My coziest read for March Mystery Madness was this book. Honestly, though, it’s a historical mystery as the murder at the center of the story took place over 100 years ago. While I was reading, I kept thinking that the mystery wasn’t super tight and it spent too long talking about home repairs, but that made sense once I found out that this novel was published from its first draft after the author unfortunately passed away. As someone who used to work at a Victorian historical house museum, I can say Sheila Connolly totally nailed the historical  aspects of architecture and daily life in the house, and her deep level of research shone throughout the story. I loved how the servants played such a big role in the story, as they are often overlooked when we think about life in a Victorian mansion. Overall, I thought the small town Maryland setting was lovely and the overarching plan of the protagonist to revitalize the town was a great hook for a story. This book kept my attention the whole time and had a really interesting and fresh take on a cozy mystery. I am so sad that Sheila Connolly never got to write more books in this series, but I commend her daughter for seeing that this one was published. What a wonderful way to honor her mother’s memory. I will definitely be checking out the author’s backlist.