Murder on a Summer's Day

December 14, 2015
Likable, well-drawn characters lift Brody’s agreeable if at times slow-moving fifth Kate Shackleton mystery (after 2015’s A Woman Unknown). James, a cousin of Kate’s employed at the India Office, rings her early one morning to ask her help in finding Maharajah Narayan Halkwaer of Gattiawan, who has gone missing from Bolton Abbey, the Duke of Devonshire’s vast Yorkshire estate, where the duke will be hosting a large grouse-shooting party in a few days. Among the guests are the maharaja’s English fiancée, set to become his second wife, as well as the maharaja’s first wife and son, not to mention a member of the royal family. Descriptions of the lavish life enjoyed by the Indian elite give a tantalizing glimpse into a foreign world, but even with the discovery of a body, the plot never generates much tension. Still, fans of Maisie Dobbs and Daisy Dalrymple will enjoy the authentic period detail. Agent: Judith Murdoch, Judith Murdoch Literary Agency (U.K.).

December 15, 2015
The glamour of the Raj comes to rural Yorkshire. An early morning phone call from her cousin James sends Kate Shackleton, a private investigator with society connections, to Bolton Abbey, the 50,000-acre Yorkshire estate of the Duke of Devonshire. The marital status of the duke's guest, Maharajah Narayan, hasn't kept him from visiting Yorkshire with his mistress, Lydia Metcalfe, whose farming family lives nearby. While he was out riding, Narayan shot a white doe, then rode on and vanished. Soon after Kate's arrival, the body of a groom who was with the maharajah is found drowned in the river. The India Office, where James works, is doing its best to cover up Narayan's affair and possible marital plans with a highly unsuitable woman. When Narayan's body is found the next day, hidden in the woods, Kate doubts the story that his horse reared and the gun he was carrying accidentally went off and killed him. Despite her best efforts, the inquest returns a verdict of accidental death. But since an extremely valuable diamond has gone missing, the India Office still wants Kate to keep an eye on Lydia, who, unworthy of accommodations at Bolton Abbey, is staying in Kate's hotel and may have stolen the gem. When a flock of Indian princes arrives for Narayan's funeral, several unpleasant complications suggest that Kate's been correct in her assumptions--if only it's not too late to right a wrong. The latest retro tale from Brody (A Woman Unknown, 2015, etc.) is based on snippets of real-life characters, so one of her best mysteries gains further depth from its historical context.

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February 1, 2016
Private detective Kate Shackleton's cousin James, who works for the India Office, asks her to travel to Yorkshire to find Maharajah Narayan Halkwaer of Gattiawan, who disappeared after shooting a white doe on the Bolton Abbey estate of the Duke of Devonshire. Kate interviews the duke's staff and the married prince's paramour, Lydia Metcalfe, who insists the prince was planning on making her his second wife. Kate locates the prince, dead, on the estate, and soon learns a valuable diamond belonging to his family is missing. Kate believes Prince Narayan was murdered, but the authorities seem determined to call the death a tragic accident. Was the prince killed by a rival Indian prince, his jealous wife, a former school friend, or a local resident, angered that the prince shot the white doe? Assisted by her employees, a former police officer and her housekeeper, Kate perseveres and solves the crime. The widowed, independent Kate is a well-drawn character, and this satisfying first-person account is nicely framed by life in 1920s England.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)