Score: 4/5 Bookmarks

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books for gifting me a review copy of The Body in the Garden by Katharine Shellman. This is the first in the Lily Adler Mystery series and I can tell you know that I will definitely be reading the rest of them!

The Body in the Garden is a cozy mystery set in London in 1815. Our leading lady, Lily Adler has just returned to town after the death of her husband. She has some freedoms that a married woman or a younger unmarried woman wouldn’t be afforded at that time and she’s in need of some distraction as she tries to find a new life for herself.

After being dragged along to a ball, at a friend’s house, she overhears an argument in the garden followed by a gunshot. She investigates and finds a body. Being a smart and attentive woman, she takes in and assesses several clues from the scene, and after the police are essentially bought off and told to drop the case she decides to investigate further.

She’s helped by a surly Navy Captain (a friend of her late husband) and a young heiress she meets, who is in town from the West Indies. Together they piece together clues and information and put themselves in all manner of dangerous situations in an effort to find the truth.

I really loved all of the characters as well as the setting. However, the author touched on some themes of sexism and racism in the book that I thought could have been expanded upon, to add further insight into and depth to both the story and the characters.

Overall I thought the pacing was great and I was thoroughly hooked from the start. I can’t wait to see what comes next in this series! Grab yourself a copy using the button below.

Synopsis:

Perfect for fans of Tasha Alexander and Rhys Bowen, Katharine Schellman's debut novel is sure to delight.

London 1815. Though newly-widowed Lily Adler is returning to a society that frowns on independent women, she is determined to create a meaningful life for herself even without a husband. She's no stranger to the glittering world of London's upper crust. At a ball thrown by her oldest friend, Lady Walter, she expects the scandal, gossip, and secrets. What she doesn't expect is the dead body in Lady Walter's garden.

Lily overheard the man just minutes before he was shot: young, desperate, and attempting blackmail. But she's willing to leave the matter to the local constables--until Lord Walter bribes the investigating magistrate to drop the case. Stunned and confused, Lily realizes she's the only one with the key to catching the killer.

Aided by a roguish navy captain and a mysterious heiress from the West Indies, Lily sets out to discover whether her friend's husband is mixed up in blackmail and murder. The unlikely team tries to conceal their investigation behind the whirl of London's social season, but the dead man knew secrets about people with power. Secrets that they would kill to keep hidden. Now, Lily will have to uncover the truth, before she becomes the murderer's next target.