I enjoyed this book. It was an easy read, the characters are well developed. I hope this will be a series as I would like to read about this group of people and where they go in life. It is set in the past, in the prohibition era. There is a lot more to tell in this story. The actual story, murder took a while to solve - kept me interested. I hope to read more from this author

Fans of the Oak Park series and other Dams sleuths will find this new installment familiar territory. This one reminded me increasingly of her earlier Hilda Johansson series, though Hilda’s circumstances and the affluent Elizabeth Wilkins’s are very different. Still, they are both women seemingly on the periphery of the action, limited by the gender roles of their day, who somewhat implausibly but engagingly get to the bottom of mysteries that flummox others. Much is made of the knowledge women gather and exchange (perhaps it is too oft repeated), and issues of race are at times treated in too simplistic and unsophisticated a manner (including the dialect in which some characters speak and the many references to spirituals), but I applaud the effort to make the privileged Elizabeth’s gradual realization about race matters part of her character development. Dams continues to produce new books at an impressive pace.

Murder of a Recluse is the third book in this series which definitely should be read in order. I really enjoyed this book as the MC, Elizabeth, is getting out more, beginning to make friends, and being more sociable. This time, Fred, Elizabeth's husband, is the lawyer for a woman who is expecting to be charged with the murder of her aunt. Fred doesn't believe she is guilty and is hoping Elizabeth can find out who actually killed the woman. We see less of the Chicago Mob in this book and more of Elizabeth's expanding social circle. It makes for a more typical book in the genre and I was more engaged with Elizabeth's life and the mystery, since it wasn't mob related. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next in the series.

This was a great entry in the Oak Park Village Mystery series, I enjoyed the overall feel of this and how the mystery was used to tell the story. The characters were everything that I was expecting and enjoyed the way they worked in this world. Jeanne M. Dams has a strong writing style and was glad I read this.