BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS:
Print: COPYRIGHT: 4/7/2020; PUBLISHER: Crooked Lane Books; ISBN 9781643853567; PAGES 336; Unabridged
Digital: Yes

*Audio: COPYRIGHT: 5/12/2020; ISBN: 9781690599210; PUBLISHER: Dreamscape Media; DURATION: 11:19:02; PARTS: 11; File Size: 322134 KB; Unabridged; PARTS: 11

Feature Film or tv: No.

SERIES: Lily Adler Mysteries, Book 1

CHARACTERS: (Not comprehensive)
Lily Adler – Young Widow just returned to London
Mrs. Carstairs -- Housekeeper
Lady Serena Walter -- Lily's girlhood friend
Lord Bernard Walter -- Serena's husband
Captain John (Jack) Hartley -- Lily's late husband's close friend.
Margaret Harlowe -- a girlhood friend
Andrew Harlowe -- Margaret's husband
Isobel Harper -- a girlhood acquaintance
Reggie Harper -- Isobel's brother
General Alfred Harper -- Isobel's uncle
Miss Ofelia Oswald -- Young lady form the West Indies staying with her aunt
Sir Edward Carroway -- Ofelia's love interest.
Mrs. Haverweight -- Ofelia's Aunt.

SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
How I picked it: I spotted a book at a used book sale called “Body in the Library” that sounded like a fun read, but I always like to start a series at the beginning, so I looked up the author and found that this was the first of the series, so placed a hold on it from my LAPL subscription to Overdrive.
What’s it about? A young widow, Lily Adler, returns to London in 1815, and allowing her best friend to talk her in to attending her ball, soon finds herself as a witness of sorts (hearing more than seeing) to a murder in the garden. When the police dismiss the case for reasons not immediately clear, Lily becomes determined to solve it herself.
What did I think? Great descriptions and characterizations and well plotted; I enjoyed it.

AUTHOR:
Katharine Schellman; I’ve discovered that a lot of writers who have their own webpages do not have Wikipedia entries. Not being someone worthy of a Wiki page, I wouldn’t know, but I’m guessing you can request not to have one.
So, here’s a wee bit of what Katharine tells us about herself at https://www.katharineschellman.com/about/ where one can also find a lovely photo of her.
“I graduated with a BA from the College of William & Mary in Virginia, moved to Philadelphia and the DC area, and now live and write in the mountains of Virginia. In my debit year, I was named one of BookPage’s 16 Women to Watch in 2020, which I found out about on Instagram (that’s often how these things happen).”
And here is her official bio on the same page:
“Katharine Schellman is a former actor and one-time political consultant. These days, she writes the Lily Adler Mysteries (Crooked Lane Books) and the Nightingale Mysteries (Minotaur/St. Martin’s Press). Last Call at the Nightingale, her newest release, is a Publishers Weekly Summer Reads Pick for 2022 and a BookPage Most Anticipated Mystery & Suspense Book of 2022. Her debut novel, The Body in the Garden, was one of Suspense Magazine’s Best Books of 2020 and led to her being named one of BookPage’s 16 Women to Watch in 2020. Its sequel, Silence in the Library, was praised as “worthy of Agatha Christie or Rex Stout.” (Library Journal, starred review) Katharine lives and writes in the mountains of Virginia in the company of her husband, children, and the many houseplants she keeps accidentally murdering.”

NARRATOR:
Henrietta Meire:
Henrietta also has her own website, and I did not find a Wikipedia entry, so here is a bit from her page ( https://henriettameire.com/ )
“I’m a British born actress, currently living in Los Angeles. From German-Normandy heritage, born to a very British magical fairy of a ballerina-opera singer Mother and an even more British, gentle Buddha-like, over-grown leprechaun of a Father.
As a teenager I was a concert clarinetist, attempting to play Weber concertos with 50 piece orchestras behind me, whilst my knees knocked in pure terror. How I ever produced a soulful note from that beautiful piece of emotional sorcery, I will never know.
I then traversed into singing… Big band jazz in particular. I was 14 and singing Fever in front of 400 people, which made me high as a kite (naturally… no snorty stuff here: I wasn’t THAT kind of teenager). I still sing and, whilst I may not be the best singer on the block (I’ll leave that to Jenny…), I bloomin’ love it.”
I love Henrietta’s webpage, and I’m sure she is talented in everything she undertakes.
I’m a bit uncertain still how I feel about her as a narrator here, but I don’t think I can explain why. Maybe the delivery seems humorless? There are bantering jibes, like “irritating man!” tacked on to the end of occasional sentences when Lily speaks to Captain Hartley, that seem to hold more vehemence than humor—I prefer to think of this character as being more calm, and less intense. But let’s just wait and see if Henrietta grows on me when I read the next book in the series.

GENRE:
Fiction; Mystery; Historical Fiction; Detective; Women Sleuths

LOCATIONS:
London

TIME FRAME:
1815

SUBJECTS:
Blackmail; Widowhood; Society

DEDICATION:
“For everyone who had the courage to start over and for Brian, who was there every step of the way.”

SAMPLE QUOTATION:
From Chapter 1:
“London 1815
“The empty windows and still curtains were a lie, of course.
Eyes watched from every nearby house as the carriage rolled to a stop in front of number thirteen, Half Moon Street--residents, some of them, ladies and gentlemen who merited those titles to varying degrees, or the servants who were expected to report what they saw.
The watchers narrowed their eyes as the carriage door opened and a woman descended.
The carriage was a shabby piece of equipment--obviously hired, with postboys grubby from hard riding--so they knew she did not have enough money to keep her own stables. But the woman herself was the opposite of shabby--about six and twenty, her coat and hat in the current fashion. And she had rented the house on Half Moon Street. If not the most expensive part of Mayfair, it was also not somewhere a woman frantically counting her pennies could live.
The postboys, if anyone had asked them, would have added that she tipped very well.
But when the curious watchers whispered their impressions to each other or shared their judgements over supper, there would be one thing that stood out: she was dressed in lilac and gray, the colors of mourning no longer in its first stages.”

RATING:.
4

STARTED READING – FINISHED READING
8-16-2022 to 9-13-2022 ( )

The premise is interesting and there is a lot going on in this story. A widow trying to get back into London society is invited to an old friend’s house party where she wanders out into the garden and overhears a blackmail scheme. As she hurries back to the house she hears a gunshot. This is the start of the cover-up and murder into Lily’s investigation. Her husband’s childhood friend finds her difficult and frustrating but along the way begins to admire her courage and intellect. My only compliant is that Lily is a little bit of a know-it-all and icy but maybe she’s supposed to be that formal in 1819 London ( )

Delightful book! I enjoyed the main character Lily Adler; she’s intelligent, quick thinking, brave and not afraid to put herself in danger to find justice. She works with Captain Jack Hartley, childhood friend of Lily’s deceased husband Freddy. The characters are intriguing, the setting is interesting and there are plenty of twists and turns as the plot develops. I’ll read the next one in the series for sure. ( )

The storyline was a common theme of setting up a society lady, bending social norms: this is a foray adventure of a young widow returning to London and it's scandal-driven, rigorous social structure. Stumbling across a dead body proves a challenge to the forthright main character, Lily, in maintaining a demure existence while she finds her feet again in her circle of acquaintances. The characters were well drawn, being definite individual personalities.

Nevertheless, the plotting involved too many distracting side stories and unnecessary descriptions to maintain a strong interest in the action. The plot twists and reveals were clever, although overall, the uneven pacing didn't build on the discoveries effectively. For my enjoyment, I didn't find this a particularly engaging narrative style. ( )

Lily Adler, a young widow, has recently returned to London. Though she's still in half-mourning for her husband, she plans to attend some quiet events. Her best friend, Lady Walter, has other plans for her, though, and convinces Lily to attend the ball Lady Walter is hosting. That event is not a quiet one, and is even less so when Lily overhears an argument, and then discovers a body in the garden. The dead man is a stranger, but the murderer was almost certainly one of the party guests. The ton, including Lily's friends, would rather hush up the matter, but Lily is determined to see justice done for the unknown young man. Simon Page of Bow Street, the newly established police force, is also on the case, and he has no patience for bored society ladies sticking their noses in his business. Can Lily prove to the obstinate constable that she can be useful in solving the case?

I enjoy mysteries as well as the occasional Regency, and this combines elements of both. In this first book in the series, the mystery element is not very strong, but I have hopes that the mysteries will increase in complexity as the series goes on. I will be continuing with it. ( )