I downloaded this book because I was attracted by the cover and I love historical mysteries. I then realised it was actually #3 in a series, so I had to quickly read the other books first!
The Body in the Boat probably has one of the best openings I've read for a long time. One foggy night, the local constable and sometime smuggler Joshua Stemp catches his rival with a coffin in his boat. Is he up to no good? Undoubtedly. But the other man has a large dog and an equally large knife, and so Joshua is forced to make a tactical retreat. A few days later a local banker is found washed up in another boat, extremely dead, along with one bloodstained gold coin. Are the two events connected? It's up to the Reverend Marcus Hardcastle and his friend Amelia Chaytor to find out.
These books are usually centred around a historical event, and in this case it is the introduction of paper money, and the effect it had on the banks. All the lovably eccentric characters from the earlier books are here: wily smugglers, sneaky French spies, feisty widows, and a Wicked Lady-ish debutante turned smuggler. Although the plots are suitably twisty, it is definitely the characters that make this series for me, along with the flashes of dry humour. While this particular story started a bit slowly, the end was as nail-bitingly thrilling as its predecessors.
The only negative for me was that Rev Hardcastle spent a large chunk of the story questioning each suspect in turn, and I'd rather he had become directly involved with the action like the earlier books. And in this one Amelia doesn't have a lot to do. But I love this series and hope I won't have too long to wait for the next one! Recommended!
The only negative for me was that Rev Hardcastle spent a large chunk of the story questioning each suspect in turn, and I'd rather he had become directly involved with the action like the earlier books. And in this one Amelia doesn't have a lot to do. But I love this series and hope I won't have too long to wait for the next one! Recommended!
Thank you to A.J. MacKenzie, Bonnier Zaffre, and NetGalley for my copy of this book, which I received in exchange for an honest review.
Related Posts:
Review: The Body on the Doorstep by A.J. MacKenzie (Hardcastle and Chaytor Mysteries #1)
Review: The Body in the Ice by A.J. MacKenzie (Hardcastle and Chaytor Mysteries #2)
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