I mostly didn't like this book because I was in the mood for a book that instantly hooked me.

***SPOILER ALERT***I had high hopes, and the first part of the book was really good. It soon became obvious that Lincoln was alive, or the lookalike, and it's still not clear what difference it makes anyway, in the grand scheme of things.

I also suspected Rushford off and on, so that was no surprise. What was surprising were the murders of Constance and Mason, whom I really liked.

Drew, Nick, and Madeline were all clever sleuths, but the story got quite complicated at times, and it wasn't nearly as fun as I thought.

Oh well, an OK book, easy, but no great mysteries here.

My hat is off to this author for being a female and writing a series with a male as the main character. This was one of those books that I thought sounded good, but after it came, I was dubious - the cover didn't exactly grab me and make me want to read it, but I picked it up one evening and started reading it, and was glad I did.


This was different from my usual fare of suspense/mystery. It is set in the 1930's, without our modern ways of solving crime and all the electronic gadgets we have, so that made for an interesting read with that factoring in alone. This book was compared to Agatha Christie's books. I didn't read many of hers, but I did read a lot of Sherlock Holmes, and this book was a bit reminiscent of those books.


I liked the characters Deering has created, with the exception of the airheaded society girls that were in the first part of the book, but I especially liked the main character, Drew, and assume from t he series title that there will be more books with his detecting skills at the forefront of the series. I did enjoy the book immensely, and found it a very enjoyable read. I do have one complaint: the author used several words from that time which I was not familiar with, and I had to look up a few that I couldn't figure the meaning out by their use. A glossary or even footnotes would have made for an easier read. Other than that, great book, and I am looking forward to more in the series.

Great cozy! Love how the would be detectives made fun of the mystery book solve as they solved. I will
Definitely read more. And ❤️❤️❤️ the narrator.

Clever homage to the mystery greats of the 20th century (Christie, Sayers, Marsh, et al) Not perfect, but a tolerably amusing way to spend an evening.

I had really hoped that I would enjoy this mystery, but it just didn't work for me.

Meh

I admit it, I’m the type who flips to the author info before reading and this time it made me wince a bit when a big deal was made of her Faith. Please, don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against Christianity or any kind of faith for that matter. I read mysteries with monks, priests, nuns, rabbis etc. as the protagonist. I don’t, however, like getting clubbed over the head by religion and that’s usually what I get when I see side notes like that. Luckily, that isn’t the case. There are only three places that God is discussed and while it’s laid on a bit thick, it’s not bad.

I do love historical mysteries and this is set in the 30s. Drew Farthering, a young man has come back home with his friend, Nick, the son of his stepfather’s butler and who’s been raised with Drew. To his horror, his mother, Constance has put Lincoln in his room. Drew hates him. Not only is the man a cad and takes advantage of women, Lincoln is supposedly having an affair with Drew’s mother. Mason Parker, his step father assures him this isn’t the case but the rumor stands on its own.

The next day, Madeline, Mason’s niece, arrives with some friends from America and after a brief run in with Lincoln, she and Drew fall into insta-love. Sigh. Yes, I know it really can exist but it makes for dull reading when zero effort it put forth into bringing the characters together and the character development is sacrificed in favor of putting forth the romance. While Drew and Madeline are canoodling for what’s basically one of their first meetings during the fireworks at Constance’s party, Lincoln is killed. No surprise there. He’s such an ass in the first few pages you expect him to die. The second death was a surprise though.

The one thing Madeline, Drew and Nick have in common is a love of mystery books and Nick has Reverend Knox’s rules for a murder mystery memorized. (These are real and the whole book is sort of an homage to them by bending/breaking them all). With Madeline’s uncle in the picture for the murders, Drew is determined to help prove who killed Lincoln.

The story has tendrils everywhere, England where Mason and Drew’s company is, Canada (where part of their company is as well), with other members of the board etc. I did pull them all together and came up with the murderer and I did like the mystery. (I know this review has been more on the negatives). It was a fun read but I really did wish for more character development. Madeline is at least a fairly strong woman and I liked that. I would have liked more of Nick.