Synopsis

Antiques expert Kate Hamilton dives into the past to solve a fourteenth-century mystery with disturbing similarities to a modern-day murder in the sixth installment of the Kate Hamilton mystery series.

Kate Hamilton and her husband, Detective Inspector Tom Mallory, have settled into married life in Long Barston. When archaeologists excavating the ruins of a nearby plague village discover the miraculously preserved body of a fourteenth-century woman, Kate and her colleague, Ivor Tweedy, are asked to appraise the grave goods, including a valuable pearl. When tests reveal the woman was pregnant and murdered, the owner of the estate on which the body was found, an amateur historian, asks Kate to identify her and, if possible, her killer. Surprised, Kate agrees to try.

Meanwhile, tensions within the archaeological team erupt when the body of the lead archaeologist turns up at the dig site with fake pearls in his mouth and stomach. Then a third body is found in the excavations. Meanwhile, Kate’s husband Tom is tracking the movements of a killer of his own.

With the help of 700-year-old documents and the unpublished research of a deceased historian, Kate must piece together the past before the grave count reaches four.

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Review

I am relatively new to Connie Berry’s series, but the couple I have read have been engaging and filled with mysteries to solve.

This novel centers on an archaeological dig at a village destroyed by the plague in the mid-1300s. The discovery of a coffin with a body that was well preserved takes the story up a notch. I read in the author’s notes that this is loosely based on an actual coffin found dating back to the 1300s. It boggles the mind to think of a body preserved in such a way that it was almost like the person was just interred.

But the mysteries are not centered solely on that coffin. There is the murder of the lead archaeologist and the missing wife of the landowner. The wife went missing nine years ago, and clues are uncovered that solve several mysteries. I loved following the clues and trying to decipher how they fit together and who the killer might be. Just when Kate thought she had all the answers, new information emerged that sent her back to the drawing board.

The story does leave a small cliffhanger regarding Tom’s career, so I’m curious how that will play out in the next book.

We give this book 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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