REVIEW: A Murder of Convenience by Kathleen Buckley
Ellen Cuthbert’s husband, Randolph, is now the Earl of Keswick’s heir. Their marriage is a sham, and Randolph’s mistress, Lydia, is present at the house party. When she is found murdered in a locked room, all the evidence seems to point to Ellen. And how could the murderer have escaped the locked room except by witchcraft?
Sir Hugh accompanies his cousin, a magistrate, to the scene of the murder. They investigate, appalled to find their childhood friend Ellen appears to be the chief suspect. Hugh’s lack of prospects years ago prevented their marriage. Now if he cannot find the real murderer, there may be only one final service he can perform for Ellen to spare her a slow death at the end of the hangman’s rope.
Dear Ms. Buckley,
It took me a while to figure out that Sir Hugh is one of the characters in “By Sword and Fan.” Now that he’s made another appearance, I hope that we’ll see more of him and his cousin Wallace solving crimes in the north of Georgian England.
I’m going to go ahead and tell readers that if you’re looking for a romance, there is one here but it takes second place to solving the murder mystery. That may be classified as a “police procedural” and “locked room” one as well as a “closed circle” mystery as the suspects are limited to those at the houseparty. I must say that for a group of people who know that one of them is a murderer, they were a bit nonchalant about it. Ah, the difference between then and now.
Sir Hugh and his cousin are both magistrates and though the location is in Wallace’s jurisdiction, Lord Keswick doesn’t put up any fuss about having Sir Hugh helping with the investigation or putting the two of them up for the two weeks it takes to put things together and flush out the killer. I also doubt today that police investigators would be living alongside their suspects in the same country house.
A lot of time is spent on the layout of the house, questioning everyone about their movements on the day of the murder, questioning everyone about what they saw everyone else doing on the day of the murder, and then trying to figure out how on earth the killer got into and out of a locked room. I’ll repeat this – a lot of time is spent on this. There are also many characters – both guests, family, and servants to learn and keep straight. After a while I managed it but it took some time. I also guessed whodunnit, why, and how but maybe I’m more cynical than these two magistrates are, both of whom admit they’ve never handled a murder investigation before.
As with the previous books of yours I’ve read, I appreciate the attention to historical detail. Several different layers of society are depicted and no, they didn’t mix and mingle, nor are there any secret societies. But it’s delightful to see the close bonds between many of the characters. Readers looking for a more modern take on history will not be happy with this book. As I prefer less wallpaper history and more accurate history, I’m fine.
Hugh, Wallace, and Ellen (or Eilidh, to call her by the name her scoundrel of a husband despises) are solid, sensible people. They know the conventions and legalities of their time and are people you’d want on your side in a pickle. Yay, that Hugh and Wallace, despite their long standing friendship with Eilidh, take care to look at all aspects of the situation and maintain an unbiased investigation for not only her sake but that of seeing true justice done. As I said, there is a narrow ribbon of a romance threaded through the story, one that has waited for years to be tied in a bow. But read the book for the carefully done murder mystery. B
~Jayne
AmazonBNKoboBook DepositoryGoogle
