Killer in the Carriage House: 08/15/22

Killer in the Carriage House by Sheila Connolly and Emily Durante (Narrator) is the second book in the Vintage Village mystery trilogy. Kate and historian Joshua Wainwright believe that Mr. Barton might have had patents that would make him a more historically significant person. Those patents might also be a source of money for the town.

Unfortunately just before they can move the attic's contents to the library, Kate finds the body of a man under a bookcase. At first appearances it looks like he had broken into the library to get at the city archive, but Kate suspects murder.

In Murder at the Mansion, I liked all the emphasis on the town and the mansion, this time the amount of energy Kate spends on wondering about how to best recreate life in the early 20th century feels like a stalling tactic. Where Kate seemed focused and on top of things in the first volume, her she seems distracted.

The most basic mystery, though, is the murder of a man in the library. If you can sit through, or skim through Kate's plans and questions about the town and house, the mystery is pretty easy to solve.

The final book is The Secret Staircase (2021).

Four stars

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