Silence in the Library is the second book in Katharine Schellman’s Lily Adler mystery series, which is a historical cozy mystery set in Regency period England.
Title: Silence in the Library
Author: Katharine Schellman
Series: Lily Adler Mysteries #2
First Published: July 13, 2021
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Genres: 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. ***
Regency widow Lily Adler has finally settled into her new London life when her semi-estranged father arrives unexpectedly, intending to stay with her while he recovers from an illness. Hounded by his disapproval, Lily is drawn into spending time with Lady Wyatt, the new wife of an old family friend. Lily barely knows Lady Wyatt. But she and her husband, Sir Charles, seem as happy as any newly married couple until the morning Lily arrives to find the house in an uproar and Sir Charles dead.
All signs indicate that he tripped and struck his head late at night. But when Bow Street constable Simon Page is called to the scene, he suspects foul play. And it isn’t long before Lily stumbles on evidence that Sir Charles was, indeed, murdered.
Page was there when Lily caught her first murderer, and he trusts her insight into the world of London’s upper class. With the help of Captain Jack Hartley, they piece together the reasons that Sir Charles’s family might have wanted him dead. But anyone who might have profited from the old man’s death seems to have an alibi… until Lily receives a mysterious summons to speak with one of the Wyatts’ maids, only to find the young woman dead when she arrives.
Page believes the surviving family members are hiding the key to the death of both Sir Charles and the maid. To uncover the truth, Lily must convince the father who doesn’t trust or respect her to help catch his friend’s killer before anyone else in the Wyatt household dies.
A wonderfully intriguing mystery series with memorable characters
The first book in this series, The Body in the Garden, was one that I absolutely adored (you can read my review of it here) so I had been excitedly waiting for the sequel. As with most sophomore books, it can either be just as good as the first book, or fall completely short of the high expectations. I’m happy to report that this one is definitely the former. The sequel is just as interesting and charming as the first book and this series is shaping up to be one that will be on my “can’t miss” list.
Part of the reason I really enjoy this series is the “trio” of sleuths, comprised of Lily Adler, her friend Captain Jack Hartley, and Bow Street constable Simon Page.
The main character, Lily, is delightful. She is charming, self-confident, kind and is trying to navigate her way in society as a single woman after losing the love of her life. While she has been widowed for awhile now, she still feels some pangs of guilt whenever she considers “moving on”. She also isn’t pushy or overly assertive when trying to help solve the mystery. She strikes a nice balance between knowing when to insert herself into an investigation and when to step back and this makes her get along nicely with the Page, who otherwise has a healthy wariness of the upper class.
Page is written as a competent law enforcement officer. He has some misgivings about dealing with the upper classes, but he is finding his way and I think his confidence and manner in dealing with them has improved since the first book. He’s obviously very bright and knows that sometimes he has to play up to the snobs in order to get them to answer his questions.
Hartley provides a lot of the brevity and humour in the books and he’s a bit of a charming rogue. He keeps a strictly friends-only attitude with Lily, which is understandable given that he was her deceased husband’s best friend, but I hope (fingers crossed!) that there’s a bit of romance in the future for him and Lily. They make a great couple and complement each other very well. Their banter is natural and honestly very sweet and together they are one of my favourite cozy mystery couples (although they are technically not a couple yet!)
Of course, not everyone is sunshine and rainbows. In this book, we’re introduced to Lily’s previously-estranged father (who was only hinted at in the previous book). He doesn’t think much of his daughter and seems to hold very strict etiquette rules (which Lily obviously doesn’t obey). He doesn’t approve of Lily’s friendship with Hartley or her becoming involved in a murder investigation. I found him an all-round unlikable character and hope that he doesn’t take up too much ink in future stories.
A mystery that was easily solved (for me, anyway)
There’s not much sympathy for the victim. We mainly “meet” Sir Charles via descriptions by those who know him, including Lily’s father, Charles new wife, and both Charles’ son and nephew. But we only know Sir Charles ourselves for a few pages before he’s killed. So there wasn’t much time to build up any sense of loss for the character, but we do see how his death affects those around him. And from those reactions, we get a better picture of the victim than if we had spent pages reading about him.
I also had a bit of a different experience reading this book. Usually I start guessing who the culprit is sometime past the halfway-mark of a book and then as clues start to drop and suspects get eliminated, I refine my guess.
This one… well, pretty much near the start of the book, as characters were still being introduced I knew instinctively who the murderer would be (before the victim was even discovered) and not only that, I had the motive guessed as well. It was hilariously like one of those lightbulb moments where I latched onto the idea (victim and motive) in a flash. Of course, I kept reading the book until the end but my original guess on both the murderer and the motive were right on target. It wasn’t that the author gave anything away in the writing, but I had just finished binge-watching a bunch of old Agatha Christie Poirot TV shows and there were similarities between some of the characters that put me on the right path.
That being said, I still found the unravelling of the mystery and the interaction of the characters incredibly enjoyable. The dialogue is well written and the story hums along at a nice pace. The story doesn’t really lag at any point and the information and clues are spread out evenly. It was still very satisfying to see the murderer get caught and to read the explanation of their motive. I think that’s the mark of a great story – even though I had already guessed the ending, I still needed to see it play out and to see how the characters reacted to it.
The ending of the book wrapped up a lot of the story but still left a few tantalising hints at things to come in the next instalment. I can’t wait to see what fun Lily Adler (and Jack Hartley) get up to next!
Read Silence in the Library for yourself
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