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Double-Review: Lily Adler Mysteries 2-3

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Back in March 2020, right at the beginning of the pandemic, I read an ARC for Katharine Schellman’s debut novel and the first of the Lily Adler Mysteries: The Body in the Garden. I devoured it in 3 days. And it was a revelation for me for a couple reasons. First, I just love a good historical mystery, and this was a very good historical mystery novel. Second, I’d been dealing with an inability to read for going on 5 or 6 years in 2020 due to extremely severe depression. While the cloud had been starting to lift in mid-2019, and my brain was finally starting to reanimate a bit, reading (except for audiobooks, which had literally saved my life from about 2014-onward) was still proving almost-impossible. And then I read The Body in the Garden, and it was like a strong wind blowing the clouds away to reveal clear skies. It was like the floodgates opening wide.

I don’t know if it was just a matter of good timing, and that my brain was just about ready to open up again anyway. I don’t know that another book might not have had the same effect. Frankly, it doesn’t really matter. Lily Adler is forever cemented in my mind as an integral element of my ongoing recovery. (It’s also just a really really good book).

So, of course, when the second installment, Silence in the Library, released in August 2021, I leapt for it. And I read it in a single night, in a single sitting in fact. And then I got my hands on an ARC of the third book about a month ago (and read that book in one sitting as well).

So, I thought I would do a double-review of books two and three as I continue to try and convince everyone I know to buy and read these books. My review for the first book can be found here: “Book Review: The Body in the Garden.”

Title: Silence in the Library
Author: Katharine Schellman
Release Date: August 2021
How I Got It: bought from indie mystery bookstore, Murder by the Book
Rating: Five Stars

Let’s begin with the basic plot premise. Silence in the Library opens a few months after the events of the first novel, with Lily having to face possibly her most difficult challenge: dealing with a visit from her father. When Lily’s father demands that she pay a visit to one of his oldest friends, who has recently re-married, the visit quickly goes to hell when the husband is murdered, leaving the new bride in hysterics and the dead man’s adult son (from a previous marriage) the most likely suspect. Add in a shifty cousin who may or may not have been in need of more money, a maid who is murdered before she can tell Lily something she knew, and Lily’s father hindering her at every turn, things get wildly out of hand.

What the first book did well, the second book built upon beautifully. The writing is crisp, the research and historical context impeccable, the mystery compelling, and the characters charming. The core mystery of the novel is clever and twisty, though I confess I like to make a game of seeing if I can solve the mystery before the characters (my mother and I also compete like this when watching murder mystery tv shows – of which we watch a lot), and I succeeded this time. Clearly, I can’t spell it out here without giving everything away, but I told my mother my theory well in advance and was right.

The main character, Lily Adler, is a brilliant, stubborn, somewhat reckless woman, and I love her. I want to be her when I grow up (yes, I am grown up, I am almost 37, but shush, let me have this). In the first book, we see her shaking off the paralysis of her widowhood, and in the second book we see her really stepping into this role she has chosen for herself.

But, of course, there is also the complication of her emotionally-cold, judgmental, domineering father, who has arrived to disapprove of everything she does. Her father’s awful treatment and verbal lashings seem to shake Lily on a few occasions, and she has to fight off the knee-jerk reaction to revert to her more timid childhood-self. Watching the ways Lily alternately defies and bends to her father’s moods is highly relatable (at least to those of us who have parents with… shall we say, powerful personalities?) and deeply inspiring.

The characters I adored in the first book: Captain Jack Hartley, Ofelia, and the Bowstreet Runner Simon Page are all in attendance for the second book. The Captain is as witty and charming and protective of Lily as he was in the first book (and may possibly be developing less-than-platonic feelings for his best friend’s widow). Ofelia, now happily married, continues to be a supportive both as a friend and as a cohort in Lily’s mystery-solving pursuits. And Simon Page, who started out by resenting Lily, has developed a begrudging respect and appreciate for Lily and her skills.

In the middle of the plot-madness, Lily is faced with several red herrings, and a very handsome and charming former soldier that she must (clumsily) attempt to flirt with for information. We also get a glimpse into Simon Page’s personal life and a few scenes from his perspective — something I had not even realized I needed until I had it. (I already respected Simon Page, now I really love him).

Throughout the novel are several disabled and neurodivergent characters of different backgrounds and abilities who are all written with complexity and empathy, and not painted with broad strokes and stereotypes. There are, of course, instances of these characters being treated with derision and cruelty in sadly-historically-accurate ways, but at no point does the text (or the main characters) excuse or condone this behavior, and the perpetrators face consequences for their bigotry.

Just as in the first novel, one of the best parts is the dialogue, which is at turns sharp, warm, and downright hilarious at some points. Lily, Captain Jack Hartley, and Ofelia in particular, all play off each other so well with their differing flavors of sarcasm, dry wit, and gentle teasing. (I continue to adore Jack Hartley.)

And the ending is satisfying while also packing a potent emotional punch.

Title: Death at the Manor
Author: Katharine Schellman
Release Date: 9 August 2022
How I Got It: ARC provided by publisher
Rating: 4.5 Stars

In the third book of the Lily Adler Mysteries series, we go farther afield as Lily Adler leaves London for a few months visiting friends and family in the country. The novel deftly shifts tone in an homage to Regency-era Gothic Literature (think Castle of Otranto or The Woman in White), as Lily must confront a supposedly-haunted country estate in the village where her aunt lives, and attempts to solve a murder that everyone else is content to attribute to a ghost.

In this installment, after Captain Jack Hartley leaves to return to his ship (having been stuck on land for so long due to extended repairs), Lily leaves London to visit her aunt in a small village in the country, bringing her Ofelia and Ofelia’s (ridiculously sweet) husband Ned along with her. Her aunt and her aunt’s friend/companion have been living as two “respectable unmarried women” in a small cottage for decades, and are the only family Lily actually likes. But once there, Lily and her friends accidentally find themselves entangled in yet another murder. While touring a nearby manor to hear about the rumors of a ghost haunting the estate, the Lady of the manor is discovered dead in her locked bedroom, with only her two adult children and four servants (the others having left because of the ghost) as the possible suspects.

At first determined to leave the matter to the authorities, Lily quickly changes her mind when the local authorities admit defeat in the face of the locked door, and accept that the purported ghost must be the cause of death. So Lily and Ofelia, with the grudging assistance of Ned and Lily’s aunt, decide to the solve the murder themselves. An added complication comes from the fact that the charming widowed soldier from the previous book, the ever-attractive Matthew Spencer, happens to live in the same village, and offers his assistance as well, much to Ofelia’s consternation.

The mystery of this installment was especially fun for me because I love a good locked-room mystery, and this one is very well done. The characters run through every possible suspect with increasing confusion and uncertain, and it is a ton of fun to watch the whole thing unfold and try to play along. (I guessed right, again, by the way, but it took me longer than usual and I wasn’t too far ahead of Lily figuring it out lol).

The nods to the gothic genre were also a ton of fun (particularly because as an English Lit grad school I read and studied Regency and Victorian era gothic novels and love them anyway!) I mean, who doesn’t love ghost stories, and creepy dark hallways and billowy white curtains and ominous men standing in shadows and secret passages?

Like Silence in the Library, Death at the Manor gives us an opportunity to see and learn more about different characters. This time we get some concentrated attention paid to Ofelia and her husband Ned, both of whom I adore. We also see a lot more of the charming widower Matthew Spencer. And Lily’s aunt and her aunt’s friend were both delightful as well. (There’s some queer rep in there as well, but spoilers!)

I did, however, feel that the story misses Jack (just as the characters do). When I was starting to read the book, I announced on twitter that if Jack did not make some dramatic mid-book return I was going to be distraught. And reader: I was distraught. For one thing, I simply love that character. For another, he adds so much humor and snark to the dialogue, and does such a good job of keeping Lily on her toes (while Ofelia keeps him on his, lol). That said, I still read the entire book in one setting and loved it and have no real complaints. (The 4.5 stars rating is an only semi-serious, kinda-joking protest on Jack’s behalf.) I also missed Simon Page, who likewise does not make an appearance in this installment.

When I was lamenting the loss of Jack on Twitter, the author, Katharine Schellman, kindly assured me he would return in the next one. Thank goodness. (By the way, Katharine Schellman is an absolute delight on social media as well. She is so kind and generous and friendly with her fans/followers, which is by no means required.) We also know that she has been contracted for a 4th and 5th book (at minimum, I hope), but that they won’t be out for some time.

The worst part about reading arcs far ahead of release date, especially for books in a series, is that you have ALL THAT MUCH LONGER to wait for the next one. Le Sigh. I suppose I’ll probably just re-read all three books at some point this summer…

Book Review: What Angels Fear

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Book: What Angels Fear (Sebastian St. Cyr Mysteries Book 1)
Author: C.S. Harris
Release Date: October 2006
Source: Bought
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

After reading The Body in the Garden by Katharine Schellman last week, I still had both Regency England and mysteries on the brain, and I needed desperately to scratch that itch. I thought about re-reading Mairelon the Magician for the millionth time, but then I remembered that I had bought this book, What Angels Fear, a year ago (at local mystery bookstore Murder by the Book, on Indie Bookstore Day in fact!) and never got around to reading it. It is a murder mystery novel that is set in Regency England, and its the first in the series, so if I liked it, I had plenty more where that came from!

my baby boy Sebastian

I will fully admit that when I first saw this book at the bookstore, my main impetus for picking it up was because of the main character’s name: Sebastian. Sebastian was the name of my cat, my baby boy, who died at the age of 18 a few years ago. (I had him since he was 6 weeks old, when I was in 7th grade. I named him after Bastian from The Neverending Story and St. Sebastian – I was a a very devout Catholic obsessed with hagiography at the time… and just because I love the name). Anyway… I picked up the book because of the name. But the description quickly grabbed me too: Regency England, murder mystery, brilliant dashing troubled hero? This is my jam!

I’m embarrassed it took me so long to get around to actually reading it, but boy did I enjoy it!

Here’s the basic plot synopsis: Sebastian St. Cyr, Lord Devlin, has returned to London from the wars against Napoleon in France, where he worked as an intelligence operative because of his particular skills. He has been getting into trouble for dueling (outlawed quite awhile ago) and is generally considered by his father, his sister, and most of society to be a libertine and a layabout. He’s actually an honorable man – his duels have mostly been in defense of innocent people, and he doesn’t sleep around nearly as much as people assume he does. The real problem comes in when a beautiful young actress is brutally raped and murdered late at night in a church, and the evidence points to Sebastian St. Cyr, despite his insistence he is innocent. Bad luck and a general disdain for the Bow Street Runners leads to a series of incidents that make Sebastian look even more guilty, and he is forced to go on the run, avoiding capture so that he may have a chance to clear his name. Along the way he gains the help of a young street waif, an old friend from the war, and Kat Boleyn – an actress and acquaintance of the murdered actress, who broke Sebastian’s heart six years ago, and who has plenty of secrets of her own. As Sebastian investigates the murder, he discovers that the truths he may found could have profound consequences not just for him, but for the entire country.

This novel was a tightly-plotted twisty exciting ride of a mystery. I was following along carefully, trying to solve the murder with (or ahead of) Sebastian, but I did NOT see the ending coming until it was just about right in front of my face. There are quite a few characters to keep track of, and as the novel is told in omniscient third-person, you get the chance to be right in the heads of quite a few of those characters. Even so, I did not guess the culprit until Sebastian had. And then I was like: “oooooh! I get it!”

Sebastian is in some ways your typical Regency hero (mystery novel or otherwise): he’s brilliant, handsome, honorable, much more forward-thinking than most of the other men around him, and of course an excellent lover. He has the added benefit of better-than-usual eyesight, hearing, and reflexes. Is he a little TOO perfect? Yeah, probably. But I honestly don’t mind that when I’m reading this kind of book. Despite that, C.S. Harris does a good job of fleshing the character out, giving him some depth and nuance. I think it is safe to assume that will continue in the next books.

The other characters all vary in dimension and depth, of course. Kat Boleyn, the heart-breaking actress, is fairly well-written. She is, to an extent, also a typical Regency heroine – beautiful, intelligent, willful, etc. The secret to her motives are a little too obvious and stereotypical. But she has a secondary secret that gives her more interest and keeps her from being too one-dimensional. And I liked her even if she was a tad cliche at times. I also assume she will get more fleshing out in later books, and I look forward to seeing how that turns out.

I felt that the historical elements of the novel were well-considered and deeply researched. Some Regency novels just kind of toss in an archaic word or place name here or there and then don’t worry about it much. This narrative felt nicely grounded in its time and place, with characters drawn from real historical reference, and a great use of the language of the time. The prose is also wonderful: descriptive and intriguing without being too florid.

Overall, I really really enjoyed this book. So much so that I got online and ordered books 2 and 3 before I had even quite finished it. I imagine they should arrive sometime next week and I look forward to seeing how Sebastian gets into trouble next time.

Also, apparently book #15 (!!) of this series is coming out on April 7th, so I have a lot of catching up to do!

For links to this book, What Angels Fear: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound
***Under the current circumstances, please try to buy from an indie bookstore if at all possible. Indiebound is a great way to find one near you that delivers. Or, if you want, you can order from MY favorite local indie bookstore: Murder by the Book

And here is the Goodreads page with a list of all the books in the series

Book Review: The Body in the Garden

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Book: The Body in the Garden
Author: Katharine Schellman
Release Date: 7 April 2020
Source: ARC provided by publisher (obtained through my work)
Rating: 6 out of 5 Stars (I can do that if I want to!)

Photo by me

Let me begin this review with a little backstory (kind of like I did for Disney’s Land). I love many things. I am a very enthusiastic, some might say obsessive fan, of quite a few pop culture subjects. But here are a few of my EARLIEST obsessions: Jane Austen, Sherlock Holmes, the Regency England fantasy novels of Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer, and murder mysteries in general.

I read my first Jane Austen novel – Pride and Prejudice – in 5th grade (I was reading WELL into a college-level by fourth and fifth grade) and became immediately obsessed, proceeding to read all of her novels. At about the same time, I had become obsessed with mystery novels. I started with age-appropriate books such as Nancy Drew and the Boxcar Children, but very quickly moved on to Sherlock Holmes, who is still one of my greatest loves. Not long after that I read Mairelon the Magician by Patricia C. Wrede – a book that combined Regency England historical setting, fantasy, and a pair of beloved character solving a mystery. Her sequel The Magician’s Ward, and her trilogy of related Regency Fantasy novels co-written with Caroline Stevermer (Sorcery and Cecilia, The Grand Tour, and The Mislaid Magician) all follow in this same delightful vein.

I would easily rank Mairelon the Magician as one of my top 5 favorite novels – it is my most-commonly-read “comfort novel.” When I am sad or restless or can’t focus enough to read anything else, I read Mairelon the Magician. I have read it approximately 5 PER YEAR since I first picked it up 1995 or 1996, which means I have read it approximately 120 times!

So, to bring it back to the present: I received an ARC of The Body in the Garden by Katharine Schellman through my work. I discovered to my delight that it combines my favorite things: it is takes place in Regency (1815) England, it is a murder mystery, and it features an awesome woman detective and a dashing sea captain (a la Captain Frederick Wentworth from Jane Austen’s Persuasion). I told my friend about this perfect storm of my favorite things in one book and he replied with this Doctor Who gif:

(if you’ve seen the Doctor Who episode “The Doctor’s Wife” you get why this is so funny)

I was only 20 pages into the book and I was already absolutely DELIGHTED!

The main plot is this: Mrs. Lily Adler, recently widowed and heartbroken has returned to London from the country at the insistence of her (former) mother-in-law. There she meets up with two old friends: Lady Serena Walter (a school friend) and Captain Jack Hartley (her husband’s best childhood friend). While attending a ball thrown by her friend Serena, Lily has the supreme misfortune of accidentally overhearing an argument, pertaining to a blackmail, between persons unknown through a hedgerow, which then leads to gunfire. She and Captain Hartley then discover the dead body of an unknown young man. When the Bow Street Runners (the very early version of a police force only recently coming into itself in the early 1800s) are bribed into NOT investigating the murder, Lily Adler decides that something must be done, and determines to take on the case herself. She quickly enlists the aid of the dashing and protective Jack Hartley, and a smart determined young heiress from the West Indies who has been uncomfortable in London society because of her mixed parentage. Together they risk their reputations and their lives to solve the murder.

To say I enjoyed this book would be gross understatement! I should add, as further backstory, that I suffer from severe depression. I USED to be a prolific reader (2-3 books per week) but as some know, depression can absolutely DESTROY higher brain function. The ability to read, to write, to concentrate and focus just completely EVAPORATE. I haven’t been able to really read in at least 4 years. I switched to audiobooks a couple years ago, which helped. And in the last few months I have been slowly relearning how to read again. But VERY slowly.

So when I say I inhaled this book in THREE DAYS (just 20 pages the first night, then about ⅓ the second night, and finally finishing the whole last ⅔ in one sitting on a third day), you may perhaps understand how big a deal this is for me!

I just loved this book THAT MUCH. It was like my brain just CLICKED back on for awhile! It was AMAZING.

The two main characters, Lily and Jack (well, three I suppose if you include the heiress Ofelia Oswald), are completely wonderful. They are fully-realized, complex people who bond over their shared love for and grief over the loss of Lily’s husband, Freddy. But they also share a sense of justice, and fairplay, and hilarious SARCASM and wit. I was glad to see that they did NOT form a romance over the course of the book, but a great and touching respect and friendship. I adored them both, and I am going to jump in now, before the book is officially released in April and other people discover these characters: I am going to marry both Lily AND Jack. They are mine. You cannot have them!

The plot of the murder mystery was well-crafted and clever and kept me guessing. I thought I had it figured out and then a twist about ⅔ of the way through proved me wrong. I didn’t figure out the truth until RIGHT as the characters were ready to reveal themselves.

In addition, this book was ENORMOUSLY well-researched. It is clear that Katharine Schellman both loves the time period and has the work ethic and attention span to research the fine details that give a good story its texture and its realism. I have taken several college and graduate level courses on the subject of Jane Austen, and both Georgian and Regency-era novels, and so I recognized (perhaps more than the average reader) the kind of historical research that went into this book. It was very impressive! And really added to the overall effect and enjoyment of the book.

I really cannot stress enough how much I loved this book! I was on twitter a couple nights ago raving about it and the author herself very kindly responded. She was so friendly and she is seriously becoming one of my new favorite internet-people.

What makes me even more excited is that the cover of the book announces that it is “A Lily Adler Mystery.” Both this and the ending imply that another book (possibly many other books!) is either already being written or is at least contracted to be written. I am so happy that there will be more of these! The only downside to reading a book before it has even been released is the fact that it means waiting EVEN LONGER for the next one!

Everyone should go pre-order this book NOW while you can! (Katharine Schellman also has a pre-order sweepstakes going on her Instagram, so there’s that).

For links to pre-order there is, of course: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Indiebound

For the Instagram sweepstakes head here to Katharine Schellman’s profile