I do love a period mystery - and this is a very good one!

Newly wed to lawyer Fred, Elizabeth Wilkins is eagerly waiting for their new build home to be finished. In the meantime, Fred gets a new case and is concerned that his client is going to be charged with murdering her aunt due to a lack of any other possibilities. Elizabeth wants to help her new husband in any way she can and settles on extracting as much information as she can from the townswomen; after all, the females always know what's going on, don't they?

I did enjoy this one! Full of terrific characters with more that a few surprises along the way it had me hooked from first to last. I'm only sorry I hadn't read the earlier ones in the series beforehand, but I may well manage to get around to them. Beautifully written and true to the period, I would certainly recommend this book to lovers of good period mysteries. For me, 4.5*.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley.

The third book in the series finds the main character, Elizabeth Wilkins, working to determine whether one of her husband Fred's clients is guilty of murder. Elizabeth and Fred's Aunt Lucy search for clues going back decades to find the culprit. Elizabeth expands her social circle among the leading ladies of the town to investigate family relationships. Al Capone's gangsters make an odd appearance, as they did in previous books in the series, which seems unlikely for a woman of Elizabeth's time and social class. A diverting read, and it's good to see Elizabeth's growth as a character. Thanks to Severn House and NetGalley for the eARC.

An engaging protagonist and a nicely atmospheric 1920s setting make this kinda cozy a good read, even if it's a standalone for you. Elizabeth finds herself helping her husband Fred prove that his client Caroline did not murder her aunt, a woman who was not well liked. Elizabeth discovers that there's a way to collect information that Fred can't- by joining a women's club. While it might be gossip, it's also a way for Fred to find new paths of investigation. No spoilers from me. Thanks to Netgalley for the arc. Another winner from Dams.

I read the first book in this series, Murder in the Park, when it came out in 2021. It stuck in my head, and when I picked up the latest book four years later, the place and characters came back to me right away. Set in a Chicago suburb in the 20’s, the books follow now new bride Elizabeth Wilkins. She’s separated herself at last from a difficult and controlling mother and is finding life as a young bride very pleasant. She and her husband are building a house and are making space for his Aunt Lucy in their new home.

Aunt Lucy has served basically as a mother to her husband Fred, a lawyer, and Elizabeth loves her as much as Fred does. The two of them step up when Fred is flummoxed by a new client: Caroline Dobbs, who is accused of murdering her cranky Aunt Agatha, who lived alone in squalor. While there’s no direct evidence, a neighbor had come by the house shortly after Caroline’s departure to discover Agatha’s body. Fred is convinced of Caroline’s imminent arrest.

The case rests on hearsay. And what Elizabeth can provide to Fred is basically hearsay, in the form of women’s talk to one another. In her effort to find out information, she joins the prestigious Nineteenth Century Women’s Club to access the network of connections provided by the wives of judges and politicians and prominent society figures. Whenever she turns up a bit of a lead, Fred then sets his investigator on it. Between them, they discover the truth of the case.

The mystery part of this is well set up and thought out, but what shines are the characters. Elizabeth herself is a young woman finding herself, learning to stand up to her mother, and setting up her own household. Caroline, the accused woman, is just as fascinating. She’s reluctant to talk but with Elizabeth’s persistently gently interrogation she does begin to share a bit of information. Some of it is revealed as the two women clear Aunt Agatha’s home which is filled with junk, as is Caroline’s own dusty home.

Elizabeth and Lucy have also made friends – via the age old method of fresh cookies – with some of Al Capone’s men who are camped out in Oak Park. She met Capone in the last outing and this different network is also a help to Elizabeth and Lucy as they continue gentle questioning of many of the town’s residents.

Dams really gives the reader a good feel for what life in 1926 might have been like. While Oak Park would now be considered a suburb, in 1926 it was a village near Chicago with its own identity. Elizabeth draws on her knowledge of the community as she conducts her investigation, something that wouldn’t be so easy in a big city like Chicago.

This was a pleasant read with characters I was happy to meet up with again, and I enjoyed the rhythm of Elizabeth’s life. Dams made me feel like I was a part of it as I read, no small feat on her part. This author’s work remains solid and consistently readable, and I am so appreciative of her decades of work, which now includes over thirty five novels.

Elizabeth and her lawyer husband Fred have returned from their honeymoon. Aunt Lucy has moved in with them and housekeepers Alice and Susannah are fastidious, loyal and keen bakers. Alice is an excellent teacher and mentor to Susannah who is eager to please. But idyl doesn't last forever. One of Fred's clients is accused of murder, a stressful time for everyone. Elizabeth has several reasons for joining the Nineteenth Century Club, including inveigling and listening to gossip. She wishes to clear Caroline Dobbs who is said to have killed Agatha Dobbs. She also hopes to get her mother constructively involved in the village.

Set in the 1920s, the atmosphere swirls with intrigue, the Klan and mobsters. Al Capone himself makes appearances. The plot is well crafted and the writing is pleasing with just the right touch of history. Several characters are likeable but the dearest to me is Alice who is compassionate and efficient.

The mystery itself is fun to be immersed in but for me the stars are the characters. I appreciate that the novel is refreshingly clean and sweet, yet not in a gaggy way. The writing is striking and engaging and I will now happily read everything by this author I can get my hands on. Pure joy!

Fred Wilkins and Elizabeth are now back from their honeymoon, and Aunt Lucy has moved in with them. Fred has a new client, Caroline Dobbs who has been accused of murdering her Aunt Agatha by a nosy neighbor of her aunt, and he is very worried about being able to prove her not guilty. Caroline never knew her parents and has very little money or support. Her aunt is her only known relative and they don't get along very well. They believe that Aunt Agatha, thought to be an ald maid, has a lot of money set aside, but she hasn't shared much with Caroline. Thus, Elizabeth and Aunt Lucy agree to help. They begin by bringing cookies to Al Capone's gangsters to find out if they know anything. Then, Elizabeth joins the 19th century women's club in order to be able to get some help. Elizabeth and Aunt Lucy help Caroline to clean out her house, and begin asking questions. They soon find out by finding some other relatives that the relationship between Aunt Agatha and Caroline is not what they thought. Can they figure out everything before Caroline in arrested?

I thank Netgalley and Severn House for the ARC so that I could real the book before publication. This is the third book in an excellent series.

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.