An entertaining historical mystery. I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and the publisher.

We meet our heroine, a bookshop owner with a passion for ancient history just before a murder takes place in the shop next to hers. She starts to receive notes hinting at the killers next crimes and finds herself compelled to investigate, to protect potential victims, to solve the case. However she puts herself in danger, earning the concern of the investigating police officers.

This is set in the 1920s and we see our main character straining against the expectations of society, she broke off her engagement, went to university and took over her bookshop. Yet she is continually underestimated by men, her family encouraging her to reconcile with her former fiancé, her choices continually questioned, friends not understanding her desire for a dusty bookshop over a life of leisure. She certainly causes a shock when she chooses to solve a murder on top of all this. Yet she is determined. Determined to solve the case and to protect her shop. She’s a fantastic main character.

There’s much to like in this book, the focus around the bookshop, the recognisable London landmarks, the reverence for ancient Egyptian history, the museums, the questioning of the past.

The first couple of pages of this book had a weird, very dramatic style but this didn’t continue beyond that intro and I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the book.

This was such a wonderful read with amazing characters and a good solid plot.

I love golden age mysteries and this one set in 1928 tell the story of murder and mystery was right up my alley.

Lucy is a woman of means, she owns a bookstore which is quite magical, she stumbles across a murder and she turns investigator.

It is well written, has all the drama and a few twists.

A good one sit read..

This was a very good golden age set murder mystery and the start of a new series.

The protagonist is Lucy Darkweather, socialite, bookseller and sleuth. She has always marched to the beat of her own drum, ending her engagement to a boy of good family, going to Oxford to earn a degree in Ancient History and then horrifying her family by opening a bookstore. Her past and present collide when she attends an exhibition of Ancient Egyptian treasures and instead stumbles on a murder! Being who she is she can’t leave well enough alone and so begins investigating the crime herself. She’s aided by her friends and colleagues at the bookstore and abetted by the Inspector in charge of the case who seems to have a reluctant admiration for her.

The plot itself was well done, the red herrings were clever and the author led me where she wanted me to go with ease. I did guess the murderer but it was close to the end and in hindsight the clues were there all along. The only thing I wasn’t completely sold on was the character development. I felt that my understanding of the characters in the story was largely superficial so struggled to get invested in the outcome. Hopefully if there are more books in the series this will change.

All in all I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys Golden age mysteries as this is an excellent one!

*** Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher ***