As Kate Hamilton plans her upcoming wedding to Detective Inspector Tom Mallory, she is also assisting her colleague Ivor Tweedy with a project at the Netherfield Sanatorium, which is being converted into luxury townhouses. Kate and Ivor must appraise a fifteenth-century painting and verify that its provenance is the Dutch master Jan Van Eyck. But when retired criminal inspector Will Parker is found dead, Kate learns that the halls of the sanatorium housed much more than priceless art.
Kate is surprised to learn that Will had been the first boyfriend of her friend Vivian Bunn, who hasn’t seen him in fifty-eight years. At a seaside holiday camp over sixty years ago, Will, Vivian, and three other teens broke into an abandoned house where a doctor and his wife had died under bizarre circumstances two years earlier. Now, when a second member of the childhood gang dies unexpectedly—and then a third—it becomes clear that the teens had discovered more in the house than they had realized.
Had Will returned to warn his old love? When Kate makes a shocking connection between a sixty-year-old murder and the long-buried secrets of the sanatorium, she suddenly understands that time is running out for Vivian—and anyone connected to her.
Praise for The Shadow of Memory:
“Intriguing . . . New and faithful fans alike will appreciate the tying together of present and past, as well as the poignancy in the long effects of unfortunate choices.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A seamlessly plotted mystery for fans of English puzzles.”
—Library Journal, starred review
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 antiques 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. You can learn more about Connie and her books at her website www.connieberry.com.
My Thoughts
The Shadow of Memory by Connie Berry is the fourth installment in the Kate Hamilton mysteries and my first read by this author. Kate is an American expert on antiquities and is currently employed by Ivor Tweedy, the owner of The Cabinet of Curiosities based in Long Barston, Suffolk, England.
Kate is engaged now to Tom Mallory, a police officer with the Suffolk, England police force. Because he lives in England and Kate has a home and business in America, they need to decide where they will live.
Kate and two other women were walking home after a 'hen' party and she virtually stumbles over a dead body in the cemetery. Come to find out that the dead man was a retired police officer. There is a note next to the body with her friend, Vivian Bunn's name on it. Why would the man have her friend's name? It turns out that the dead man, Will Parker, had been Vivian's first love when she was seventeen.
Doctor Beaufoy and his wife, had been murdered at the Monkey Puzzle House. Vivian, Will, and three other teenagers decided to conduct their own investigation as to what actually happened in that house on that fateful day. Sixty years later, all of the people died mysteriously except for Vivian. Is she in danger also?
The investigation takes Kate and Ivor to the Netherfield Sanitarium which is being converted into townhouse and flats. They are hired by the board members of Netherfield to authenticate the fifteenth-century painting and verify that its provenance is the Dutch master Jan Van Eyck. The painting and the murders become intertwined with a past mystery that can threaten, Kate, and Vivian. As the investigation goes deeper into the past, will Kate and Tom discover the truth from all those years ago?
I could tell that there was a lot of research that went into the telling of this story, plus the continuing love affair between Kate and Tom brought the whole story into perspective. We have the murders, who was killing off the 'original' teenage investigators? The painting and the board members also lend a different twist. Who can be trusted? Who is the killer/s and why? A wide range of characters also populate the pages making this book a real who dunnit.
I don't often read a cozy-type mystery but I did enjoy this one. I give it 4 stars!
I received a copy of the book for review purposes only.
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