The title is foreboding, and the setting in part reflects that, with a Victorian sanatorium for the insane as a backdrop. The rest, however, is English cosy crime of a high order. There's the female amateur detective, Kate, an American with the obligatory professional police love interest. Many of the sprawling cast know almost everyone else, and the long ago crime stretches its tangled roots through not only the immediate village but out to several surrounding towns. All it needs is a bit more emphasis on police procedure to be a fitting entry in a Midsomer Murder episode.

The author has some sneaky humour in there, as the sanatorium's former name was Netherfield Hall. Yes, like that famous Jane Austen line, “Netherfield Hall is let at last.” Another nod is to cosy mystery royalty via the name of Brightwell, as in the famous author of the Mrs. Jeffries mysteries.

Our amateur sleuth, an antiquarian dealer, is competent, intelligent, and apparently lacking any deep psychological traumas which is a nice change from many modern sleuths. Moreover, she is almost always thinking about the investigation and analyzing what she has learned about her unfolding collection of mysteries.

I use the word "collection" advisedly. Not only is there mystery around what happened to a family 50 years ago, in a strangely modernist house we will all recognize from its appearances in various Poirot TV episodes, but there’s also mystery around a possibly forged antiquity, and over who in the current generation could possibly have enough at stake in these decades-old crimes to go after a bunch of seniors who were teenagers at the time and didn’t think they knew anything of import about any of it. There are also some sidelights on the incestuous nature of modern corporate and developer finances, and how some family money and connections tend to persist across generations.

The only real drawback I found is the sprawling cast: so many minor characters are coming and going in this mystery that they start to pile up and blur by the midpoint.

Overall, the book is an absorbing read, as winding as any hike through the history and hills of an English countryside, where each twist of the trail promises new revelations, rain may fall, and there's a cosy pub with a crackling fire at the end of it all.

Fourth in the series I feel the stories are getting better with each one.
Maybe because we constantly learning more about the various characters we got to love in the previous book.
Kate is continuing with her wedding plans to Tom. Tom’s mother continues to be hostile and makes Kate feel very unwelcome in the family. Decisions need to be made. Go back to Ohio and have Tom find work in the States which means leaving her friends that she has grown very fond of behind but living in the same house with Tom’s mother would be impossible. With all this going on we also get a nice mystery presented. A dead body in the graveyard turns out to be Vivian’s first boyfriend who she hasn’t seen again since she was a teenager. She tries to recall what happened during that time at the seaside holiday camp to get some understanding of his murder. The possibility of the “Jan Van Eyck” painting might be a forgery could create problems for Ivor who had agreed to deal with the auction to sell the painting.
This book has many twists and turns that will keep you guessing and it will be hard to put it down.

Could a murder from 60 years ago when Will, Vivian, and other friends were teenagers resurface and have them in danger?

Will was murdered as he was on his way to see Vivian, but no one is really sure what he was going to tell her.

Vivian's friend Kate finds out from Will's son that he had received a package that contained a piece he used when they played Cluedo those sixty years ago. Vivian remembered they each had a game piece.

Kate is an art dealer and very interested in the 60-year-old murder since a few other friends received packages with game pieces. This means danger for Vivian and the other friends. Vivian isn't sure how to get in touch with all the other teenage friends, though, but someone does.

Knowing Will was murdered after receiving that package and that others received packages too made Kate and Vivian nervous.

Another question and perhaps a problem is if a painting Kate is determining its value for may be connected to the murder as well as the person who bought Monkey Puzzle House.

Why would someone want to restore a house where a murder took place? Are they looking for clues as they tear the place apart and murdering those who knew something from 60 years ago?

This was my first book by Miss Barry and the first time I met Kate as a recurring character.

An enjoyable, non-violent mystery with very likable characters and a wonderful lesson about paintings, understanding how to determine their worth, and learning how they could be forged. 5/5

This book was given to me by the publisher for an honest review.

The sale of a painting by Jan Van Eyck brings antiques dealers Ivor Tweedy and Kate Hamilton to Netherfield Sanitorium. The owners of the closed sanitorium are redeveloping the property and the painting’s sale would bring in needed funds. Kate questions the authenticity of the painting and additional testing is arranged. Sixty years earlier one of the doctors from the sanitorium and his wife were poisoned. The ruling was accidental death, but a group of teens from a nearby camp broke into the doctor’s abandoned home two years later to discover what really happened. Basing their investigation on the game Cluedo they each chose a weapon from the game and one of the members, Will Parker, kept notes. On their last day at the camp their notes and weapons were closed in a box and hidden. Now in the present Will has been murdered. A retired police investigator, he had received a parcel with his weapon enclosed, reigniting his interest in the case. Several other members of the group received similar parcels and soon either died or disappeared. Kate’s friend Vivian was a member of the group and has also received a parcel. Kate has an ability to look at information and see patterns and now senses that the doctor’s murder and the current deaths may be tied to the Van Eyck painting.

Kate is an American who has found a home in England. She is a widow with grown children who still has an antiques business in the US. She has recently been engaged to DI Tom Mallory, who is investigating Will’s death. With Vivian’s life in danger and Ivor’s business possibly dependent on the commission of the Van Eyck’s sale, Kate begins an investigation of her own. Everything seems to lead back to the doctor’s house. It has been abandoned since his death but the family has finally put it up for sale. As Kate tries to protect Vivian she has now put them both in the path of a killer.. This is the fourth book in Connie Berry’s series where Kate has proven herself to be resourceful and has become a popular resident of Long Barston, a charming village that will have you looking forward to returning for another adventure with Kate. I would like to thank NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing this book for my review.

The fourth entry in the Kate Hamilton series is even better than 1-3. The characters are developed more and more with each book, and here we see some progression with the series thread of Kate & Tom’s relationship. That backstory supports the complex mystery that is full of misdirection and clever twists.

Berry’s books can be read on their own, but I’d recommend starting at the beginning of the series and working up to this one. You’ll feel like you’ve made a whole village-worth of new friends.

The authentication of a Dutch masterpiece and a cold case investigation at a notorious historic home interconnect in Connie Berry's fourth Kate Hamilton mystery.

As she prepares for her upcoming wedding to DI Tom Mallory, antiques-appraiser Kate Hamilton and her associate Ivor Tweedy are asked to authenticate a fifteenth-century painting, Christ Healing the Demoniac, by Dutch master Jan Van Eyck. The painting resides at the Cliff House, a former sanatorium currently under renovations to become luxury flats.

When Kate and her friend Vivian Bunn stumble across a man's body in the graveyard and the man has Vivian's name and address written on a piece of paper beside him, the plot thickens. The dead man is none other than Will Parker, a now-retired detective and Vivian's childhood sweetheart, whom she hasn't seen in decades, not since her family vacationed at a seaside camp near the notorious Monkey Puzzle House, where a doctor and his wife died mysteriously two years earlier. Vivian reports that one night, she, Will, and three other teenagers broke into the Monkey Puzzle House and, finding it just as it was the night of the mysterious deaths, decided to form their own investigation. Now, sixty years later, Will is dead, and someone seems to be targeting the other members of their teenage detective group, Vivian included.

This was an excellent mystery with a complex plot, full of twists, turns, and misdirection. I particularly enjoyed the art-authentication aspects of the story and seeing whether or not the Van Eyck painting would interconnect with the Monkey Puzzle House mystery from the early 1960s. In addition, Kate, Tom, and their relationship are given good character development as they plan their wedding, where they would like to live in the future, and how to deal with Tom's demanding mother. I haven't read the first three mysteries in this series, but now I would like to go back and do so.

Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books, and author Connie Berry for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

A top notch, well-plotted installment in the Kate Hamilton series. In this instance, Kate comes upon a dead body while looking into a 1960's era puzzle and authenticating a painting. While this seems complicated, it works out well.

I'm really enjoying this series (this is the third one I've read of the four books currently in the series). The plots and the characters (especially American Kate and her love, the British DI Tom) have drawn me in. The one I've not read is the first one and it does seem clear to me that these can be read as standalones.

Absolutely loved this book!!

Another solid entry in the Kate Hamilton series. Kate gets pulled into one mystery when she stumbles over a dead man in a graveyard and a second when she and Ivor are asked to authenticate a painting, all while negotiating her engagement and a prickly potential mother-in-law.

While I liked Connie Berry’s The Art of Betrayal, I loved the fourth in her Kate Hamilton series, The Shadow of Memory. The traditional mystery is carefully plotted, and all the pieces fit together beautifully. The characters, the antiques, and the setting always make Berry’s series shine. This time, though, the mystery is skillfully woven into a seamless story with nothing forgotten.

Kate Hamilton is an American antiques dealer, a widow, who is now engaged to Detective Inspector Tom Mallory with the Suffolk, England, police force. During her short time in Suffolk she’s made friends, including the group of women who attend Angela Vine’s full-day hen party before her upcoming marriage to the local vicar. After dinner, Kate walks home with two of those women, and finds a man’s body in the graveyard. Close by, she finds a paper with the name and address for one of those friends, Vivian Bunn.

It’s not obvious how the man died, but even Tom assumes it was a natural death. When Vivian learns the man’s name, she recognizes it. Will Parker might have been a retired police detective, but Vivian remembers him as her first romance. She was only seventeen, and spent a summer week with her parents at Hopley’s Camp. Why was a retired CID detective looking for her fifty-years later?

Despite finding the body, Kate has business to handle. She accompanies Ivor Tweedy, a local dealer in fine antiques, and the owner of The Cabinet of Curiosities, to a former Victorian hospital, Netherfield Sanatorium. The current board is turning the hospital into townhouses and flats, and they want some antiques appraised. They hope Ivor can sell an oil painting for them, a previously unknown piece by fifteenth century Dutch master Jan van Eyck. But, something about the painting feels wrong to Kate, and she and Ivor insist that the piece be authenticated.

It’s only when Tom informs Kate and Vivian of the unusual reason for Will Parker’s death that Vivian starts to reveal more about the summer she was seventeen. The five teens that ran around together built a murder case involving an abandoned house. Will put the case together. As the police reveal more about Will’s death and his recent life, Vivian weaves a mysterious story of the past and five teens. Five teens who are now all seniors. Kate mourns Will’s death. “Sad as it was, elderly people died all the time. Except this one had died alone in a graveyard in a strange village. And I’d found him.” But, she’ll have more worries when she learns Vivian’s memories of Hopley’s Camp lead to Miracle-on-Sea, the village where Netherfield Sanatorium is located.

Berry’s beautifully developed cast of characters, includes one the reader only meets over the phone. Kate’s beloved mother is her advisor and mentor. Kate and Tom are two mature characters hoping to make a life together. But, they both come with adult children, parents, and history that they need to learn to merge. She’s built a fascinating support group of characters.

I won’t spoil this complex puzzle with more description. The Shadow of Memory is an intriguing mystery with roots in the past. What can I add to a storyline that includes a former sanatorium, an abandoned house, a historical art piece, and a mystery that’s over fifty years old? Maybe, I’ll just say it’s one of the best books I’ve read this year.

The Shadow of Memory is the fourth book in the series by Connie Barry, and I've enjoyed each book. In this latest mystery, Kate Hamilton, American antiques appraiser, is engaged to her detective love, Tom, and she's working for Ivor Tweedy in his antiques shop. When the two of them are called on to appraise a painting by Jan Van Eyck for a group of investors who plan to turn the Netherfield Sanitorium into luxury townhouses, Kate is skeptical about whether the painting is genuine. This begins an amazing story about the past of the hospital and a murder that occurred in the family of one of its doctors. Many aspects of the past spill over into the present day as several murders occur.

It's lovely to return to Long Barston in Suffolk, England as we also look in on some twists and turns in Kate and Tom's relationship. With their marriage on the horizon, they must decide where they will live in the future--England or America--and what they will do with Tom's disapproving mother.

I enjoyed Barry's story that had great pacing, charming characters, and relatable villains. She is fast becoming one of my favorite mystery writers. The village beckons in each story and it feels like coming home to a familiar place. Both the plots and subplots are filled with difficult ethical decisions, and the clues are well-placed. Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for allowing me to read this mystery pre-publication.

Kate Hamilton is helping run an antiques business - it was meant to be temporary but meeting Tom and deciding on getting
married to him has put them both in a quandary. She has a home and a business back in America and Tom is well established in England. Their wedding date is fluid but she knows that this has to be decided. Tom's mother is the proverbial difficult mother in law and that problem has also got to be solved.

The fact that Kate gets drawn into mystery and murders is part of the charm. Called with her boss Ivor to assess a painting
which the owners believe is worth millions, despite everyone else's thoughts on the subject, Kate holds back sensing something is wrong. This literally sets the cat amongst the pigeons. A decades old story and several bodies turning up makes sure that Kate who is not the kind to let go of an investigation, doggedly pursues the case despite high ranking people influencing others to let it lie.

Set in a small town atmosphere, the cozy is a good one. Good as a stand alone too.

I would like to thank @Netgalley and the publishers for giving me a chance to read @The Shadow of Memory by Connie Berry. This was a delightful, old-fashioned mystery that felt like an update of an Agatha Christie favorite. The heroine is an antiques dealer with an instinct for discovering fakes—a lively woman with grown children and a dashing detective as fiancé. Add that it is set in the English countryside, with elderly titled ladies as the heroine’s close friends and partners in detection, and you have a book designed to provide pleasure and escape for the many readers of (probably) middle-age who don’t want anything too jarring with their afternoon tea.

I have been avoiding the word “cosy,” since the The Shadow of Memory is too well-crafted to deserve the implied sneer. The writing is smooth, the mystery is cleverly designed, and the suspense is maintained throughout, sometimes through lists of detective’s questions that unobtrusively keep the reader on track. The characters are likable and their knowledge of antiques is convincing. This is practiced writing that does a very good job of what it sets out to do. I was happy to make the acquaintance of Kate Hamilton, her fiancé Tom, and her friends Lady Barbara and the aptly named Ivor Tweedy. And I will seek out other books in this series when I need to occupy my mind with a pleasant, well-handled mystery.

When an arc was offered, returning to Long Barston, Suffolk, England with Kate Hamilton made complete sense. I loved the small town atmosphere with returning characters from previous stories. They were a quirky bunch of people.

The suspense surrounding a painting and murder grasped my curiosity from the get-go and, of course, there was Tom, the local CI and Kate’s fiancee. Patient, and kind yet assertive when needed to be, he was the yang to Kate’s yin.

Their friends felt like family now. Kate’s involvement with Ivor, using her experience with selling antiques, was more than a partnership. I liked the little guy with his quizzing and memories.

Vivian mothered Kate and sometimes for very good reasons. When Vivian’s flame from years ago was found murdered, Kate and Tom were there to help. There was a large pool of possible criminals; it was up to Tom with his vast experience and Kate, the amateur sleuth, to solve the case.

I am looking forward to their wedding and whatever else is in store for them in the near future. Thank you to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books and Connie Berry for sending me this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This series continues to be one of my favourites. The characters are well-rounded, the dialogue is realistic and not 'dumbed-down' unnecessarily, and moves the story on smoothly. This time, Kate and Ivor Tweedy have been asked to assess the value of some valuables at an ex-sanatorium, which has been purchased by a development group who are planning to turn it into a block of luxury flats.

Kate stumbles upon the body of a man, a stranger to the village, and from there the mystery of who he is, what he was doing there, and how he's connected to the village begins. Not is all as it seems. Kate is nothing if not intrepid, however, and she and DI Mallory, Ivor Tweedy, and her friends and neighbours in the village unravel a sixty-year-old secret that someone is working very hard to keep that way. Concern grows when the body count keeps going up.

These books are intelligent and clever, have wonderful mysteries, characters who are both realistic and well-rounded, adding to the atmosphere, and the lovely relationship between Kate and her English DI, Tom Mallory, continues despite his mother's efforts to the contrary.

Highly recommended, and I will be keeping an eye open for No 5 in the series.

I was given a free e-copy of this novel by NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.
As Kate Hamilton plans her upcoming wedding to Detective Inspector Tom Mallory, she is also assisting her colleague Ivor Tweedy with a project at the Netherfield Sanatorium, which is being converted into luxury townhouses. Kate and Ivor must appraise a fifteenth-century painting and verify that its provenance is the Dutch master Jan Van Eyck. But when retired criminal inspector Will Parker is found dead, Kate learns that the halls of the sanatorium housed much more than priceless art.

Kate is surprised to learn that Will had been the first boyfriend of her friend Vivian Bunn, who hasn’t seen him in fifty-eight years. At a seaside holiday camp over sixty years ago, Will, Vivian, and three other teens broke into an abandoned house where a doctor and his wife had died under bizarre circumstances two years earlier. Now, when a second member of the childhood gang dies unexpectedly—and then a third—it becomes clear that the teens had discovered more in the house than they had realized.

Had Will returned to warn his old love? When Kate makes a shocking connection between a sixty-year-old murder and the long-buried secrets of the sanatorium, she suddenly understands that time is running out for Vivian—and anyone connected to her. (Goodreads synopsis)
I have not read anything by Connie Berry prior to this, but I also did not feel like I was lost or missing any key elements. The author was very balanced in their use of prior stories.
I liked Kate but there were moments I felt she was unnaturally slow. I really liked the use of her mother telling her to question everything, but then felt that Kate didn’t really do that. I had figured out pretty quickly a couple of things that I felt were obvious or kind of common sense. To be fair, none of the other characters thought of the clues either.
I felt this mystery was more traditional when it comes to the definition of the word. There was elements from the past, historical facts that made it realistic, and multiple individuals with motives. At first I wasn’t sure who the killer was, and actually figured it out along with Kate. What I liked the most was that antiques played a role but it wasn’t the most vital role. It starts out seemingly separate but then gradually bleeds together in a way that makes the reader say “so that’s how it was done.” That, to me, is a true mystery novel.
Overall I rate this novel 4 out of 5 stars.

I have been captivated by Connie Berry's traditional mystery series, Kate Hamilton Mysteries, but the fourth book, The Shadow of Memory has stolen my heart. Just as the mystery evokes memories for Vivian, it reminds me of my teen years and how focus we were on our world and our own concerns. The fact that death closely touches this dear character makes the whole book touch my heart.
Soon after Kate and Vivian come across a body in a cemetery, they learn that the victim is an old crush from Vivian's youth and that the death may be connected to a contract that Ivor has signed with a museum that had once been an asylum.
I am thrilled to see Kate and Tom progress with their plans in spite of his mother! They make a wonderful couple.
My thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for allowing me to read an ARC of The Shadow of Memory, a truly awesome cozy mystery! It is a one of those special books that I couldn't put down until my eyes wouldn't stay open another minute.

It’s been awhile since I gave a book I read five stars. And I’m happy to give them to this book. I have never read a book by Connie Berry and so I not read any of the Kate Hamilton mysteries. This book has a little of everything in it. Kate is the main character but there are several others that easily take that role. Her fiancé is Tom. The characters are very well developed and don’t seem syrupy or fake. The storyline is also well done and easy to follow in an adult type way. Very good book. I will be reading more from this author and possibly more in this series. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy for my honest review.

First Connie Berry book. Found the story slow, the characters and places were the best of this story. Ok read, not a favorite. Loved the cover.

Very likable characters in this Connie Berry mystery. The pace was a bit slow for me and the “mystery” not that interesting, in my opinion. I am in the minority with this review but none the less, I am thankful to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

This is the first book by Connie Berry I've read, and I definitely want to read her earlier books. Berry skillfully and carefully weaves several plots that come together in a surprise ending. American antiques expert Kate Hamilton, preparing to marry her British sweetheart, Detective Inspector Tom Mallory, is drawn into a grisly mystery from decades past that was never solved. The plot is enriched when Kate and Ivor Tweedy, an expert art appraiser, are asked to appraise a 15th Century painting attributed to the Dutch master Jan Van Ecyk. Also part of the story is renovations being carried out at the former Netherfield Sanatorium to create upscale apartments. Kate's friend, Vivian, is one of five friends from long ago who are being murdered one-by-one, and keeping Vivian safe is Kate's first priority. Berry ties together the plot lines in a cogent way that is not always the case in the hands of less skillful writers. This book kept my interest and was well-written. It is definitely an enjoyable and challenging read.