A Legacy of Murder
By Connie Berry
(326 pages, mystery, 2019)
American antiques dealer Kate Hamilton is going to visit her daughter, Christine, just before Christmas in the village of Long Barston in England. Kate is looking forward to experiencing England at Christmastime. Christine is an intern at Finchley Hall, a beautiful but deteriorating Elizabethan country house. Kate is also looking forward to spending time with Detective Inspector Thomas Mallory, a man she ran into in Scotland on a previous trip. They have been seeing each other, but Kate is unsure where their relationship is going. While Kate is on a tour of the grounds they discover a young woman’s body in the lake. She was another young intern named Tabitha. Kate suspects that Tabitha’s death not a suicide. Kate is asked by Lady Barbara, the nearly blind owner of Finchley Hall, to take over Tabitha’s job of arranging the exhibit of the Finchley Hoard. The Finchley Hoard is a treasure trove of antiquities that includes a magnificent ruby ring and has several deaths connected to it. Kate finds a list of missing items from the Hoard. And there is a gang of thieves in the area who may be stealing items from country houses. Lady Barbara needs the money from the exhibit of the Hoard to pay for repairs at Finchley Hall. Then Christine is suspected in Tabitha’s murder and Tom must take her in for questioning. Kate is furious and knows that she must prove Christine’s innocence. This murder mystery has a wonderful holiday setting in the English countryside, and unusual characters including the feisty Kate, Ivor, the eccentric owner of The Cabinet of Curiosities, and an adorable pug named Fergus. It also has a lot of interesting tidbits about antiques, clever plot twists and a dramatic ending. I look forward to Kate’s next mysterious adventure!
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Robbin Bailey
