Cameron “Cam” Clewe and Jane Hunter make an odd couple. Imagine if Mark Zuckerberg, albeit with a few less billions, and a modern-day Miss Marple, joined forces to investigate crimes.

Cam hired Jane, “sight unseen, to inventory and catalog his extensive collection of books and related artifacts.” His personal secretary, Lauren Walker, ushers retired librarian Jane into Cam’s library so he can meet her in person. Jane is surprised by Cam’s youth, closer to thirty than forty and definitely “leading man material.”

Then he opened his mouth.

“I didn’t realize you were so old,” he said, in a voice totally devoid of humor. “And rather heavier than I expected, given that photo on the university website.”

Well! Jane carefully considers her reply, because she needs the job—both to augment a “rather modest pension,” but also so she can do work she loves. Her retirement was forced (ageism) and although Cam implies she’s “over the hill,” Jane knows she has the expertise and energy to be a success. She cleverly switches the conversation to the books Cam wants her to catalog, a “collection of books and papers connected to classic mystery and detective authors.” He takes the bait.

“Mysteries are a particular fascination of mine. I love their logic, and all the clever puzzles. I can usually deduce the culprits before the end, but I still enjoy the mental exercise.”

Cam doesn’t have much of a filter, but Jane respects his enthusiasm and expertise.

While Jane focuses on her job, the other denizens of the estate get ready for a charity gala Sunday night. Reclusive Cam generously allows his friends to use his lovely mansion for a good cause.

On her way to the library Monday morning, Jane sees “no evidence of the prior evening’s festivities.” She’s surprised that there are no lights on—she senses that “there’s something off in here.” And then she sees the body of a young woman, “crumpled on the floor” of the library.

Fighting an urge to retch, I laid two fingertips on Ashley’s neck and clasped her wrist with my other hand. No pulse thumped against my shaking fingers.



My lips formed a scream, but the sound snagged in my throat.



Not that it mattered. Calling for help was futile. Ashley Allen was, unquestionably, irrevocably, dead.

Jane is an excellent observer. Lauren, Cam, and Jane try to ascertain what blunt instrument might have been the murder weapon: Lauren suggests a broken statue.

“I don’t think so.” Cam’s sea-green eyes narrowed. “A silver-plated candlestick is missing.”



That was the object that left the circle of clean wood.



“From the bookshelf behind the pedestal?”



Cam’s gaze snapped to me. “You noticed that as well?”



“Yes. No dust.”



“Exactly.” Cam looked me up and down—a searching gaze, as if he was truly seeing me for the first time. “Good catch.”



“I didn’t know what was there before, of course, but a candlestick”—I cleared my throat—“well, if it was heavy enough …”



“Could do some damage,” Cam said, completing my thought.

Cam uses his wealth and staff to shield him from everyday concerns. Jane is the opposite; she takes a keen interest in the people around her. Given her ease at making friends in new surroundings, Jane leans into ferreting out what she can about the murder victim. Jane is like Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, an older woman who “is known for her keen powers of observation and deduction, which she uses to solve crimes.”

Back to the crime scene. Cam points out to Lauren, who is on the line with the police, “You do realize who will be their number one suspect, of course.” Lauren is confused—there were over hundred people at the party where Ashley was murdered. “But only one person was Ashley Allen’s ex-boyfriend,” Jane points out helpfully.

An investigator separates the wheat from the chaff, exposing lies that camouflage the truth. For example—Cam claims to have set the security alarm after the gala ended but Dia, the housekeeper, tells Jane the alarm system was off: “It must’ve been. I get up pretty darn early and it was still deactivated when I checked it Monday morning.” Jane’s mind reels with possibilities—Dia could be lying, someone else who knew the codes “turned the system off after Cam reactivated it,”—and further muddying the waters, the house was full of guests attending the gala.

But I also couldn’t dismiss the possibility that she, or others, might have their own reasons to conceal the truth.



You don’t really know Cam, or the houseguests, or the staff, I reminded myself. Any one of them could be lying.

Jane learns many people had reason to despise Ashley Allen. Ashley used her wealth to toy with people’s dreams. She would offer to underwrite their desire to open their own art studio or launch a restaurant before abruptly and cruelly pulling the plug. Ashley’s sister Rena tells Lauren and Jane that “it was that scumbag, Tristan Blair,” who murdered Ashley. Tristan, an aspiring and improvident musician, is a former boyfriend who Rena says was only with Ashley for her money. There’s no dearth of suspects.

Jane is at odds with Cam—they both think the other is playing “armchair detective”—and they have it out.

I dropped my hands to my side. “I wouldn’t allow a thief to walk free. Especially if there was any possibility he was also a murderer.”



“Maybe not, but I think you enjoy amateur sleuthing as much as I do.”

The argument escalates. Jane accuses Cam of withholding information from her so he can be the one who solves the murder. He tells her she’s wrong—that he’s protecting someone “who may or may not be connected to this case who’s been dealt a bad enough hand in life already.” Jane is not buying that explanation—she takes him at his word that he thinks he’s doing the right thing but when it comes to solving murders, two people are better than one.

“It just seems like you want me to do your legwork, but then aren’t inclined to share all your subsequent deductions with me. That is a little off-putting, to say the least.”

Can this potential marriage of talented sleuths be saved? Since A Cryptic Clue is the first book in the Hunter and Clewe Mystery series, readers can safely assume that Jane and Cam will solve more crimes in the future—I’m looking forward to it.

This was such a good book. I loved the story and the writing so much. The characters were great and the story flowed smoothly. Will definitely read more books by this author in the future.

A very wonderfully written book filled with twists, turns and a bucket load of suspense. It is a testament to the author's writing style and the creation of this detective-esque piece. The complex characters added a layer of mystic too. A wonderful read!

The first in a cozy mystery series, this was a delightful start! Jane Hunter gets hired on as an archivist for eccentric Cam Clewe. Of course, soon after starting the new job, a body turns up and Cam and Jane need to work together to clear Cam's name.

The mystery is fun, the setting cozy, and I really like the building relationship between Jane and Cam. There are lots of characters here but it's still easy to follow. The story line is well-paced, and the ending satisfying. I will be looking up the second in the series next because this one was just so much fun!

Jane is a retired librarian and Cameron is looking for someone to inventory his vast collection of books. Seems like a match made in heaven, until a dead body is found in the library after a party the night before. The due work to find answers with help from a few others.
Goodreads

This was an OK cozy mystery. Jane has been laid off from her librarian job so she has started a new job as an archivist for a wealthy book collector, Cam. During a party at the estate Cam's ex girl friend is killed. Jane sets out to help solve the crime and clear Cam. The estate, the book collection and historical mysteries were interesting. Lots of classic authors are mentioned. The mystery was OK. There were plenty of suspects but it was easy to solve

Sadly, this one was only a three-star read for me.

There is a lot of potential here, with some very interesting characters, but I just found the writing style to be a little too basic and uninteresting. The mystery was one that couldn't be solved prior to the reveals, which annoys me, as I like trying to piece together the information revealed to come to the solution. The dialogue also felt very forced much of the time, with too much explanation given by repetitive conversations rather than by a simple summary of events or background information.

I did like the character of Jane Hunter - a librarian in her 60s who is asked by her new eccentric boss to look into the death of his ex girlfriend to hopefully clear his name of murder. Jane was an interesting perspective, especially because she wasn't the 'detective' of the pairing. She did the investigating, but gave her information to Cameron Clewe (her boss) who then did the 'figuring out' part.

Cameron Clewe was a different case. In some ways I liked him (an overly introverted character, with secrets in his past and a huge interruption to his life in the present), but in other ways he annoyed me (with his lack of social skills [even though he had pretty good social skills at times] and his secret keeping even though it would help his case for innocence).

Overall, an interesting read and I'm glad I finished it, but I'm not sure if I'm going to continue the series. I might give book 2 a go, but if it's more of the same, then I'll probably stop there.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advance copy of A Cryptic Clue in exchange for an honest review (even though I'm sadly very late in my review).

I wanted to like this book but felt the descriptions were a little cruel. Cameron wasn’t my favorite character to read about.

I love Victoria Gilbert's books and this new series is awesome! It has a hint of Nero Wolfe and Archie, likable characters, and never-ending until-the-end plot twists.

Hmmm, I don't know but personally I believe this story is as cozy as they come ladies and gentlemen! Calling all bookish nerds to read this novel and thank me later <3

This was a cute read in the cozy mystery genre. I like the moments of comedic relief and found the main character to be likable. It is a bit on the slower side, but overall I really enjoyed it!

Imagine a younger Miss Marple and a younger Sherlock Holmes teamed up to investigate a murder and appreciate mystery books – that’s the concept here and it really worked for me!

As a bookworm myself, I ALWAYS appreciate books about books, and it felt especially meta to be reading about a collection of classic mystery books within a murder mystery. And I love that Jane is a librarian, archivist and literary researcher, giving her all the skills she needs to solve a more tangible mystery. Alongside, of course, her new employer Cam, who is not great at social situations but has an excellent focus on detail and a logical, analytical mind.

The budding working relationship between the two main characters is brilliant – building naturally and very believably – and I really enjoyed their ‘odd couple’ investigation and the refreshing lack of romantic entanglement in their friendship. Add to that a nicely-paced and plausible plot and a small selection of interesting side characters and suspects, and this was a really enjoyable British mystery and a great start to a new series.

I would definitely read more Hunter and Clewe mysteries in future… especially as I am hooked on the very personal mystery of Cam Clewe’s own family history! Look out for my review of Book 2, A Killer Clue soon, which releases later this year but is available to pre-order already.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC

This is the first of a mystery series.

Jane retires from a university library job to move to an apartment to begin new adventures. She is hired by Cameron Clewe to catalogue his collection of books and other artifacts.

There is a party and someone ends up dead. Cameron is the prime suspect. Jane works on her own to help Cameron find out who the murderer was and she uncovers some family historical secrets in the process.

This is a solid cozy mystery and I look forward to the next installment.

The first in a new mystery series, features a newly retired librarian who finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation after starting a new job. 60 year old Jane Hunter was pushed out of her position because of her age but is hired by a young and eccentric man named Cameron Clewe. He has a huge private book and artifact collection and needs it inventoried. Her new job is going fine, until she finds a dead body in the library. The victim is Cameron's ex and he asks for Jane's help investigating because he's fearful the police will come after him as a suspect.
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I liked this one. It had a good mix of interesting characters and I was entertained by Jane and Cameron's awkward interactions, thanks to Cam's lack of social skills. It was slower paced but the mystery plot was good with a solid resolution.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing me a digital reviewer copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This is the first entry into a new cozy mystery series featuring a retired librarian, Jane Hunter, and a wealthy young eccentric, Cam Clewe. Jane is hired by Cam to inventory an catalogue his extensive library, including a recent acquisition of mysteries and ephemera. On the first day of her new job, she finds a body, where else, but in the library. Jane joins Cam in finding the murderer. A nice read for a winters afternoon.

This story seemed like catnip for mystery fans: how could one resist a crime novel featuring a librarian hired to help catalog the holdings of a slightly strange guy who collects detective fiction? For me, unfortunately, the novel doesn't live up to its promising premise, mostly because the talk-to-action ratio is way too high. When Jane Hunter isn’t chitchatting with other characters to try to get to the bottom of the mystery, she’s musing to herself about what it all means. It’s not that nothing happens, it’s just that by the time it does, it's usually something not terribly compelling—and occurring after too long an interval since the last instance of active investigating. There was not enough of interest about the characters to keep my attention when the pace of detecting flagged.

This was not my cup of tea but might appeal to readers of (very) leisurely cozies.

Thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for a digital advance review copy.

Almost everything about A Cryptic Clue didn't work for me, from the cover/title and plot to the characters and writing style. (However, just because *I* didn't like it doesn't mean you shouldn't read it!)
I love cozy mysteries and have read more of them than I can count. This just isn't it. The summary makes one expect a literary mystery adventure since a librarian is cataloging mysteries and solving a crime that happened in the library and yet there was no connecting these dots. The logic of the mystery plot was nonexistent and I found myself getting bored at times. With cozy mysteries, readers are supposed to fall in love with the characters rather than the predictable plot. However, Jane is one of the most miserable characters I've ever met in the genre. She is without a likable trait and her dialogue came across as harsh and forced. Cam, while unlikable, is more realistic because of his mental health. He is a decent anxiety rep and with a different partner I think his story may be enjoyable.

This looks like it will be a good series. I like the characters, especially the older MC and her quirky boss. The mystery kept me guessing. I will be interested to see what happens in the secondary mysteries.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good cozy murder mystery and this series is one I would definitely be following. Jane reminded me in some ways of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple and although Cam hasn't yet created much of an impression as the main character I do hold high hopes for future instalments. A teeny tiny complaint about this one would be the actual crime committed and the final reveal. I would have liked it to be a little bit more exciting. But that's entirely a me problem. I would definitely recommend this book for those looking to cozy ups with a murder mystery this winter

A new cozy mystery series with a different set of investigators. As she leans into her retirement, Jane decides she's not quite ready, or financially stable enough to withdraw from the working masses. Jane, a former librarian, is delighted to be hired to catalog the library and collections of Cam, an independently wealthy young man who suffers from agoraphobia. When Cam is the chief suspect in a murder, Jane and Cam will start their own investigation, with a few complications. The characters and their back stories set the tone of this book just right for cozy lovers. It's going to be interesting to see where Victoria Gilbert takes them next.