The Shadow of Memory (Kate Hamilton Mysteries #4) by Connie Berry

In Connie Berry’s fourth Kate Hamilton mystery, 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. 

Paperback, 352 pages

Expected publication: May 10th 2022 

by Crooked Lane Books

4/5 stars

This is my first time reading a Connie Berry book. I had my doubts when accepting this copy since it is book 4 in the Kate Hamilton Mystery series, but it was fine. If anything it has piqued my interest in reading the rest of the series.

This is a multi layer mystery (the best kind).  American antiques dealer Kate Hamilton literally stumbling across a body in the local cemetery sending her on a search for answers.

Spanning events from decades ago to the present day mystery of not just the cemetery discovery but also a fifteenth century painting kept me reading and scratching my head. Just when I thought I had things figured out there would be a twist.  Suffice to say a well written and well executed story with likeable characters this whodunit was a pleasure to read.

My thanks to Crooked Lane Book for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.