Synopsis

As Kate Hamilton and her new husband, DI Tom Mallory, honeymoon in Devon, a local history museum asks them to trace the provenance of a bloodstained dress said to belong to a Victorian lacemaker accused of murder. If genuine, the dress and its puzzling connections to a nineteenth-century Romani family who camped on Dartmoor will be the centerpiece of a new historic crimes exhibit—exactly Kate’s kind of mystery. But matters turn deadly when a shot is fired during a fundraising gala, injuring the man who donated the dress.

The injured donor, Gideon Littlejohn, is a cyber-security expert who lives and dresses as a Victorian gentleman, but everyone believes the real target of the attack to be another attendee—a controversial politician intent on rooting out local corruption. This belief is overturned when Gideon is found dead in a pool of blood. But then the politician receives a death threat.

Who was the real target? Who would want to kill both a man with an obsession for history and a tough-on-crime politician? When asked to assist in the investigation, Kate races to discover the truth as it becomes clear the killer isn’t going to come quietly.

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Review

This is the first book I have read by this author, but it won’t be the last!

If you follow my reviews at all, you know I have this thing about reading books out of order. When books are touted as stand-alone books, which is usually true, you miss out on the developing personal storylines. I think that might be the case here as well, but I honestly didn’t feel like I missed out on much between Tom and Kate. Maybe their relationship before they were married, but the author does a splendid job of filling in the gaps or making it seem like we haven’t missed out on a courtship or more.

The premise of the story captured my attention. Was this historic dress covered in blood worn by a murderess? It is up to Kate to help establish the provenance of the dress. There are roadblocks in her way, including the person who found it in the items he purchased from an estate sale. Gideon is an interesting character, and his murder just added another kink to the story.

I enjoyed watching Tom and Kate pull clues together to solve the murder and the history of the dress. There were so many involved in assisting them, but ultimately, it was the sleuthing skills of these two that pulled it together in the end.

The setting of Devon was enjoyable, and I felt like I was in the village with the descriptions provided. So many unique characters rounded out the cast, with several to suspect based on their actions.

I look forward to reading more of this author’s works in the future. We give this 5 paws up.

About the Author

Connie Berry is the author of the Kate Hamilton Mysteries, set in the UK and featuring an American antiques dealer with a gift for solving crimes. Like her protagonist, Connie was raised by antique dealers who instilled in her a passion for history, fine art, and travel. During college, she studied at the University of Freiburg in Germany and St. Clare’s College, Oxford, where she fell under the spell of the British Isles. Besides reading and writing mysteries, Connie loves history, foreign travel, cute animals, and all things British. She lives in Ohio with her husband and adorable Shih Tzu, Emmie.

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