Review: The Body in the Boat (Hardcastle and Chaytor Mysteries #3) by A.J. MacKenzie

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! 

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)

Review: The Body in the Ice (Hardcastle and Chaytor Mysteries #2) by A.J. MacKenzie

I love this series of murder mysteries set in the late 18th century. I've read all three now and I think this one is my favourite. It starts with Amelia Chaytor being invited to Christmas dinner with her friends, the elderly Miss Roper and Miss Godfrey. It's not going well but things perk up considerably when one of the servants rushes in to say he's found a dead body frozen into the pond. How is the recently deceased connected to the American family who are about to arrive in the village? And just what is the forgotten secret of their old manor house?

In the first book, the Rev Marcus Hardcastle had been sent to St Mary in the Marsh as a form of punishment. Now he's been 'promoted' to Justice of the Peace, although he hopes it is only temporary. His investigation is helped by local widow Amelia Chaytor, whose late husband seems to have been some kind of diplomat/spy, and many of the eccentric characters from the first book also return - Mrs Kemp, Marcus's grumpy housekeeper; the smuggler, Yorkshire Tom; the spinster old ladies, Miss Roper and Miss Godfrey, who are far more savvy than anyone ever gives them credit for and never miss a thing.

The Body in the Ice is a clever, twisty, murder mystery embellished with lots of authentic period detail. The American War of Independence is touched upon, along with slavery. The story raced along to a nail-biting conclusion. I loved the characters and the humour, I particularly loved the addition of Marcus's sister Calpurnia, who writes gothic romantic fiction, and her cowardly dog, Rodolpho.

Brilliant stuff! I loved it. And I can't wait for the next one!

Related posts:

Review: The Body on the Doorstep (Hardcastle and Chaytor Mysteries #1) by A.J. MacKenzie
Review: The Body in the Boat (Hardcastle and Chaytor Mysteries #3) by A.J. MacKenzie

Review: The Body on the Doorstep (Hardcastle and Chaytor Mysteries #1) by A.J. MacKenzie

I downloaded the third book in this series (The Body in the Boat) from NetGalley without realising it was part of a series. I thought it would be fairer to the author if I read this one first, and I'm so glad I did because I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Body on the Doorstep is a historical murder mystery set in 1796. Marcus Hardcastle, the Rector of St Mary in the Marsh, is writing a letter to The Morning Post when he is interrupted by a thunderous knocking on his door. When he opens it, he finds the body of a young man slumped at his feet and a bullet whistling past his head. The victim only lives long enough to whisper his last words: a message for a man named Peter.

St Mary in the Marsh is close to the coast of Kent and the man's death is written off as an argument between smugglers, but the Rev Hardcastle isn't so sure. With the help of a local widow, Amelia Chaytor, he decides to investigate the man's death. But the more he uncovers, the more it becomes clear that someone really doesn't want him to find out the truth. And that smugglers are not the only villains in St Mary in the Marsh.

When I started reading I somehow got it into my head that the Rev Hardcastle was an elderly man but he's actually only 39. Once tipped to become Bishop of Canterbury, he was wild and arrogant as a youth and upset too many important people. His posting to St Mary in the Marsh is actually a form of banishment. His parishioners think of him as a harmless old duffer with a fondness for alcohol, and as his investigation becomes more dangerous he decides it's safer to let people continue thinking that way.

I don't want to say too much more because I don't want to give away the plot, but I loved the mix of murder mystery and adventure, and the cast of eccentric characters - the smugglers, the little old ladies who notice more than they should, a landscape painter by the name of Turner...

The Body on the Doorstep is fast-paced with some real edge-of-the-seat moments, and packed with historical detail. The plot is clever, with some neat twists towards the end, and I didn't guess the identity of the murderer. I absolutely adored it and have already downloaded the second book in the series, The Body in the Ice. Recommended!


Related Posts:

The Body in the Ice (Hardcastle and Chaytor Mysteries #2) by A.J. MacKenzie
The Body in the Boat (Hardcastle and Chaytor Mysteries #2) by A.J. MacKenzie