I think this book ended up with a 4 star rating because I liked the ending. Looking back as I write this there were several things that probably put this more at 3.5 stars.

There were some editing issues; I’m pretty sure the German Aunt central to this plot started out being on Verity’s mother’s side (references to her mother’s German family) and then suddenly, she’s Verity’s father’s Aunt.

But mostly the story was just so melancholy. It fits with the time period – post WWI – and all the books have been tinged with an appropriate air of pain, confusion and recovery, but Huber just piled on in this book. We have the veterans trying to adjust to life after the trenches, we have Lord Ryder wallowing, passed-out drunk in the uncertainty that his father might not have been a loyal peer of the realm before his death, we have the culmination of a 5 year breach between Verity and her family, and Verity’s inability to confront her grief over the loss of one of her brothers during the war. It’s all very heavy.

Buried underneath all this depressiveness is, actually, a really good mystery, albeit a very slow moving one under the weight of all the above, about the murder of her German Aunt’s personal maid, during a holiday gathering at the family estate in the Yorkshire Dales. Huber touches on the bigotry in the aftermath of war, and the inability for some to differentiate between a person and a government. It was a well-crafted plot, too, in that I should have seen the killer before I did, but missed it.

So, really probably a 3.5 star read, but laziness will keep it at 4. A good story bogged down by what would be normally be compelling side lines on their own, but taken together felt altogether too depressing for a cozy mystery. ( )

Murder Most Fair by Anna Lee Huber is Historical Mystery Thriller Fiction in November 1919. This book is part 5 of the exciting Verity Kent series with murder, mystery, and lingering espionage. Unsettling troubles with family, neighbors and staff just when Verity and Sidney begin to feel on solid ground again. I love the characters with their well defined personalities, emotions and relationships throughout the series. What do all these problems stem from the Great War or a more sinister cause? Could it be an old enemy and will the secret service help her? This book will keep you on the edge and wanting more. This book can be read alone or enjoy it even more by reading the entire series.Well done!
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. I appreciate the opportunity and thank the author and publisher for allowing me to read, enjoy and review this book. 5 Stars ( )

OMGoodness! This series just keeps getting better and better. This author’s prose takes you from your comfortable chair and plops you down in post-WWI England with her gripping descriptions. It is November of 1919 and the country is still trying to recover – to come to terms with the debilitating, gut-wrenching grief from which they all still suffer. Everyone copes with that grief in different ways, but one way that seems the most common is to carry an all-consuming hatred of anything and anyone German.

With the Christmas holidays nearing, Verity and Sidney are planning a trip to Verity’s home near Yorkshire. Verity hasn’t visited there in five years – at first, it was the war and her responsibilities that kept her away – then, after her brother Rob was killed-in-action, she couldn’t face all of the memories of him. Now, it is time to face the grief she has buried deep, deep inside herself and she’s not looking forward to it. She can handle it for a couple of weeks though – surely.

One of Verity’s missions for the Home Office comes back to haunt her when her great aunt, Tante Ilse, gets permission to come to England from Germany. Verity dearly loves Tante Ilse and was loath to involve her in a mission during the war, but had little choice in the matter. Verity needed to get a collaborator back inside Germany, so they used Tante Ilse’s home as a safehouse during the journey. With the anti-German sentiment so strong in England, Verity and Sidney decide Tante Ilse and her maid would be much safer in the rural Yorkshire Downs, so they decide to travel to Verity’s home earlier than planned.

Verity has been noticing that something just isn’t right. Tante Ilse isn’t telling her everything and she’s noticed the maid being accosted. She’s also caught several glimpses of a man she is sure she recognizes, but cannot put a name to. Is Ardmore, the overarching enemy of the series up to something again? Or, is this much closer to home?

Even in rural Yorkshire anti-German sentiments are very strong and local authorities don’t take it particularly seriously when Tante Ilse’s young, beautiful, German maid is found dead in a remote barn. Sidney and Verity know they will have to solve the murder themselves if they want to see justice done for the young woman. There are suspects aplenty, it is just a matter of weeding through them.

Verity has so much to handle – a murder, deep grief, and a family festering with what they view as her abandonment of them. Can her emotions survive it all? She and Sidney can handle the murder investigation together – no problem. Her family and grief are something she has to manage on her own – with Sidney’s support – but she is still the one who has to deal with it. Because of the Secrets Act, she absolutely cannot tell her family what she did during the war. Yet, without telling them the truth, they’ll continue to believe she abandoned them to drink and party in London while they were grieving at home. Besides the grief, her two remaining brothers both have issues from serving during the war – the things they saw – the things they did… Like most of the other returning veterans, they brought those experiences home with them and those experiences taint everything they do in life.

I absolutely loved the way this author made me feel the emotions of the characters. My heart ached for Verity and her inability to let her brother Rob go. The descriptions of the deprivations, the tensions, the terror – both in Germany and England – made you feel all of it yourself.

I hope you will read and love this outstanding historical mystery as much as I did. You cannot get better writing, better storytelling, better emotion, better more compelling characters anywhere. It is a wonderful series and I highly recommend all of the books.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ( )

An unexpected visit!

1919. The world of Verity Kent and her husband Sidney moves in ever widening circles of mystery, treachery, and suspicion as they deal with the many challenges that come their way. The repairing of their marriage, dealing with the PTSD they both experience, for Verity her grief over her dead brother and the stressed relationship with her family, including Mommy Dearest. Then there’s the shadowy figure of the infamous Lord Ardmore and their next steps in proving his treason, if he doesn’t get them first.
Verity’s German great aunt, Grosse Tante Ilse, who’d helped Verity during her covert activities behind enemy lines, slips into England along with her maid seeking refuge. Trouble arose for Ilse after Verity had left. England seems the safest place. But is it, given the population’s attitude towards Germans? The people of Verity’s home village are no exception.
Verity and Sidney take her aunt to the family home in the Yorkshire Downs. Verity’s first visit since her brother Rob died. She faces the wrath of varying members of her family who of course have no inkling of what she’s been through, and under the Secrets Act never will. Although her brothers have started to put two and two together. When Death comes calling, Verity and Sidney must consider all possibilities. None of them comforting.
Sidney becomes a more solid person here. I have come to appreciate him. I really was not that enamoured of him, even though he was working for King and Country.
Many aspects of post war sensibilities, the emotional and physical burden of those who fought and those left behind, of families healing—or not; of attudes, of a nation trying to move forward, are either directly confronted or hinted at.
I really enjoyed this chapter of Verity’s story. So many memories—both painful and good! Memories she has to face—and at last, not alone.

A Kensington Books ARC via NetGalley ( )

1919 Verify and her husband Sidney have with her newly arrived German Great Aunt travelled to Yorkshire to visit her family, the Townsends, for the first time in five years. While there the aunt and her maid experience the hostilities of the locals.
A well-written story but with a very slow build to reach the murder. For me there was not enough of a mystery, but too much of the relationship between the family, and the impact of the war. Also there is a fair amount of the story referencing past events, so for me not a standalone story.
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )