There could be nowhere more fitting for English professor Lila Maclean to spend her sabbatical than in a proper Victorian mansion. The whimsical Callahan House seems to have materialized from the pages of the mystery novels she is researching, with its enchanting towers, cozy nooks, and charming library. Unfortunately, it also features a body in the study.
Residents of Larkston have long believed … long believed that the Callahan family is cursed—the murder on the estate sets the town buzzing. Wild rumors are fueled by a gossipy blogger who delights in speculation, and further crimes only intensify the whispers and suspicions. A newly discovered manuscript, however, appears to expose startling facts beneath the fictions. When Lila steps in to sort the truth from the lies, it may cost her everything, as someone wants to make dead certain that their secrets stay hidden.
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THE STUDY OF SECRETS by Cynthia Kuhn | A Henery Press Mystery. If you like one, you’ll probably like them all.
Praise:
“Cynthia Kuhn’s Lila Maclean series has been a welcome addition to the academic mystery canon, and I am happy to report that her newest, The Study of Secrets, only continues to delight. With its smart and intrepid protagonist, witty writing, and insightful look into the power struggles that erupt when literary and academic egos collide, this clever and puzzling whodunit earns top marks in my book.” — Leslie Karst, Lefty Award-Nominated Author of the Sally Solari Mysteries
“Fans of the Lila Maclean Academic Mystery Series will be delighted to accompany their favorite English professor-sleuth on sabbatical from Stonedale University—and even more thrilled to learn that her temporary escape from the ivy-covered halls of academe does not include a break in solving murders. In The Study of Secrets, award-winning author Cynthia Kuhn once again offers mystery lovers what they crave most: a smart, thoughtful, and fiercely-determined heroine; an intriguing puzzle; an idyllic setting, and a cast of suspects worthy of Agatha Christie—with a charming side of humor.” – Lisa Q. Mathews, Author of The Ladies Smythe & Westin Mysteries
“Witty and smart, Lila Maclean is everyone’s favorite English professor. In her latest adventure, secrets abound, and only Lila can decipher fact from fiction. An atmospheric mansion, a missing manuscript, and a haunting disappearance add to the novel’s appeal. But it’s the fast-paced plot that will keep readers up long past their bedtimes, unraveling clues to multiple mysteries. A delightful read by one of my favorite authors!” – Mary Angela, Author of the Professor Prather Mysteries and Happy Camper Mysteries
“The Study of Secrets hooked me on page one and refused to let go until I’d stayed up well past my bedtime to finish. The always likable Lila Maclean will keep you cheering for her and worrying about her as she faces a cast of characters who vary from mysterious to quirky to downright sinister. With secrets abounding, Lila—and the reader—must constantly question who they can trust. Beautifully written, The Study of Secrets teems with fascinating characters, a maze of a plot, and description so deep and real, you can smell the woodsmoke mingling with the pines.” – Annette Dashofy, USA Today Bestselling Author of the Zoe Chamber Mystery Series
“Cynthia Kuhn has done it again! The Study of Secrets is a well-crafted and engaging mystery.” – Debra H. Goldstein, Agatha- and Anthony-Nominated Author of the Sarah Blair Mysteries
“Kuhn earns top marks with The Study of Secrets, her best academic mystery yet. Heroine Lila Maclean uncovers secrets both old and new, the most exciting revealed to her at the very end. Outstanding!” – Margaret Mizushima, Author of the Award-Winning Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries
“With The Study of Secrets, Cynthia Kuhn resurrects the gothic settings, keenly observed characters, and tricky puzzles of the Golden Age of detection. You’ll be up all night finishing it!” – Angela M. Sanders, Author of the Joanna Hayworth Vintage Clothing Mysteries
Author Bio:
Cynthia Kuhn is an English professor and author of the Lila Maclean Academic Mysteries. Her work has also appeared in Mystery Most Edible, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Copper Nickel, Prick of the Spindle, Mama PhD, and other publications. Honors for the series include an Agatha Award (best first novel), a William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant, and Lefty Award nominations (best humorous mystery). Originally from upstate New York, she lives in Colorado with her family. For more information, please visit cynthiakuhn.net.
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Lila Maclean has been taking a fall semester sabbatical, staying with family friend Bibi Callahan while finishing up her book on mystery author Isabella Dare. She’s become friends with the people in Bibi’s life, so she is delighted to join them one night for a book discussion of the first Isabella Dare mystery. The night, which starts as fun and laughs, ends in tragedy when one of the women is murdered. Bibi asks Lila to figure out what is going on, but the present seems to be fed by secrets from the past. Which one of them lead to murder?
After the way the previous book in the series ended, I couldn’t wait to dive in and see what would happen next. I was well rewarded. The mystery starts quickly and is strong with some twists I didn’t expect and a logical climax. The timeline was a bit squishy, but it didn’t impact the story itself – this is just a personal pet peeve. The characters are strong, making us care about the story and the outcome. A sub-plot involving Lila’s personal life felt a bit rushed, but I still liked how it ended. This book is set during the Christmas season, and those elements added a fun, festive nature to the story. The charming characters and engrossing plot made the pages fly by all too quickly.
Cynthia Kuhn’s most recent installment of the Lila Maclean Academic Mysteries gives her professor a sabbatical off-campus in the town of Larkston, home of the Callahan mansion. Lila loves the classic and unique Victorian house, and plans to pursue her work on Isabella Dare, famous recluse mystery writer. But if Lila thought this would be an idyllic spot to work on her writing, she’d better guess again. Before you can say, “turn on your laptop,” there’s a body in the study, a stolen manuscript, and a mystery visitor. Adding to the chaos is a blogger who sensationalizes everything, a town that loves gossip and spreads it like a wildfire, and a plethora of secrets. It’s the perfect formula for a mystery.
A wonderful addition to a series I love. Lila is such a smart, likeable, relatable protagonist. The mystery is engrossing and the setting appealing. Brava!
This series gets better with every book. The author writes in such a clear and smart way that the books are a joy to read. Nothing is wasted and every word counts. Lila and her story grows and evolves with every book and I find myself rooting for her like I would a friend to succeed in her endeavors. This book takes the series “on location” and it is enjoyable to see Lila out of her normal environment and interacting with some new friends (and the old as well).
https://cozyexperience.com/the-study-of-secrets-book-review/
I’ve been a fan of Cynthia Kuhn’s books since her very first Lila Maclean mystery. Readers should know, however, that The Study of Secrets stands on its own as an exceptionally well-written novel. The writing is sharp, and the protagonist is intelligent and engaging. There’s plenty of humor in this academic mystery, but there’s also a serious and complex backstory that makes this an especially compelling narrative. The plot takes some unexpected and suspenseful twists and turns, and the ending is extremely satisfying. As always, I’m looking forward to the next installment from this talented writer.
What a fun series! Lots of interesting characters and a twisty mystery about a mystery writer and an English professor sleuth! Loved it!
Lila Maclean is on sabbatical, working on her Isabella Dare thesis and her first mystery novel. The kindly retired professor, Bibi Callahan, has invited her to stay in her gorgeous Victorian mansion. As it turns out Bibi is Isabella Dare. While Lila is organizing Bibi’s study she runs across an unpublished manuscript in a locked drawer – the first Isabella Dare novel. No sooner than its existence is brought to light, its stolen and one of Bibi’s high school chums is murdered.
As always, spending a few days on Lila’s adventure is like hanging out with your best friend – the one you may not have seen in years but it’s like no time has gone by. Lila is kind and generous as she works her way to the core of the mystery that surrounds the Callahan curse. A classic (new) Golden Age mystery. Dare I say Neo-Golden?
Kuhn does an excellent job of creating a well-woven mystery. I love the atmosphere of both the Victorian house and the small town of Larkston. The tangled web of suspects in a place where everyone grew up together and all have their own secrets left me guessing until the very end. I also love Lila’s character and the smart observations she brings as a professor to the story. Plus, the literary references throughout add an extra layer of fun to the novel.
An enjoyable mystery with a healthy heaping of academic spice.
The Study of Secrets by Cynthia Kuhn is like stepping into the amazing life of a literary professor who specializes in mystery novels by one author named Isabella Dare.
Will Lila be able to figure out what happened to Bibi’s friend Gillian?
Professor Lila Maclean
Professor Lila Maclean is our sleuth, and she is living in Larkston in this installment to finish two books. One book for her to publish and get tenure at her college and the other a mystery novel. Let’s just say that this is a doozy of one. One mystery turns into trying to solve some past crimes and why they happened. Lila is the one to do it, and she does a fantastic job of doing it. I love Lila and that she seems like a great person. I would be her friend and be interested in reading these Isabella Dare novels.
What I like about Lila besides what I mentioned above is that she seems like someone that just wants what is best and doesn’t mean to be solving these crimes. She just happens upon them and has to try to answer them for the greater good.
The Mystery
The mystery is one that had me trying to hunt down the clues with her. Gillian is a retired literary agent who happened to lose a husband the same night that Bibi did a while ago. Not only that, but Lila finds a manuscript, and Gillian goes after it. Well, while she was looking at the document, Gillian dies, and the document is missing. Bibi enlists Lila to help her solve who could have killed Gillian. That isn’t an easy thing to do when the manuscript has a decades-old mystery that happens to have been a real-life crime. Is this what makes Gillian a target?
Let’s just say that I had no clue who did it, but when that was happening, it dawned on me that the killer was perfect. I never suspected the culprit.
Five Stars
The Study of Secrets by Cynthia Kuhn is a great novel, and I am glad to have gotten the time to read this latest one. Ms. Kuhn does a fantastic job, and I loved every minute of reading it. I do have to say that I wouldn’t mind living in a mansion for a semester on vacation to write a manuscript or two. Callahan College will just have to hope that the ghosts in the Callahan House, aka Bibi’s husband’s family’s mansion, don’t scare away the students.
I highly recommend this book to all mystery readers out there.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of The Study of Secrets by Cynthia Kuhn.
Until the next time,
Karen the Baroness
If you would like to see other reviews like this one, check out BaronessBookTrove.com.
Witty and smart, Lila Maclean is everyone’s favorite English professor. In her latest adventure, secrets abound, and only Lila can decipher fact from fiction. An atmospheric mansion, a missing manuscript, and a haunting disappearance add to the novel’s appeal. But it’s the fast-paced plot that will keep readers up long past their bedtimes, unraveling clues to multiple mysteries. A delightful read by one of my favorite authors!
When I start reading a series several books in, it often takes me a while to get into the book since I don’t know the characters. However, thanks to the author’s brilliant storytelling, that wasn’t the case here.
Right away, we discover that Professor Lila Maclean is on sabbatical. Furthermore, she is working on an academic paper on the works of mystery writer Isabella Dare who wrote her last novel decades ago. The author is relatively unknown by most, but Lila hopes to change that. Thanks to a very reliable source, she just may. In fact, Lila is staying with Isabella Dare herself! However, Lila is one of the few who know the real Isabella is in truth a woman named Bibi Callahan. Bibi’s close friends don’t even know! They find out when Lila unearths a secret in the study and accidentally let’s it slip that Isabella Dare wrote four books. Only three are known to exist. This slip awakens old secrets and leads to murder, treachery and lies.
The Study of Secrets is well-written, and the mystery(ies) kept me engrossed the entire book. Cynthia Kuhn writes in the style I most love to read. She doesn’t overuse dialogue, and when she uses it, it flows naturally. The entertaining characters and suspenseful plot make for a real page-turner. I love how Kuhn gives us just enough description of the setting and the characters. While some sections are beautifully detailed, like the Christmas decorating scene, others leave room for our imaginations to take over.
The Study of Secrets will leave you smiling and ready for the next book. I know I am!
The Study of Secrets is the fifth installment in Cynthia Kuhn’s Lila Maclean Academic Mysteries. As it opens, Lila is winding up her sabbatical from Stonedale, staying in a cottage on the grounds of Callahan House, a Victorian mansion associated with Callahan College and now the property of Bibi Callahan. Long ago Bibi published three mystery novels under the name Isabella Dare, and Lila has been researching and writing a book on these nearly-forgotten works, while hoping that Bibi will admit publicly that she is, in fact, the author.
Lila has been organizing Bibi’s study for her, and in a locked drawer she finds the manuscript of an unpublished fourth novel. When one of Bibi’s life-long friends is murdered in the house and the manuscript vanishes, Bibi admits that the novel was a barely fictionalized version of the night when her younger sister disappeared, suggesting that she was killed by one of Bibi’s tight-knit circle of friends during a night of celebration between high school and college.
Bibi never meant anyone to see the manuscript, with its unfounded speculation, but when it gets out, and perhaps causes another death, Lila races to solve the long-ago mystery that appears to be the source of the present trouble.
Lila is still trying to finish her book on Isabella Dare—and find a publisher for it—and she’s also writing a mystery novel of her own, so I hope we’ll see another adventure before too long.
The Study of Secrets earns 5/5 Curious Files…Entertaining Fun!
Cynthia Kuhn’s fifth book in her Lila Maclean Academic Mystery series was a great place to start! Lila is on sabbatical and was invited to stay at a lovely Victorian in Colorado by Isabella Dare (aka Bibi Callahan), the author about whom she has researched, spoken, and admired. It’s not really a vacation; she’s been asked to organize Bibi’s study. Snooping with permission? Stacks and stacks of files, notes, and well, even Bibi doesn’t know all that she’s willy-nilly tossed on a desk or such. How about the unpublished novel? The dead body? Bibi pleads with Lila to find the killer, so the mystery begins. Cynthia Kuhn has an engaging writing style with witty banter, clever literary references, and using a first-person narrative from Lila’s perspective Kuhn fills the drama with descriptive language to bring the setting and characters alive and realistic dialogue to illustrate emotions and personalities. Engaging. The drama was intriguing with several avenues to consider… A curse? Secrets? Greed? I thought I had it figured, but the surprise ending made me “sigh” with excitement.
3.5/5 Stars English professor Lila Maclean is spending her sabbatical at the Callahan House, a Victorian mansion owned by Bibi Callahan, in order to work on her research regarding mystery writer Isabella Dare. While helping clean out the study, Lila finds an unpublished manuscript which has apparently been hidden for many years. Unfortunately, the unearthing of the manuscript is quickly followed by the murder of one of Bibi’s friends and she asks Lila to investigate.
I loved that the story follows an English professor doing research on a mystery author, which turns into a murder investigation. The setting in the Victorian mansion was fun. The characters were interesting, making this a fun cozy mystery to unravel.
Thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss for the ARC. The opinions in this review are honest and my own.