Monday, December 20, 2021

The Mystery of Albert E. Finch

Title: The Mystery of Albert E. Finch
Author: Callie Hutton
Published: January 11th 2022 by Crooked Lane Books
Format: Kindle, Hardcover, 336 pages
Genre: Historical Cozy Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Victorian Book Club Mystery #3

First Sentence: "I, Lady Amy Lovell, am a bride."

Synopsis: Bath, England, 1892. Celebrated mystery author Lady Amy Lovell is set to tie the knot with Lord William Wethington, a fellow member of the Mystery Book Club of Bath. Amy's great-aunt, Lady Priscilla Granville, has offered to host their wedding at her stately Derby Manor House. But on the eve of the ceremony, the festive air in the drawing room is marred by Mrs. Alice Finch's argument with her husband, Albert, in another room. The next morning at the wedding breakfast, Alice falls face-first into her breakfast—dead.

When Amy and William's favorite detectives are summoned to the house, they see two champagne glasses in front of Mrs. Finch and none in front of her husband. Did Albert give his wife a poisoned drink? Always looking for the easiest solution, the detectives charge Albert with the murder.

But Lady Amy is not convinced that Albert is guilty. There are too many things that don't add up. In the hopes of being able to leave Bath and begin their honeymoon, Amy and William once again take things into their own hands. Suspects begin to pop up, but nothing takes them more by surprise than the discovery of a second body.

Stuck in Bath until the whole poisonous predicament is solved, Amy and William are anxious to collar the perfidious poisoner and be on their way to their honeymoon. If they can't catch the killer, not only is their newlywed bliss under threat, but they may not live to see happily-ever-after at all.

My Opinion: Book 3 in the Victorian Book Club Mystery was a stumbling block for me. I read the first third, skimmed the middle part, and picked it up again near the end. The story was slow with too many ‘tis and ‘twould for my liking, and if tea were an addition, every character would need rehab. The who-done-it part had an interesting twist, but Callie Hutton had taken way too long to get there.

Not sure this is a series I would consider continuing. I enjoyed the first book, A Study in Murder, wished there was more banter between Amy and William in A Sign of Death, and book three was on the dull side.

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