The Shadow of Memory A Kate Hamilton Mystery by Connie Berry

Hello my cozy friends,

Today I am reviewing The Shadow of Memory the 4th instalment in the “A Kate Hamilton Mystery” series by Connie Berry which releases May 10, 2022. This can be read as a stand-alone but I find its always better to read in order.

American antiques dealer Kate Hamilton uncovers a dark secret buried in Victorian England.

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.

I loved visiting the village of Long Barstow in Suffolk again, and hanging out with Kate, Vivian, Tom and Ivor. Protagonist Kate is level headed, kind hearted and very talented at seeing little details and putting clues together to solve crimes. I enjoyed the ending of the story but wont give out any spoilers.

I found myself engrossed in the story and reading it in one sitting. I did not suspect the killer until Kate did, there were lots of twists and turns to keep me absorbed in the story.  I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good traditional British cozy mystery with a historical background.
I requested and received an Advanced Readers Copy from Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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