Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for MADNESS ON THE ISLAND (DI Liam O’Reilly Mysteries Book #14) by Stewart Giles on this Books ‘n’ All Promotions Blog Tour.
Below you will find a book blurb, my book review, the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Blurb
Midsummer madness has hit the island of Guernsey with a vengeance.
The residents of the peaceful island are behaving irrationally.
It starts with an exclusive dinner party where two lifelong friends are hospitalised following a brutal fight, but things soon spiral out of control.
The first body is found, and Detective Inspector Liam O’Reilly is sent out to investigate.
A man has been maimed beyond recognition. The injuries he has sustained suggest that there is a maniac on the loose.
The killer is soon apprehended, and O’Reilly thinks that will be the end of it.
But when another mutilated corpse is found soon afterwards, O’Reilly realises he’s dealing with something very different to anything he’s come across before.
The killer of the first victim will be the one to shed light on the sudden madness that is spreading around the island, and O’Reilly will find himself in the middle of the most disturbing case of his career.
MADNESS ON THE ISLAND (DI Liam O’Reilly Mysteries Book #14) by Stewart Giles is another intense, intricately plotted addition to this fantastic series. This can be read as a standalone for the crime mystery plot, but the characters evolve over each new book, and I have enjoyed reading them all in order.
The madness begins at an annual summer dinner party on the island of Guernsey. After the wine is served, the fights begin. Several people were injured and some severely and need hospitalization. Before DI Liam O’Reilly can even begin to sort out what occurred and who is responsible, he is called out over the next two days on four murders that leave the killers claiming a complete loss of memory like the people from the dinner party. The only connection seems to be the brand of wine involved in all the scenes to cause this madness.
Another great addition to the DI Liam O’Reilly Mysteries series. I was once again surprised by all the twists and turns this book took. The crime plot kept me turning the pages from beginning to end and I did not figure out the solution until it was presented. Liam is on top of all the nuances of the clues and interrogations as usual. We also get to see his softer side when one of his cats is ill and he spends more time with his new wife. I enjoyed watching the interactions between Liam and his teammates, also. This is always a must-read series for me, and I always finish it in one day and must wait anxiously for the next.
I highly recommend this great addition to the series!
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Author Bio
After reading English at 3 Universities and graduating from none of them, I set off travelling around the world with my wife, Ann, finally settling in South Africa, where we still live.
In 2014 Ann dropped a rather large speaker on my head and I came up with the idea for a detective series. DS Jason Smith was born. Smith, the first in the series was finished a few months later.
3 years and 8 DS Smith books later, Joffe Books wondered if I would be interested in working with them. As a self-published author, I agreed. However, we decided on a new series – the DC Harriet Taylor: Cornwall series.
The Beekeeper was published and soon hit the number one spot in Australia. The second in the series, The Perfect Murder did just as well.
I continued to self-publish the Smith series and Unworthy hit the shelves in 2018 with amazing results. I therefore made the decision to self-publish The Backpacker which is book 3 in the Detective Harriet Taylor series which was published in July 2018.
After The Backpacker I had an idea for a totally new start to a series – a collaboration between the Smith and Harriet thrillers and The Enigma was born. It brought together the broody, enigmatic Jason Smith and the more level-headed Harriet Taylor.
The Miranda trilogy is something totally different. A psychological thriller trilogy. It is a real departure from anything else I’ve written before.
The Detective Jason Smith series continues to grow. I also have another series featuring an Irish detective who relocated to Guernsey, the Detective Liam O’Reilly series. There are also 3 stand alone novels.
Former US Army detective Kate Holland spent years hiding from the world—and herself.
Now a small-town cop, the past catches up with Kate when the body of a fellow Army veteran is left along a backcountry road…in meticulously severed pieces.
Four years earlier, Kate spent eleven hours as a prisoner of war in Afghanistan. According to her Silver Star write-up, she singlehandedly took down eleven terrorists to avoid staying longer.
But Kate has no memory of the deaths, or the events that led up to them. And now, bizarre clues are cropping up in and around that crime scene—and others. Clues that appear to connect to that fateful day. Is the killer trying to tell her something?
Or is Kate finally losing her grip on reality?
As the body count rises, Kate must confront the reason she bolted from the Army—before she becomes the killer’s next victim.
THE GARBAGE MAN (A Hidden Valor Military Veteran/K-9 Mystery Book #1) by Candace Irving is an intense, gritty, emotional roller coaster mash-up of mystery, suspense, and thriller genres featuring a female small-town deputy on the hunt for a serial killer. I could not put this book down, but be warned, this is a book featuring a serial killer and it contains graphic violence.
Former US Army CID investigator Kate Holland saw several tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan seeing some of the worse violence man does to man. On her last trip outside of the wire, her group was captured and Kate spent eleven hours at the hands of terrorists. She escaped but has been suppressing the memory of what happened.
Now a small-town deputy in her hometown, Kate and her German Shepard, Ruger are trying to just get through each day until she is called to the horrific crime scene left by the road. The clues have ties to fellow vets and begin to make Kate believe this is tied to her captivity overseas, but is it true or is she losing her grip on reality?
With each new victim, Kate is forced to face her suppressed past and worry that she may be the next veteran to die.
This is one of those books that pulls you in and keeps you turning the pages. The plot comes at you from many different directions, but all the threads come together to a brilliant climax with PTSD, trauma, and revenge all interwoven throughout. Kate is a complex protagonist. She is strong on many levels, but also vulnerable. She is put through difficult situations, personally and professionally, throughout this story. Ruger is a wonderful sidekick, protector, and emotional support for Kate. This book has everything I look for in a gritty, intricately plotted genre mash-up with a memorable protagonist, and I am looking forward to the next book in the series.
I highly recommend this mystery/suspense/thriller mash-up!
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About the Author
A former US Navy Lt., Candace Irving is the daughter of a librarian and a retired boatswain’s mate chief. Candace grew up in the Philippines, Germany, and all over the United States. Her senior year of high school, she enlisted in the US Army. Following basic training, she transferred to the Navy’s ROTC program at the University of Texas-Austin. While at UT, she spent a summer in Washington, DC, as a Congressional Intern. She also worked security for the UT Police. BA in Political Science in hand, Candace was commissioned as an ensign in the US Navy and sent to Surface Warfare Officer’s School to learn to drive warships. From there, she followed her father to sea.
Candace Irving writes gritty military thrillers. She is the author of the Deception Point Military Detective Thriller Series and the Hidden Valor Military Veterans/K9 Psychological Suspense Series. She also writes military romance and romantic suspense as Candace Irvin (without the “g”).
In the midst of World War II, a Tennessee farm boy, a Jewish Cambridge student, and a German POW forge a connection that endures—against all odds.
But now everything that Will Dobbins, Dov Silverberg, and Hans Hessler fought for is at risk as their descendants clash for control of the corporation they founded together. In an attempt to remake its tattered corporate image, the firm hires event planner Hadley Jacks and her sister Kitzie to organize a reunion for the families on St. Simons Island, Georgia, the place that changed all three men’s lives forever.
As Hadley and her sister delve into the friends’ past, they uncover the life of the courageous young woman who links them all together…and the old wounds that could tear everything apart.
Told in dual timelines spanning World War II and the present, Echoes of Us follows the ripple effects of war, the bonds that outlast it, and the hope that ultimately carries us forward.
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Elise’s Thoughts
Joannie’s disappearance and a mysterious older woman who lives on the Island during the present day makes the story suspenseful.
It seems there is an unlikely friendship between an English Jewish instructor, Dov, a Tennessee farm boy, Will, and a German submarine POW, Hans, who deserted.
In the present day, 80 years later, everything that Will Dobbins, Dov Silverberg, and Hans Hessler fought for is at risk as their descendants’ clash for control of the corporation they founded together. To remake its tattered corporate image, the firm hires event planner Hadley Jacks and her sister Kitzie to organize a reunion for the families on St. Simons Island, Georgia, the place that changed all three men’s lives forever. As Hadley and her sister delve into the friends’ past, they uncover the life of the courageous young woman, Joanie, who links them all together.
It is the story of love, courage, friendship, and resilience set on St. Simon’s Island within the backdrop of WWII. The mystery is center stage and very compelling. The plot twists and turns in unexpected ways, leading to an ending that is as surprising as it is satisfying.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Idea for the setting?
Joy Jordan-Lake: My family has been connected to where the story takes place, St. Simon’s Island off the coast of Georgia, which was my dad’s favorite place in the world. I knew a lot of the history of the Island, but nothing about the WWII history until after they built the Homefront WWII Museum. It is incredibly well researched and allows viewers to see what it was like to be on an aircraft carrier, working on the radar station, a fighter pilot, or someone at home.
EC: How did you realize that there were German submarines on America’s East Coast?
JJL: When I first walked into the museum, I saw the story of someone killed on the East Coast by a German submarine. In 1942 a German sub was lurking off the coast of St. Simon’s Island and ended up sinking a couple of ships and killing a bunch of people. This is where the novel starts. Some of the characters are based on actual people. All the fictional characters are based on actual people and actual events.
EC: How would you describe Joanie?
JJL: Quick-witted, fiery, courageous, and has guilt at times. She became a WASP, Women Air Force Service Pilot. Joanie has the name of one of my cousins that grew up on the Island.
EC: What did the WASPs do during the war?
JJL: They flied planes for their country. Joanie is based on a compilation of the WASP women. They are brave women. They ferried planes here in the US. They flew every single type of plane used during WWII. They had to fly with unbelievable conditions: very little rest, really hard conditions, and unable to cleanse themselves. It was anything but glamorous. In the early days they came from money and learned to fly, while others were taught by their father, or a brother. They had a love of flying. Some were fashion models, farm girls, schoolteachers, and so on.
EC: How did Joanie’s relationship with her twin brother, Sam, affect her?
JJL: He is someone Joanie can connect with and share her feelings about the mental and emotional loss of her father just as my father who died of Alzheimer’s.
EC: How would you describe Dov?
JJL: He is the Jewish character. He has integrity, regrets not being in combat, and is very tender. He is a compilation of characters. He is partly based on a real person who taught at the radar training school on the Island. I interviewed someone who helps to run the museum. She commented that there was an instructor at the radar training school who was upset that he was here teaching while those he taught would be under terrible dangers and stress. They had to decide if the plane approaching was a friendly or enemy that needs to be shot down. In the actual person’s letters, he was contemplating going back into the fighting arena. Dov represents this ethical struggle. The allies decided to have their very best pilots become instructors. He was made British because there was a Brit who was sent to the Island by the English to train Americans.
EC: How would you describe the German POW, Hans?
JJL: He was drafted into the Nazi Navy. He chose to desert. I wanted to show how Dov and Hans were suspicious of each other, wary of each other, and even had hatred. He is partly based on the Captain of a German U-Boat that was on the coast of the Island who did not desert. I did the research on what would happen if someone deserted from the German military.
EC: How would you describe William, the Merchant Marine?
JJL: I grew up in the mountains of East Tennessee so I made him a Tennessee farm boy. He quotes Shakespeare and has an artistic soul. He is brilliant. He becomes a friend with Joanie and Dov.
EC: Next book?
JJL: It is set in the North of Italy. It has some flashbacks to 1969 but is set mostly during present day. The plot has the Mafia involved in a theft. The working title is Outrageous Fortune.
THANK YOU!!
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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
THE LADY FROM BURMA (Sparks & Bainbridge Mysteries Book #5) by Allison Montclair is another emotional and intricately plotted historical mystery in the Sparks & Bainbridge mysteries series set in post WWII London. I love reading this series and feel they are best read in order due to the continuing growth and evolution of the main characters.
Miss Iris Sparks and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge are partners in The Right Sort Marriage Bureau in post WWII London. Most of the lady’s clients are singles looking for a partner in this new post-war age, but the lady who seeks their services now is a happily married woman who has come to find a new wife for her husband. Mrs. Remagen is dying of cancer and wishes to find her entomologist husband someone to love and take care of him when she is gone, but Gwen, with her almost magical ability to tell when someone is lying to her, realizes there is more to her plan. When she is found dead, it appears to be suicide, but the ladies find it difficult to believe.
At the same time, Gwen is once again trying to gain legal control of her life. Her conservator who should be protecting her assets and managing her business interests is against her regaining her freedom and Gwen confronts him. When he is found dead, Gwen becomes the primes suspect.
Now with two deaths threatening The Right Sort Marriage Bureau and its founders, Iris and Gwen with help a young police officer and a variety of their friends are once again on the case.
I really enjoy reading this series. Iris and Gwen are great protagonists that always surprise you. Their differences work so well together, and their ever-growing friendship adds to their strength. I have always been emotional over with Gwen’s personal backstory and this book especially highlighted the injustice of the times. This story has a lot of set up for the two intertwining mystery plots throughout until they come together at the end which for me did slow the beginning of the book a bit. As more clues are revealed, then the pace begins to pick up and all the threads come together to the surprising climax. I stuck with it, and it became an intense page turner after the set up.
I highly recommend this addition to the series and am anxiously waiting for the next!
About the Author
ALLISON MONTCLAIR grew up devouring hand-me-down Agatha Christie paperbacks and James Bond movies. As a result of this deplorable upbringing, Montclair became addicted to tales of crime, intrigue, and espionage. She now spends her spare time poking through the corners, nooks, and crannies of history, searching for the odd mysterious bits and transforming them into novels of her own. The Right Sort of Man is her debut novel.
London based lawyer Kyra Gibson returns to Martha’s Vineyard and the beach house she inherited for an extended summer holiday. Still reeling from her father’s brutal murder and the role she and the handsome detective, Tarek Collins played in uncovering it, Kyra is hopeful for some peace and quiet. But when a summer squall reveals the wreckage of the pirate ship, Keres, rich with rumored treasure, all hopes of peace are dashed. Conservationists and treasure hunters descend on the exclusive island to lay claim to the ship. When two of the salvagers are killed, Kyra and Tarek’s friend, pub owner and amateur historian, Gully Gould is arrested for murder.
Determined to prove Gully’s innocence, Kyra, Tarek, and reformed playboy Chase Hawthorn team up to clear their friend’s name. But someone wants the treasure for themselves. And with someone willing to kill for it, there is more than just danger lurking along the island’s caves and coves. There is death.
THE WRAITH’S RETURN (Martha’s Vineyard Murders Book #2) by Raemi A. Ray is the second book in the Martha’s Vineyard Murders series with Kyra returning to Martha’s Vineyard for an extended summer holiday and finds herself and her island friends helping one of their own accused of murder. This story can be read as a standalone, but I feel the books are best read in order as the main characters continually evolved in their relationships from book one.
This book has murder, conservationists vs. fisherman, islanders vs. vacationers, and a historical pirate story, and treasure hunters all combined in this mystery read. I am not sure if it is because there is so much going on, which should have made for many red herrings, but when I reached the end, I felt the killer was just there with no build up of tension or foreboding until very close to the end. All the information and side characters were interesting, but at times slowed the plot pace. I love Kyra, Tarek, and Chase and find them all to be interesting characters. I look forward to following them in future books, but I have to say that I liked the mystery plot in book one, A Chain of Pearls, better. The characters pulled me through this story more than the mystery plot.
Overall, a little bit of a let down after such a great debut.
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Author Bio
Raemi A. Ray’s travels to Martha’s Vineyard and around the world inspire her stories. She lives outside Boston. When not writing or traveling she earns her keep as the personal assistant to the resident house demons, Otto and Dolph Lundgren.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for A SCANDAL IN MAYFAIR (A Lily Adler Mystery Book #5) by Katharine Schellman on this Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links, and a Kingsumo giveaway. Enjoy!
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Book Description
Sometimes danger lurks in plain sight, and in the cutthroat London Season socialite Lily Adler must race against time to catch a killer.
London, 1817. The London Season is beginning once more, and Lily Adler’s return to her home on Half Moon Street feels different this year. No longer a recent widow, she has a life and friends waiting for her. Lily also has new responsibilities in the form of her protégée Amelia, the sister of her longtime friend Jack Hartley, who is escaping her own brush with scandal and murder.
It doesn’t take long for Lily’s growing reputation as a lady of quality who can discreetly find what is missing or solve what is puzzling to bring a desperate young woman to her doorstep. But helping her means unraveling a tangled web of family secrets. Soon, a missing will, a dead body and the threat of blackmail leave Lily facing danger every way she turns.
The glittering society of Mayfair conceals many secrets, and the back alleys of London hide even more. Lily Adler will need to find the connection between them quickly if she wants to stop a killer before it’s too late.
Genre: Historical Cozy Mystery Published by: Crooked Lane Books Publication Date: August 20, 2024 Number of Pages: 320 ISBN: 9781639108411 (ISBN10: 1639108416) Series: A Lily Adler Mystery, Book #5 | Each is a Stand Alone
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
A SCANDAL IN MAYFAIR (A Lily Adler Mystery Book #3) by Katharine Schellman is another intricately plotted and engaging amateur sleuth historical mystery featuring Lily Adler, a lady of quality who discretely solves mysteries with the help of a few friends among polite society. These books can be read as mystery standalones, but Lily and her friend’s personal and social lives continually evolve in each story.
The 1817 London Season is about to begin, and Lily Adler has returned to her home on Half Moon Street. This year Lily is returning to London with an established life and friends waiting besides the added responsibilities of mentoring Amelia, the sister of her longtime friend, Jack Hartley.
Lily receives a letter asking for her services from a young lady seeking help discovering the truth of her deceased father’s will. When Lily meets with the lady, she is shocked when the lady and her fiancé wish her to steal the will from her uncle. With the threat of blackmail, Lily, with the help of her friends, seeks out the will, only to discover a dead body. With a tangled web of lies and dead bodies, Lily faces danger once again as she seeks the truth.
I love Lily and this entire series! She is an intelligent, strong and independent protagonist. She is a widow conforming to society’s norms while also carrying on in her pursuit of delicate inquiries. Her personal life is certainly more exciting now with the return of Jack and the clearing of misunderstandings and emotional fears. All the secondary characters are as entertaining, intriguing, and fully developed as Lily. The mystery plot in this book starts out a little slow, but there is a lot to set up for all the different threads to be able to come together in the end. I always enjoy these Lily Adler books and look forward to the next.
I highly recommend this amateur sleuth historical mystery as well as the entire series!
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Excerpt
“You are Mrs. Adler? You do not look anything like I expected,” the young woman said bluntly. “I thought that someone who offers such investigations would be . . . more dramatic, I suppose. But you are very nearly plain. Well, not plain,” she added apologetically, looking Lily over once more. “Your gown is beautifully made, I must say, and you are very elegant—a tall figure helps with that, I suppose.” She sighed, glancing down at her own figure, which was of average height and rather waiflike. “But I thought you
would be more glamorous. Is it not a glamorous occupation that you have?”
“Hardly an occupation,” Lily said firmly. Miss Forrest was not wrong; with unremarkable coloring and looks only just on the pretty side of average, elegant was the best descriptor Lily could hope for from an impartial observer. But it still rankled to be sized up so bluntly. “And not a genteel one, if it were. Besides, I think what you have heard of are discreet inquiries for those who need them. A dramatic or imposing appearance would hardly serve that purpose.”
“Oh, indeed. That does make sense.” The girl’s eyes were wide as she nodded along. “That is what Mrs. Mannering said—that you were the soul of discretion. I am so hoping it is true, believe me. My predicament is dreadful, and it would become even worse were it to be
widely known and discussed.”
“That is often the case, especially in town,” Lily said, but her eyes narrowed as she spoke. The Mannerings’ daughter had disappeared one night, leaving no trace of where she might have gone, and they had been beside themselves when Lily arrived for tea with a mutual
friend. She knew Mrs. Mannering to be a loose-tongued woman, so rather than offering to help directly, she had presented them with one of her cards and suggested that her “acquaintance” might track down their daughter.
The daughter had been located—she had become so fed up with her parents’ matrimonial ambitions that she had run away to the home of her aunt—and the Mannerings had never known that it was Lily herself who had found her.
“So it was Mrs. Mannering who suggested you contact the lady of quality?” On the one hand, Mrs. Mannering loved to gossip. On the other hand, sharing such a story about her own daughter would hardly reflect well on her, even if that daughter was now well married. And Lily had no interest in assisting someone who began with lying to her.
“Yes,” the young woman said, nodding.
Lily waited silently, her brows rising just a hair.
“No . . .” Miss Forrest stretched the word out hesitantly, biting her lip as she looked away. “That is to say, not exactly. Mrs. Mannering mentioned that someone had assisted them with a sort of inquiry—she made it sound dreadfully dramatic, which is why I thought—well, and she showed my cousin, who is my companion, and me the lady of quality’s card over tea. And I was already so worried, and in need of help, that I—I took it.” The final words came out in a rush, and the girl looked suddenly both deflated and relieved. “I stole it, I suppose. And then I wrote because I so desperately needed someone to help me. Can you?” She raised her eyes hopefully to Lily’s.
“Perhaps,” Lily said. “Though beginning with a falsehood does not bode well.” Miss Forrest’s face fell, and she looked like nothing so much as a scolded puppy. Lily sighed. “Tell me what it is you need assistance with.” She glanced at Clive and added coldly, “And how you come into it, sir. Then I shall make up my mind.”
Miss Sarah Forrest sat up very straight. “I need your assistance to escape my uncle. I fear he has stolen all the money my father intended for me to inherit.” Her mouth and hands both trembled, and she clasped her fingers together tightly to keep them still. “He says it is for my own good that he controls my inheritance. But I do not believe my father would do such a thing. And now, because he has kept my independence from me, my uncle is preventing me from marrying in order to keep me dependent on him, perhaps forever.”
Lily sat back against the bench. She glanced at Clive. “And that is where you come into it, I suppose?”
He, still standing, bowed. “I have asked Miss Forrest to marry me, yes. We met during the winter and were instantly in sympathy with each other.”
“Mr. Clive’s family is from Suffolk, and his property is there too, of course.” Miss Forrest said, holding out her hand to her suitor. “But he felt so dreadfully isolated that he came to London last winter.”
“I had not recalled that your family was from Suffolk,” Lily said, her eyes fixed on Clive. Her hands were clenched into fists by her sides; she took a deep breath, trying to relax them. “How forgetful of me.”
“No matter,” Miss Forrest went on, not noticing Lily’s tone. Clive’s sideways glance, however, said he had not missed it. “Such a handsome, charming young man is much better suited to life in town, do you not think?”
“My dear Sarah is too kind to me,” Clive said gallantly, taking the hand she held out to him, giving her a warm smile as he pressed it between his. “And I am fortunate indeed that she is. She is the love of my life.”
“So Miss Forrest said in her letter,” Lily said a little more cynically than she intended. But it was impossible to keep a completely straight face as she watched their romantic interlude, or as she remembered the melodramatic turns of phrase the young woman had employed.
“Yes.” Miss Forrest smiled at her sweetheart, showing no hesitation or embarrassment over her elevated prose. “He is a most dashing, wonderful young man. Though I hardly need tell you that,” she added earnestly, turning back to Lily, “as you are already acquainted.”
They were acquainted. And when Lily had met him in her aunt’s small Hampshire village, he was a cardsharp and a bookmaker, accepted into more elevated circles than the ones into which he had been born because nearly every young man with pretensions to dissipation owed him money. No one had trusted him, but no one could risk offending him either. He knew it, and he despised those around him even as he needed them in turn.
Once or twice, Lily had thought she saw a hint of the more admirable man he might have become had he chosen a different path. But if there was, he had not bothered to cultivate it. And he had made no secret of his plan, during that brief week of their acquaintance, to use his ill-gotten income to one day place himself in the role of a gentleman and improve his lot in life.
It seemed he had succeeded. Or would have, if Miss Forrest’s inheritance had not disappeared.
“But it seems this dashing, wonderful young man will not marry you without your inheritance?” Lily asked.
That prompted a scowl from Miss Forrest. “I know what you are thinking, ma’am. But you are wrong. My dear Mr. Clive has some money of his own. The problem we face is that my uncle will not give his consent.”
“How old are you, Miss Forrest?” Lily asked, glancing sideways at Clive.
“I am not yet two-and-twenty,” Miss Forrest said sitting up very straight, as though to look as mature and worldly as possible.
“Then you are legally able to marry, even without your uncle’s consent,” Lily said pragmatically. “If it is not a question of needing your inheritance, why not simply do so?”
Clive sighed. “Because—”
But Miss Forrest broke in. “Just because he is not marrying me for my money does not mean we’ve no need of something to live on,” she said, the irritation plain in her voice. She gave Lily a look up and down. “You will forgive me for saying, ma’am, but you look like you are no stranger to comfort. Is it so wrong that we might wish for the same in our own lives?”
Lily wanted to argue the point, but it was a reasonable one. Or it would have been, were it not for what she knew of the gentleman in question. “Very well,” she said, inclining her head. “I merely wish to know all the facts of the situation.”
“And if I had come to you for marriage advice, your interference might be warranted,” Miss Forrest snapped, her cheeks going splotchy with irritation. “But I did not.”
“Sarah,” Clive said before Lily could reply. When she glanced at him, his smile was firmly in place, but there was a cynical edge to it. “It is a mark of her good character that she asks such questions. Mrs. Adler does not know me as you do.”
Miss Forrest took a deep breath, reining in her emotions once more. “I suppose. But my uncle’s refusing his consent only proves my concern is warranted.” She clasped her book tightly against her midsection, as though it were a shield she could hide behind. “Even if my father did change his will, whatever inheritance my uncle is currently steward of would pass from Uncle Forrest’s control to that of my husband if I marry. What other reason could he have for refusing his consent if not to keep control of those funds?”
“Skepticism of your suitor, perhaps?” Lily murmured.
“But we have never met,” Clive put in. “He has refused to do so.”
“Which is also suspicious!” Miss Forrest declared.
Lily glanced around. Miss Forrest’s emphatic tones had drawn curious stares from the couples strolling nearby. One of the women glanced at them several times, though she had not stopped talking to the man with her. A feeling of unease settled in Lily’s stomach. She
thought she recognized the woman, though she could not put a name to the face.
She needed to leave this conversation as soon as possible.
“Well,” she said, tapping the tips of her fingers together, “you tell an interesting story.”
Miss Forrest met Lily’s eyes; her own, for the first time, were wide and sober. “I know it sounds like something out of a novel. But it is the truth. All I want is to reclaim the independence that should be mine.”
“Then you would be best served by speaking to your father’s solicitor,” Lily said briskly. “He would be able to assist you in understanding how your father left things, I’ve no doubt.”
The young lady scowled, her cheeks flushing red. “I do not know who his solicitor was. And for obvious reasons, I cannot ask my uncle for the name.”
“Then what is it you are hoping I will do?” Lily said. “I am one woman, Miss Forrest. I cannot retrieve your money for you.”
“I know that. But my uncle will have a copy of my father’s will in his house, and I think I know where it would be.” The girl leaned forward, her breath coming quickly and her hands trembling once more. “I want to hire you to steal it for me so I can prove what he has done.”
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Author Bio
Katharine Schellman is a former actor and one-time political consultant. These days, she writes the Regency-set Lily Adler Mysteries and Jazz Age Nightingale Mysteries. Her books have been praised in outlets from Library Journal to The New York Times, with reviewers calling them “worthy of Agatha Christie or Rex Stout” (Library Journal). Katharine writes in the mountains of Virginia, where she lives with her husband, children, and the many houseplants she keeps accidentally murdering.
