also lost my mother to cancer at an early age, and it never gets easier. You just learn to live your life and remember the love. It's all you can do, really.
Farnsworth is comfortable in her own skin. She's a larger woman, but lovely as well, and has as much of a wit as Erin. Farnsworth is also addicted to Hallmark Christmas movies (as am I!) and Erin teases her for it, but gently. Her character is a bit more explored in this book, too, and it endears both characters to me even more. I also love cats and have several, so there's a soft spot for Farnsworth anyway.
But the ladies find that merely moderating panels on Jane Austen's books, life, and times is more than they signed up for when another incident occurs and now everyone at the conference is on edge -- except of course Hetty, who's too self-involved (and we all know someone like her, trying to hold on to their youth). It gives an interesting tale of murder, greed, lies, secrets, and more, as they are trying to find a killer without realizing that they're being under scrutiny themselves.
When the ending comes it really is a surprise, and quite a climax it is. You never really know what is in the mind of a murderer, and the length someone will go to for what they feel is justice. The ending gives us something to look forward to in the next, and I almost wish I could have attended the conference myself. Recommended.
More on Elizabeth Blake's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/elizabeth-blake/
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