This was a really intriguing book and I greatly enjoyed it.

Books set in the past can be a little hit or miss but this one was a definite hit. The author does a great job of portraying the now outdated attitudes mixed in with more salient modern attitudes.

The mystery itself takes several twists and turns as it unravels and has both easy and harder to guess moments for the audience.

The main characters are likable and the switch between them is seamless.

I would definitely read more books in this series and by this author in general.

I enjoyed this mystery. It was both well written and entertaining. I would love to read more from this author!

4 stars

I read the Kindle edition.

It’s 1926 in a “suburb” of London, England.

Twenty-three year old Jenny Langton is a secretary/estate agent at a local estate agency. She is sent out to review and assess a local home named Saunder’s Green for rent or sale. While looking around the home, she has some particularly upsetting experiences.

When she discusses it with her close friend Betty Haldean (newly married to author Jack Haldean), Betty suggests that Jenny may want to speak to Jack about what happened. Jenny agrees to the plan. Jack becomes interested and offers some explanations for what happened to Jenny. He speaks to his good friend Chief Inspector Bill Rackham.

When trying to get anyone to speak about what occurred at Saunder’s Green some twenty years earlier they either get very angry or simply won’t talk about “the scandal.” Jack puts an advertisement in the paper to solicit replies. He gets some interested parties. To a person they want him to drop his investigation.

Jenny’s reaction at Saunder’s Green was apparently a repressed memory at her witnessing a possible murder! Her brother finally comes forward with a part of the truth. Jenny and Jack are astounded. Then women start disappearing.

What is going on? Has the murderer come back to London? Jack decides to go back to Saunder’s Green for one more look around. He makes a startling discovery. Jack pulls the pieces of the puzzle together. After an exciting arrest scene, the murderer is identified. I must admit that I did not suspect them, but did not believe that the accused person was the murderer either.

This story starts out slowly, but picks up after a time. I liked Jack, Betty, Jenny and Bill. They were great characters, and so sensible. The story was well written and plotted and I liked that it brought out the early 1920’s so clearly; from the motorcars to the people living in London at that time. The plotting as linear, that is to say one event followed another in a logical progression. I truly enjoyed the novel. This is my first Dolores Gordon-Smith book, but it won’t be my last. I immediately went to Amazon to look for other books by Ms. Gordon-Smith.

I want to thank NetGalley and Severn House for forwarding to me a copy of this very good book for me to read, enjoy and review.