Kate Hamilton #5
Even though this is book five in an established series, I was able to comfortably settle in with Berry’s characters, setting, and story right away. The series features antiques expert Kate Hamilton, and in this instalment she’s on honeymoon in Devon with her police detective husband, Tom Mallory. In true mystery tradition, it’s a busman’s honeymoon, as they’ve also taken on a private job to verify the provenance of a blood covered dress from the 1880s, which supposedly belonged to a murderess.
While Kate and Tom are just looking to verify the provenance of the dress, they also become interested in the original crime. The dress has been donated to the Combe Mallett museum of Devon history by an eccentric man who lives as closely as possible as a Victorian gentleman. He wears period clothes, is restoring his home to its original iteration, and even employs a housekeeper dressed in apron and mob cap. When Kate and Tom go to question him he is cagey, only revealing that he bought the dress as part of a lot he purchased.
Berry does a lovely job of fleshing out the historical details of the area, the dress and even the possible life of the woman who wore it. The textile expert at the museum, who is meticulously restoring the garment, provides Kate with many clues and fascinating details about her work. The area was famous, for example, for Honiton lace made by women who were often sent to lace making schools at very young ages. The bloody dress, while obviously belonging to a working-class woman, is nevertheless adorned with a lace collar.
I very much appreciate an amateur sleuth who uses his or her professional skills to solve the crime rather than just stumbling over corpses. While Kate isn’t strictly an amateur when she’s working with her husband on a specific case, in her day-to-day life she’s mainly an antiques appraiser and expert. Other series that have done this well include Joanne Dobson’s Karen Pelletier books, Sarah Stewart Taylor’s Sweeney St. George novels, and more recently, Elly Griffiths’ wonderful Ruth Galloway series. All the women in these books are experts in their respective fields and it’s that very expertise that lends validity to their investigations.
As Tom works with the police after the inevitable death, Kate is investigating a parallel case, discovering what she can about the dress while at the same time reporting back and consulting with Tom and the Devon police in charge of the murder investigation. The suspect pool is small but rich, and the characters in the story, whether involved with the museum or local politics, complex and interesting.
This is not a cozy exactly, but it’s adjacent. Kate and her husband seem to be very happy and the Devon setting (and the food) add a layer of domesticity to the story. Kate and Tom aren’t there to upset the apple cart but remain the story’s calm center as the storm rages around them. In my opinion there’s really no more cozy element than that, with the fascinating mystery Berry weaves as icing on this delicious mysterious confection. I am kicking myself for not discovering this series sooner, and plan to rectify that shortly by devouring books one through four. — Robin Agnew