A SUSPENSE MAGAZINE BEST BOOK OF 2020Perfect 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 … 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.
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A perfect London crime novel and a masterful debut; fast-paced, expertly researched, and intricately plotted. I actually gasped when I got to the end!
Series: Lily Adler #1
Publication Date: 4/7/20
Number of Pages: 327
This book was an excellent debut for new author Katherine Shellman. The writing was excellent, the research impeccable, the storyline very cohesive, fast-paced, and interesting, and the mystery – well – very mysterious. You’ll think you know who the villain is – but do you? I was up well past my bedtime to finish the read because I just had to know…
Lily Adler was very much in love with her husband, Freddy, and she is still mourning him almost two years later. She’s spent her mourning time with Freddy’s family in the country since Freddy’s death, but they have encouraged her to return to London so she can begin to live her life again – read that as remarry. She’s returned, but she isn’t happy about it – but then she’ll not be happy wherever she is with Freddy. She and Freddy had such plans for their lives – for doing something that would matter to the world – and now he’s gone. She has to find a new path for herself – alone.
Navy Captain Jack Hartley is in London while his ship is in for repairs. He’s not happy about that because Napoleon is on the loose and he’d much rather be in the thick of things. However, his time in London will give him the opportunity to catch up with and offer any assistance he can to the widow of his best friend, Freddy Adler. He and Freddy had grown up together and had always remained closer than brothers. He is also filled with guilt because he was unable to be at Freddy’s funeral services because of the war.
As Lily reconnects with old friends and begins to attend the societal events, she realizes that she doesn’t enjoy those activities as much as she did before she married. Imagine her shock – and dismay – when, on her very first day back in London, she discovered the body of a murdered man in the gardens at her best friend’s ball. She even heard the shots.
When Bow Street decides not to pursue the case, Lily cannot stand to just let it go. There must be some justice for the poor, unidentified young man who had his life taken from him. As Lily investigates, she draws Jack into her investigation, and she also draws a new friend, Miss Ofelia Oswald, in as well.
Who is the young man who was murdered? Why was he, an uninvited guest, in that garden? With whom was he arguing? Why is Bow Street dropping the case? So many questions, so few answers. Can her friend or her husband be involved? As suspects mount, clues are investigated and more bodies added to the count, Lily and company are in the thick of the investigation.
This could have easily been a 5-star read for me. The story was compelling, the pacing was perfect, the historical details were spot on, etc. However, I just had a hard time warming up to Lily and Jack often annoyed me. I’m not sure why, but so many authors who want to write strong, independent female characters think that they have to make them angry, acerbic, domineering, selfish, etc. and that they have to pair them with milksop male characters. Lily and Jack were those characters. Jack, a war hero, a Naval Captain, was always apologizing to Lily and bowing and scraping to her. Why couldn’t they form a partnership as two equals who worked together, respected each other, and were on equal footing? Toward the end, I saw a slight glimmer of perhaps her softening somewhat, so I’ll certainly try the next book to see where it will go. As it stands, if I were to meet Lily in person, I would not like her and we certainly wouldn’t become friends – so I certainly can’t like her in a book. I’ll look forward to seeing where she goes from here.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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.
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The Body in the Garden is the first book in the Lily Adler Mystery series and is Katharine Schellman’s debut novel.
Lily Adler, our main character, has a strong personality that was both likable and a bit much at times. This made her feel like a very real and human character, even if she did seem a tad modern for her times. Ofelia Oswald, an heiress, and Jack Hartley, a navy captain, become her investigative partners, which didn’t always run smoothly for them. Despite their bickering and keeping secrets from one another, I really appreciated that there was a team of three investigating in this book, while also relying on the help of those around them on a few occasions. It was a nice change of pace to see a deviation from the usual investigsting duo. And it felt more believable that a larger team like this would be able to solve this mystery.
I loved that there were PoC characters in this book, and not only as background characters! PoC characters are often few and far between in the historical genre and sub-genres, so it was lovely and refreshing to see some representation in this wonderful mystery.
At the onset of the book, I did feel that it tended toward being a bit wordy at times, which sometimes made it feel like things were dragging along a bit. But considering this is the first a series, introducing us to our main characters whilst setting up a mystery, this slow pace wasn’t completely unexpected and so this wasn’t really a sticking point for me.
Without spoiling anything, I will simply say that I really liked the way everything played out during the conclusion of the mystery. It was just twisty-turny enough that it was perfect. There was a good and believable amount of danger and there were several red herrings along the way so that it wasn’t obvious too early as to who our villian was. I did still determine the villian before the reveal, but only shortly before.
I look forward to seeing where further installments in this series will take us. I will be continuing on to read the next book when it becomes available and on the lookout for other mystery books from Katharine Schellman in the future. I recommend The Body in the Garden to fans of the historical mystery genre.
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I would like to thank NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for sharing a copy of The Body in the Garden by Katharine Schellman with me for reviewing purposes. This is my honest review.
4.5/5
It’s been awhile since I was so taken with a new mystery series, but I thoroughly enjoyed this debut novel! Lily, a young grieving widow returns to London from her in-laws, restless and questioning a future that is not what she had envisioned. A murder that she almost witnesses draws on her sense of justice and her keen intelligence to be solved, and with the aid of several old and new friends, she uncovers a scheme involving government corruption and multiple villains.
Lily is a wonderfully drawn character, a rarity (as seen by society in 19th-century London) of being exceptionally intrepid, fair-minded and strong-willed. And her supporting cast are also “misfits” in one way or another and very interesting in themselves.
I found this to be a very well-written and engaging story, and I will definitely be along for the ride in Lily’s further adventures!
Thanks to #NetGalley and #CrookedLaneBooks for providing me the ARC. The opinions are strictly my own.
The Body in the Garden is a Regency-era book with balls and routs in the background and an amateur female sleuth in the foreground. Lily Adler, a young widow, needs some air from the stifling atmosphere at the ball she’s attending and the crushing grief she still feels at the loss of her beloved husband two years prior. While on the terrace she’s accosted by a slimy young flop and after putting him in his place, she ventures farther into the gardens where she hears a murder. After being dismissed by the Bow Street runner assigned to the case and the case itself being suspiciously closed; she feels it’s her duty to discover everything about the victim and solve his murder. She’s reintroduced to her husband’s best friend, Captain Jack Hartley, who feels he needs to protect Lily from her foibles. She, of course, thinks this unnecessary but they form a rocky friendship. This is a twisty story and I figured out who did it but not how or why. An easy entertaining read.
cozy-mystery, amateur-sleuth, 19th-century, historical-fiction, historical-research, London
Excellently researched!
Lily was widowed too soon from her beloved and has moved to London at the suggestion of her in laws where she has lived for the past two years. At least she has a few friends there are is of an independent nature. Navy Captain Jack Hartley had an English father who married a local while in India and was a good friend of Lily’s husband. He learns flexibility. Lily finds a good and capable friend in young Miss Ofelia Oswald, an heiress from the Caribbean West Indies whose English father sent her to London to secure a husband. Bow Street provides another good guy by the name of Mr Page, and then there are the ragamuffins who…
The plot is ingenious and the other characters are also well done! Enjoy!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. Thank you!
The Body in the Garden by Katharine Schellman is an intriguing historical mystery.
Lily Adler is a widow who has returned to London to begin her life anew. She is still very much in love with her husband and has no interest in looking for a new husband. In fact, she is quite independent in many ways which makes her rather odd in London society of the early 1800’s. The secondary characters, Captain Jack Hartley and Miss Ofelia Oswald were great supporting characters that often moved the story along. The plot was smoothly paced, the characters were well developed for a first book in a series and there were enough red herrings and twists to keep me guessing until the reveal. I didn’t have a clue who was behind the murders and treason until the end which made it an good read for me.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. All of the above opinions are my own.
What a delight!
I could not put this book down. Lily Adler is clever and charming. The mystery unfolds at a steady pace.
THE BODY IN THE GARDEN (Lily Adler Mystery Book #1) by Katharine Schellman is the debut book in a new amateur sleuth historical mystery series set in Regency England. The intelligent and determined heroine of the series, the vivid secondary characters and the intricate plot had me hooked from the start.
Lily Adler is a young widow returning to London and society after her first stage of mourning. The first ball she attends is given by her oldest friend Lady Walter. As she is getting away from the crush in her host’s garden, she overhears but cannot see a man attempting blackmail. A shot is fired.
Long-time friend of her late husband and current Navy Captain, Jack Hartley returns with Lily to find the dead body. They soon learn Miss Oswald, a debutante from the West Indies knew the dead man and they join forces to uncover a killer. The three conceal their investigation within the whirl of London’s social season. Lily and her friends must uncover the secrets and identity of the killer before she becomes the next target.
I enjoyed meeting amateur sleuth, Lily Adler and her accomplices. Ms. Schellman brings to life intelligent Regency era characters, who remain true to the norms of their time period and also use it to their advantage. The addition of the West Indies characters and plot connection added diversity and interest to the story. The plot is clever and full of red herrings and misdirection which make it difficult to put down and the ending was a surprise which always makes it more enjoyable for me.
I highly recommend this new amateur sleuth, historical mystery and author. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
This new Regency mystery set in London of 1815 is off to a great start. Lily Adler is a recent widow of two years who loved her husband Freddy very much. After spending those past two years living with his parents, she takes their suggestion and rents number thirteen Half Moon Street in Mayfair. She is alone with a new house staff and her maid but all of that is about to change. She has barely walked through the front door when her long time friend, Lady Serena Walter descends upon her and firmly requests that she join Serena and her husband for dinner and a ball they are hosting that very evening. As Serena is not one to take no for an answer, Lily will be attending. Society rules, however, make it impossible for her to do any dancing but there will be much to keep her attention. Gossip, yes. A visit with some school friends, yes. All normal. What happens next is not at all normal. When Lily retreats to the terrace and back garden for some fresh air she overhears harsh voices and then a gunshot. A young man lies dead, a killer is among the attendees of the ball and somehow Serena’s husband is involved. With the help of Captain John Hartley, an old friend of her late husband and the added assistance of a lovely young heiress from the West Indies, Lily pushes past the newly formed Bow Street constabulary when they declare that there is nothing they can or will do about catching the killer and sets out to unmask a killer.
I enjoyed everything about this mystery. The setting, the main characters, the puzzle, it drew me into Lily’s world and, by the time I was finished, I knew I had another series to add to my list of must reads. My thanks to the publisher Crooked Lane Books and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
Jumping into London in the early 1800s is as effortless as opening the first chapter of The Body in the Garden. I was instantly immersed in both the setting and the characters lives. The historical touches are woven so well throughout this fast paced mystery, it is easy, as a reader, to feel as if you are standing in the “crush” of the ballroom as the music plays on. I enjoy a story that is entertaining as well as informative and The Body in the Garden did not disappoint.
Having grown fond of several characters, I very much look forward to reading more from this author and the Lily Adler series.
Clever and satisfying, this debut novel delivers characters that draw you in and plot twists that keep you guessing. Fans of Tasha Alexander’s Lady Emily mysteries will want to set aside space on their bookshelves for the adventures of widowed amateur sleuth Lily Adler.
The Body in the Garden is a well-written, intriguing historical murder mystery with unexpected twists. Admittedly, I was nearly halfway through the book before I actually started caring much about the story or the characters. The plot development moved slowly, and the characters were introduced in a way that felt unnatural somehow…like pawns strategically placed on a chess board. I had to suspend my disbelief more than I expected because some of the coincidences were just a little too convenient. The characters needed to be fleshed out more in the beginning for readers to connect with them; they felt superficial and behaved inconsistently at first. I had difficulty grasping how the gently bred heroine knew to look for clues and interrogate potential witnesses. There was no backstory to suggest she’d read books or had any life experience that would educate her on the topic. I felt like I was reading mid-series, not the first book, and that I was missing important facts. I certainly appreciate a female protagonist with an inquisitive and observant nature, but there was no explanation for how she developed such unique investigative skills that seemingly go against the generally accepted traits of a lady of quality in that time period. It was challenging to immerse myself in this story because so many little things kept pushing my implausibility button. Honestly, if I hadn’t committed to read an ARC of this book, I might have put it aside in my “couldn’t finish” pile. What is most irksome about that is that the writing is structurally excellent, hence my four-star rating, and I really wanted to love this book. In the end, I was pleasantly surprised to realize that I’d belatedly developed an attachment to the characters, and I look forward to reading more books in this new series. I was rewarded for my perseverance, and I’m glad I didn’t give up on what turned out to be a good story.
[An] elegant, excellently-paced, and thoroughly engrossing mystery. Filled with charm, wit, and vivid historical detail, Katharine Schellman’s debut is a pure delight from start to finish!
I was delighted to read this Regency murder mystery. Lily Adler is a widow in search of a purpose, who trips into one when someone gets himself inconveniently murdered at her friend’s society event. Lily has to use her wits and assemble unlikely allies in order to solve the case — while also battling the assumptions of a world that has little interest in seeing true justice done. I found this book utterly compelling. It kept me awake late into the night with its twists and turns — especially in the second half, where the case grows ever-more complicated and Lily’s world all the more entangled. Schellman’s Regency world is excellently drawn and well-realized, balancing the lovely aesthetic charms of the era with its difficulties of race, class, and gender. THE BODY IN THE GARDEN is a wonderfully smart novel, and I can’t wait to read the next Lily Adler Mystery.
Recommended for fans of Sherry Thomas’s Lady Sherlock series, or readers who enjoy a Regency romance but are ready for a new genre spin.
First in a new series of cozy mysteries set in the Regency era, The Body in the Garden follows widow Lily Adler as she settles into a new life in London, determined to make her way and find some sort of place for herself following the death of her husband at too young an age. Accompanied by Navy captain Jack Hartley and beautiful West Indian heiress Miss Ofelia Oswald, Lily determines to find justice for a young man whose murder she accidentally overhears when the magistrates choose not to have Bow Street investigate the case.
There’s an interesting examination of the role of the young widow in Regency society as Lily tries to figure out what she’s going to do with the rest of her life; not even thirty, she’s basically expected to find herself another husband as soon as possible, but she loved her husband and she’s not at all sure she wants to remarry. A clever woman – she shows flashes of Holmesian deductive ability at times – she has no intention of settling.
I wouldn’t say there’s any hint of romance here, though I did get the definite impression Jack was falling head over heels for Lily; there was also a Bow Street Runner I think rather admired her who I suspect will feature more heavily in future books in the series, but don’t go into this looking for Lily to find love again. What she does find is purpose, as she uses her wits and her resources to pursue the murderer.
Something I really enjoyed in this book was the fact that Regency London wasn’t (unrealistically) presented as being all-white; Jack is the son of an English father and an Indian mother and Ofelia is the daughter of an English father and a Black woman. Ofelia’s actually inspired by Miss Lambe of Jane Austen’s Sanditon and it’s fascinating to see the portrayal of how high society would have welcomed her wealth while secretly looking down their noses because of her mixed race. Lily has Black servants, something that would have been quite common in that day, especially among those households not quite at the echelon of the upper class, a category into which Lily fits as a gentleman’s widow.
The mystery was intriguing (and plausible) and I loved Lily and the other principal characters. This was a seriously good read and I’m really looking forward to the next in the series. Five stars.
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this title via NetGalley.
The Body in the Garden by Katharine Schellman is the first a hopefully long-standing series (A Lily Alder Mystery).
Ms Schellman has created a real gem. I loved the fiesty Lily and the array of secondary characters (Jack, Jem, Serena, Ofelia, Mr Page, etc). I think Lily has a lot of potential, and I also see several potential love interests already.
I enjoyed the time period, 1815 London, and I also enjoyed the complex murder/mystery.
This series has so much potential that can be drawn from these top-notch characters and material. I can’t wait to see where this goes.
5/5 stars