Review by Booklist Review
Investigator Kate Shackleton, widowed in the Great War, is intrigued when she receives a letter from Ronnie Creswell asking to meet. She travels to his mill-town home in Yorkshire, but when she arrives, she finds that Ronnie is dead, apparently having drowned. She and her team, former police officer Jim Sykes and her housekeeper, Mrs. Sugden, are soon hired by the mill owner to investigate a case of industrial espionage and to ready a supposedly cursed mansion for sale. While there, Kate also looks into Ronnie's murder, hoping to clear someone she believes is wrongly accused. Then a second murder occurs, and Ronnie's young sister disappears. Framed by a carefully described English mill-town setting, this historical mystery, the latest in Brody's Kate Shackleton series (following Murder on a Summer's Day, 2017), combines an easy-to-like cast with a thoroughly entertaining, twist-filled plot and vivid details of the wool industry of the 1930s.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In Brody's deft 13th mystery featuring private inquiry agent Kate Shackleton (after 2020's Murder Is in the Air), Ronnie Creswell--a maintenance worker at Yorkshire's Salts Mill--urges Kate in a July 1930 letter to travel to the village of Saltaire so he can tell her a story about the past. But Ronnie dies in the mill's reservoir before her arrival, and Kate discovers that the mill's board chair Arnold Whitaker fears that it may not have been an accident, as Ronnie, who wished to marry Whitaker's daughter, appears to have been looking into skullduggery threatening Whitaker's livelihood. With the help of her associate, Jim Sykes, and housekeeper, Mrs. Sugden, Kate learns about potential industrial espionage, the disappearance of valuable silver and of a servant from the reputedly cursed Whitaker mansion, as well as the presence of some mysterious strangers at the mill. The melding of past and present, multifaceted characters, and a winning investigative team combine into a gripping and moving case. Longtime fans and new readers alike will find much to enjoy. Agent: Rebecca Winfield, David Luxton Assoc. (Mar.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A mysterious letter plunges a London detective into a world of myths and murder. After the death of her husband in World War I, Kate Shackleton started a detective agency with the help of former police officer assistant Jim Sykes and her multitalented housekeeper, Mrs. Sugden. In July 1930, she gets a letter from someone named Ronald Creswell, an up-and-comer at Salts Mill in Yorkshire whose parents work as caretakers at Milner Field, a mansion with a checkered past. He asks Kate to journey to the South Lodge at Milner Field, where his family lives, so he can tell her a story that he thinks will be of interest. Curious, she agrees after doing some research on the town of Saltaire, the mill, and the mansion. Unfortunately, just after she arrives at the Lodge, Ronnie's friend David Fairburn shows up with the news that he's found Ronnie's body floating in the mill's reservoir. There had been some conflict: Ronnie and Pamela Whitaker, a mill owner's daughter, had been planning to marry despite opposition from both families. Pamela's mother is determined that she marry wealthy Kevin Foxcroft, whose family business meshes with their own, though her father had developed a secret fondness for Ronnie. Pamela, who blames her parents' opposition for Ronnie's death, has moved to her grandmother's home, but she trusts Kate to find the truth. Mr. Whitaker hires Kate to look into the death, clear Fairburn, get the mansion ready for an auction, and look into industrial espionage at the mill. Accordingly, Mrs. Sugden organizes a cleaning team for the neglected mansion; Sykes looks into possible espionage; and Kate hunts Ronnie's killer. The ill-fated mansion was built over an Elizabethan manor house with a well reputed to hold the bones of a murdered woman. Past and the present both come under investigation before the truth emerges. A tale based on historical facts that's perfect for lovers of classic British mysteries. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
