A Study in Murder is the first book in a new cozy mystery series by Callie Hutton. When Lady Amy Lovell’s breaks up with her fiancé and he turns up dead, she needs to solve the mystery quickly and clear her name!
Title: A Study in Murder
Author: Callie Hutton
Series: A Victorian Book Club Mystery #1
First Published: July 7, 2020
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Categories: Mystery
Acquired: from the publisher via NetGalley
*** Thank you to the publisher, Crooked Lane Books, for providing me with an advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. ***
Bath, England, 1890. Mystery author Lady Amy Lovell receives an anonymous letter containing shocking news: her fiancé, Mr. Ronald St. Vincent, has been dabbling in something illegal, which causes her to immediately break their engagement.
Two days later, as Amy awaits a visit from her friend and fellow book club member, Lord William Wethington, Ronald makes an unexpected and unwelcome appearance at her house. She promptly sends him to the library to wait but later discovers the room seemingly empty – until she stumbles upon a dead Ronald with a knife in his chest.
William arrives to find Amy screaming and sends for the police, but the Bobbies immediately assume that she’s the killer. Desperate to clear her name, Amy and William launch their own investigation. Unfortunately, they discover a long list of suspects, from the gardener who served time in prison for murder to a vengeful woman who was spurned by Ronald before he proposed to Lady Amy.
Can they close the book on the case before the real killer gets away with murder?
A great new cozy mystery series
For some odd reason, I thought that this was a modern mystery series and was (pleasantly) surprised when it wasn’t. I think I had glanced at “Victorian Book Club” and thought they meant a book club that read books SET in Victorian times, not a book club that WAS in Victorian times.
In any case, many of the characters introduced in this story are part of a book club, but unlike other series involving book clubs, the members don’t band together to solve mysteries. In fact, some of the suspects are the book club members.
The main character, Lady Amy Lovell, is a very popular mystery writer who writes under the pseudonym, E.D. Burton. She has to keep her author identity a secret to appease her rich and powerful father, the Marquess of Winchester. Being a mystery writer (obviously) makes Amy very well situated to solve crimes.
But even Amy’s knowledge and skills don’t make solving Ronald’s murder easy, especially since she’s the main suspect.
Amy Lovell has turned out to be one of my favourite new cozy mystery main characters. Aside from her talent as a mystery writer, she is independent and smart. Just take a look at the notes I wrote about her: “25, curvy but not plump, always messy curly auburn hair, light freckles, owner of a white Pomeranian with a missing tail, has contacts in the criminal world, drinks brandy.” She’s definitely not your typical cozy mystery detective!
A cast of interesting characters
Amy isn’t the only interesting character we’re introduced to. There’s Amy’s powerful and old-fashioned father, her feisty aunt Margaret, the varied members of the Mystery Book Club of Bath and Amy’s friend, the dreamy Viscount William Wethington (I have no idea why she was engaged to Ronald when William is RIGHT THERE!)
Even the antagonistic police involved in the case, Detectives Edwin Marsh and Ralph Carson, aren’t as frustrating as some cozy mystery law enforcement members can be. They act pretty much as you expect them to – they treat Amy as their main suspect and do not have a high opinion of the nobility. I thought I would be more annoyed with them (in general, I dislike bumbling, mean-tempered police in mysteries) but Hutton writes them well enough that they are abrasive without being unlikable.
The characters really added to my enjoyment of the series. When the mystery was solved and things were winding up, I genuinely felt sad that the story was over. I’m really looking forward to the next book in this series and can’t wait to see what Amy and William get up to next.
Read A Study in Murder for yourself
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Well, that’s another book for my #AtoZCozy2020 Reading Challenge!
I’m very happy to add Callie Hutton as the letter “H” to my year-long alphabet challenge. I had never read any of Hutton’s books before, and I’m glad I was able to discover this author during this challenge. I’m very happy to add her books to my list.
If you’d like to learn more about the challenge, have some suggestions or want to join in, check out my blog post about it here.
