Murder at Midnight by Katharine Schellman is an enthralling mystery novel set in Regency England, boasting an intricate plot, well-developed characters, and an atmospheric backdrop. The story follows Lily Adler, a widow seeking a tranquil Christmas at her late husband's family home with her confidante, Captain Jack Hartley. However, scandal follows them, and a shocking murder occurs during a snowstorm-trapped Christmas ball. Racing against time, Lily and Jack must unravel the truth to save Jack's sister, Amelia, from false accusations. The book's strengths lie in its pacing, masterfully crafted mystery, and skillful character development. While some readers might find it difficult to keep track of numerous characters, the historical detail and engaging narrative make it a captivating read for fans of the genre.

In addition to the gripping mystery, Murder at Midnight delicately weaves in a sweet romance that enhances the characters without overshadowing the plot's suspense. Schellman's attention to historical accuracy shines through, immersing readers in the upper-class Regency setting and manners. Although some deviations in language and sentence structures from the era might distract historical purists, the overall enjoyment of the story remains intact. As part of a series, the book can be enjoyed as a standalone, as the author artfully includes references to past events, making it accessible to new readers. All in all, Murder at Midnight is a compelling and well-crafted mystery that will captivate enthusiasts of the genre, delivering an engrossing tale with rich historical detail and a thrilling, convoluted puzzle to solve.

My in-depth review will be posted online closer to release date

I really enjoyed this book! I was a bit worried since I hadn't read the first three in the series but it wasn't a problem at all. I love Lily's intelligence and independence. The mystery was really engaging as was the setting of a snowed in Regency Christmas Ball. The author added a lot of historical detail and I really appreciate the inclusion of characters of colour. I will definitely be reading the earlier mysteries and awaiting a new one!
Thank you to #netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read the ARC.

Throughout the Lily Adler Mystery series, I've admired the evolution of "Regency widow" Lily's character. A young woman who lost her husband to a terminal disease after just two years of marriage, she has struggled to find her way as an independent woman in London.

In 1816, Lily is attending a lavish country house party during the holiday season when a young man is found with a fatal bullet wound outside the mansion. And because a huge snowstorm has made the roads impassible, tensions are running high among the guests, who know that the murderer has to be one of them. It's fortunate that Lily's brother-in-law John is a magistrate and can begin an investigation into why the victim was murdered and by whom. And he relies on Lily's help because she has a talent for getting others to open up to her, proven in several cases detailed in the previous books in the series. Also at the house party are Lily's old friend Jack, who has just resigned from his long-term Navy career, his parents, and his younger sister, Amelia. He desperately wants to help Amelia, who is suffering from a recent scandal but unwilling to tell him what happened, although the man with whom she was involved and his brother are also in attendance, along with other families and colleagues.

The mystery is convoluted and engrossing, gaining steam in the final quarter of the book, taking many turns before arriving at the final resolution. And the depiction of upper-class manners and mayhem in that time and place is fascinating. It's an entertaining series for fans of historical mysteries.

My thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of the book.

'Murder at Midnight' is perfection! Lily Adler is involved again in a mysterious death and this time her friend Jack's sister is more than a person of interest. The mystery is engaging, with many twists. I thought I had the culprit, was disabused of my guess, then reconfirmed in the end. It was a great ride. I loved the romance resolution. I am not a fan of carrying relationships on and on in books, when there is no need when one's real heart if apparent. I can't wait for more!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

A little put of my comfort zone of reading but I am glad I read it. I was drawn in by the beautiful cover and taken by the fun storyline. Really enjoyed it.

It's Christmas season in 1816, and Lily Adler is looking forward to celebrating at a neighbor's estate, enjoying time with the family of her late husband Freddy Adler, the widower who is courting her, and Jack Hartley, Freddy's childhood best friend. But, Jack's younger sister, Amelia, is the talk of the party. She's in the middle of a scandal, but she won't talk about it with her family. Then a snowstorm hits, stranding all the neighbors who don't live close. The next morning, a body is found in the snow. When he's identified as the man who was involved in Amelia's disgrace, all suspicious eyes turn towards her. The local magistrate, Lily's brother-in-law, Sir John Adler, is forced to investigate, and begs Lily to help him. Everyone trapped in the house at Christmastime has secrets; illicit romances, jewelry theft, poison, blackmail. Can Sir John and Lily uncover a murderer trapped in the house with them?

The Regency-era followup to Death at the Manor is a Christmas treat for fans of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians. Those who enjoy stranded guests in isolated locations will appreciate Schellman's latest.

I loved the continuation of this series. I love watching Lily grow as a character and into her own with each book in this series. This is a historical fiction series that I will keep reading until it is finished!
Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an ARC of this book

Regency romance fans I sure would love this. I just wish there was more. Also there was too many characters to keep track of that it was a bit confusing. overall it was just ok for me.

3/5 Stars

Firstly, I always think it is hard to join a series part-way through. Although books may function as standalones, you seldom understand the subtle nuances between characters unless you have been with them since the beginning. I definitely feel this was an issue for me, with this story.

Murder at Midnight is a cosy, slow moving crime story centring around Lily Adler, one of those "stumbled into crime solving" characters; in this particular instance, Lily's crime solving panache has to be kept under wraps, for proprieties sake. The plot develops slowly, although the murder occurs relatively early on in the narrative, with the author trying to build-up the bit-part characters (and suspects) for the reader.

Some of the characters are also a little frustrating. Amelia is a classic case of “child that wants to be treated as an adult so behaves more like a child than anyone else” – she was so well written that some of her scenes made me clench my teeth in frustration. There are other characters who aren’t so well developed, however, there are references to them outside this story (potentially in other books of this series) that may explain that away.

The final quarter of the book is almost at a running pace, compared to the previous 75%. Whilst I’m all for speeding up crime stories as you reach the climax, there was still a lot of information to get through which meant the occasional skip backwards to confirm that I had read something correctly the first time.

The plot was ingenious, with many wrong turns and red herrings, and nobody escaped the finger of suspicion. When the real murderer was revealed, it was one of the few people I hadn’t seriously considered until near the end. The problem, for me, was that the amount of information and characters that it took for this to work meant that reading and keeping track of who everyone was and how they were related/connected/etc. took a lot of work. If you have the luxury of reading this in one sitting, it may flow more for you; for me, interruptions meant I lost the feel for the story and often had to backtrack to regain it.

As always, thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGAlley for the advanced copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for this ARC. I really enjoy this historical mystery series, the character development is great and the plots very twisty.

I like this series especially Lily Adler. Spending time inHertfordshire is just
what she is looking forward to. Meeting her old friend Jack is a bonus. A good friend
of her hers he has spent years away at sea and has now returned.

Anticipating a relaxing evening at a neighbours Christmas festivities, the party
gets snowbound and what they think is an overnight stay gets extended when they find
a body in the snow brutally murdered. To add to the mystery the young man found
murdered is the same man linked to the gossip around Amelia, Jacks own sister.

When (in Lily's opinion) the wrong man is locked up, it is upto her sleuthing skills
to get to the bottom of this death in this country house where each person including
the host has plenty of secrets to hide.

The setting, the period and the varied characters all added depth to the story.

MURDER AT MIDNIGHT by Katharine Schellman is number four in the Lily Adler mystery series; previous titles have received starred reviews so I am sorry to miss this one for now. Unfortunately, I did not see the new archive date for this title and therefore did not download the preview in time. I am therefore giving it a neutral rating of three stars and hope to revisit it in September when it is due to be published. Sounds like fun – Regency London, a Christmastime snowstorm, and a female sleuth with a murder to solve!

Things book 4 in this series has going for it: a classic locked house mystery, in a blizzard, and Jack is back! Things it does not have going for it: Jack has a sister, and she's a pain in the butt. I don't think she is intended to come across that way, necessarily - it seems like she is supposed to be naive but spunky. The only problem is, her naivety comes across as absolutely unbelievable for a young woman for her age and station, and her spunkiness takes the form of always, ALWAYS impulsively doing exactly the wrong thing and making every possible situation worse by trying to "help." As a result, she's a frustrating addition to the cast of characters, and seems likely to be a prominent feature of the next book as well. I will hope that she matures or plays less of a role next time around, because I do enjoy the series overall.

Murder at Midnight is a regency era murder mystery with all the charming characteristics of a classic mystery. The Protagonist is a widow amateur detective which was lovely to see in a regency era novel.


Lily Adler is invited to a dinner party with both friends and people who she would be glad to say goodbye to. By the end of the dinner party, snow has trapped them in and they are forced to spend the night. Throughout the night, Lily hears the sharp cracking of tree branches breaking under the weight of the storm, but it’s not until morning that she learn that one such “crack” was actually a gunshot. The murderer is one of the guests.


Things I enjoyed:
The pacing was usually quick with few places that dragged
The mystery truly stumped me
The romance was short and sweet and did not detract from the mystery
Because Lily’s friends were the ones accused at the beginning, the stakes were high and there was a time crunch

Things I did not enjoy.
There were so many characters without defining characteristics that it was difficult to keep them apart.
The actual words used and structures of sentences did not always fit the regency era and was distracting
I had trouble caring about the characters

This is the 4th book of Lily Alder Mystery series, it can be read as stand alone. My first in this series and this book is good. I confuse why Amelia become suspect, doesnt make sense to me. Then Amelia being secretive and hide everything like why? There are many cas in one event, murder, thief and poison but all lead to one point. For me the book was too long, slow and move in circle.

Thank you to NetGalley for provide this book, it is pleasure to review this book.

#MurderatMidnight #LilyAlderMystery #KatharineSchellman #CrookedLaneBooks #NetGalley #ARC

This book was the best in the series by far. It was fast-paced and high energy from the very beginning. The only thing I did not like was the relationship between Lily Adler and Matthew Spencer. I have wanted to see a relationship between Jack Hartley and Lily from the beginning, so I was happy with the decision Lily made at the end of the book regarding Mr. Spencer. I just hope that in the next book, we get to see Jack and Lily exploring their obvious feelings for each other.

Despite my discontent with the romance side of things, I still really enjoyed the mystery. Lily is a formidable woman with an incredible mind and passion for justice. And even though this book is fast-paced, it is still a very easy read, which I liked. Overall, I'd say this is a definite 5-star read.

I enjoyed this historical mystery. The characters are interesting and engaging and the plot kept me engaged. The setting was interesting and overall it was a quick and enjoyable read.

Lily has moved past the death of her husband and come to enjoy the freedom that came with widowhood in Victorian England - as well as finding that she is good at solving mysteries. This is the first I have read in this series but I thoroughly enjoyed it. So glad that I found it thanks to Netgalley.

This review is based on an ARC received from Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley. I've been enjoying the Lily Adler books so far. Lily is a very capable and readable protagonist. This book features some romance, but it's not at a level where it takes away from the mystery plot. There is some LGBTQ representation in the form of two lesbian characters and one possibly asexual character. For the most part, the story was well-balanced and enjoyable. The solution to the mystery had enough foreshadowing that it didn't come out of nowhere but not so much that the ending was immediately obvious. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the resolution of the romantic story arc at the end of the book. Without dropping any spoilers, the ending for the romantic arc came out of nowhere without any real hints in the story, and I was left with the impression that the author knew the ending that she wanted (and presumably, the setup for book 5) but didn't have a good plan for how to get there. I don't have any complaints against the ultimate end result, but it reads extremely awkwardly and there is some minor shark-jumping involved when a certain character's fate is left up in the air for a short while. That said, the rest of the book was still an enjoyable read and I very much plan on continuing to read the series.

I liked the cover design, and from the description, I thought this sounded like a book that I might enjoy.

This was an elegantly written, sophisticated historical mystery. I warmed to the main character, and the author brought the characters and the setting to life very well.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free copy to review.