Publication Date: 19th September 2023
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
It was perhaps unwise to delve into the fourth Lily Adler Mystery series, by Katharine Schellman, without having read the previous three, however I was quickly transported into a story world that was intriguing and comfortingly familiar in terms of what we might expect from a wintery murder mystery. Set in the Regency period, widow Lily Adler finds herself trapped at a party due to a severe snowstorm. With no promise of it abating, overnight things taken a further turn for the worse, as fellow party attendee and Gregory Edison is murdered. Schellman deliberately set the novel during 1816 to reflect the notorious ‘year without a summer’ a time that was characteristised by abnormal weather conditions, casting the globe into a perpetual season of storms and wintery showers.
This perpetual winter serves to set the scene and intensify the drama as all the characters are trapped in close proximity with no chance of escape. Lily Adler, who has demonstrated her sleuth like abilities in the previous novels, works alongside her brother-in-law, John to uncover the motives and grievances characters may have had towards the victim which leaves the reader guessing ‘who dun it’ right until the novel’s climax and resolution. I did really enjoy reading this novel and I also liked how the writer highlighted the levels of complexity around attitudes towards female decorum and status during this time. For example, Amelia Hartley is a character who is drawn under suspicion and is told repeatedly to be mindful of not courting gossip and bad feeling amongst the other guests, a fate that seems far worse than being charged with murder. There is also a poignant moment when an older female character, Mrs. Coleridge, chides Lily for feeling ‘underestimated.’ She states ‘try spending a day as a woman past her prime. They applaud you if you manage to keep your head on your shoulders, never mind have a coherent thought in it.’ These speak to not only the complexities faced by the characters in the book but also issues we face in society today.
Overall the book is a perfect cosy Christmas read with characters that are well drawn and a story world that augments the increasing tension we all want from a crime drama. Happily I get to go back and read more from the series- preferably from the beginning.
Thank you to NetGalley for my copy.
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