Murder in Abbot's Folly

January 1, 2012
Though the father-daughter team of Peter and Georgia Marsh (Murder on the Old Road, 2011, etc.) specializes in cold cases, they don't expect one to go back as far as Jane Austen. Georgia is stressed by the return of her mother Elena, who walked out on Peter after an accident left him in a wheelchair. The old friend with whom Elena's staying invites them all to a gala at Stourdens, a local manor that sports a Jane Austen collection and an old murder case. The mansion's owner, Laura Fettis--joined by her husband and daughter Jennifer, Jennifer's fiancé and other hangers-on, including a filmmaker, an author, a caterer and Elena's friends, who live in an old inn--all have plans to exploit the connection with Jane Austen, especially the rumor that Jane based her unfinished novel The Watsons on a real-life love affair associated with the inn. The announcement of their plans is jeopardized when Laura says that she's changed her mind and then killed for good along with Laura herself. Georgia and Peter, warned off by the police, find that their investigation into the safe old murder is tied into the more volatile present-day killing. There are so many people with motives that the duo would have their hands full even if they weren't busy checking out the Austen memorabilia that may be at the center of the mystery. Though this installment drags a bit, Myers presents all the ingredients for an enjoyable read: historical interest, multiple suspects and a pair of likable sleuths.

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December 1, 2011
Peter and Georgia of Marsh & Daughter solve cold murder cases and then write books about them, published by Georgia's husband, Luke. The pair become interested in the 25-year-old death of Robert Luckhurst, who was killed in an eighteenth-century folly (a kind of decorative garden) at Stourdens, a decaying mansion in Kent. Peter and Georgia, drawn to the case even though Max Tanner was tried and convicted of the crime long ago, venture to Stourdens to nose around and to attend a gala celebrating all things Jane Austen. While there, the owner of Stourdens, Laura Fettis, is killed just as she is about to make an announcement concerning the mansion and her family's collection of Austen memorabilia. When a second murder occurs, Peter and Georgia begin to believe that the two contemporary crimes are connected to the historical murder. Augmenting the main mystery plot, Myers uses letters to weave a fictional romance between Austen and a dashing naval captain into the narrative. Sympathetic characters, plot twists, and the combination of history and detection make for an engaging story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)