A body in a hospital isn’t so unusual. Unless they’ve been murdered!
1916, London: Keen to support the war effort, bookshop manager and sometime amateur sleuth Hannah Merrill has taken a volunteer role in the library of the nearby military hospital. But arriving at
the hospital one cold winter’s morning, she is horrified to find the body of a dead soldier in the library.
What’s more, a beautiful young nurse confides in Hannah that she thinks she’s being followed, and then she abruptly disappears. Hannah can’t shake the suspicion that the two cases are connected,
but she can’t solve the case alone. She’ll once again need to call upon her delightful, demanding, only-occasionally devious aunt, Violet. The two women know they must find the missing nurse before it’s too late… but they don’t realise they’re now both in the killer’s sights.
Anita Davison is the author of the successful Flora Maguire historical mystery series. Previously published by Aria, she is writing a new cosy mystery series for Boldwood, the first title of which,
Murder in the Bookshop will be published in August 2023.
Facebook Twitter Instagram Newsletter
My thoughts: when Hannah opens up the hospital library where she volunteers, she doesn’t expect to find a body there, but she does. One of the patients, not a popular man, so there’s plenty of suspects to be had. And then a potential witness, one of the nurses, vanishes. What is going on?
Hannah doesn’t need much of an excuse to do some investigating, Aidan doesn’t think it’s connected and to begin with he doesn’t believe the nurse, Alice, is really missing. So much for Scotland Yard! So Hannah, and Aunt Violet, look into the young woman themselves. She thought someone was following her, and everyone they talk to, her landlady, her aunt, her friend, seem to be hiding things. Anyone of them could have been involved.
Unravelling the murdered soldier’s somewhat sordid tale does give a few clues to the missing heiress too, she might have seen something that could be dangerous. But threats come from another angle as Hannah, Aunt Violet, Aidan and Darius visit Lowestoft, the most easterly town in England, to get some answers.
Set amid the worries of WW1, and threats in the North Sea, this is a smart, entertaining and enjoyable crime read.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 