During this whole bizarre year, I have managed to keep to this Series-ous Reading schedule as well as stick to my secondary challenge of Second Acts, highlighting the number two title of certain bookish series.
Well, as they say, the best was saved for last with A Medal for Murder by Frances Brody, that set the pace for her lady detective Kate Shackleton. Kate is a widowed photographer in post-WWI England(she does hold on to some hope that her MIA husband is still alive) who has taken up sleuthing, with an ex-policeman Jim Sykes as her assistant.
While she specializes in missing persons, Kate does help out in other matters such as a pawnshop robbery where the owner wishes to discretely inform his clients about their items being taken. Since one of the parties involved happens to be in Harrogate, where Kate already had made plans to visit an old friend, she agrees to help out.
Upon arrival, her friend Meriel is delighted to take Kate to the opening night of her latest theatrical production , a play starring several local young people such as the lovely Lucy Wolfendale, who hopes to make this leading lady role a stepping stone towards bigger and better things.
During the show, an obnoxious business owner Lawrence Milner(whose son Rodney is also part of the cast) is in the audience and not shy about making his unseemly, not to mention unwelcome, intentions towards Lucy known. However, after the play, the elder Milner is found dead with a knife in his heart not far from the theater and Lucy is nowhere to be found.
Along with being a witness to the body's discovery, Kate is further drawn into this strange situation by Lucy's grandfather and guardian, Captain Wolfendale, who is sent a ransom note for his granddaughter's safe return:
As it turns out, Lucy is faking her own kidnapping in order to get her grandfather to give her the inheritance that was promised to her long ago. With the help of Dylan, another young man in the show, she's hiding out at a remote location but that plan is starting to backfire in the worst way.
Meanwhile, Kate's inquiries are revealing some unexpected secrets from Captain Wolfendale's past, which could affect more than one future and may or may not be connected to Milner's demise, as he was a man despised by all, even his own son.
As these points slowly yet steadily draw together, Kate not only has to find the killer and Lucy yet also make a serious decision about what truths need to be brought to light and which should remain in the dark. I really like the emotional/moral complexity that Kate has to grapple with here, as just who the murderer is and why is not an easy answer with plenty of right and wrong issues to be debated.
This story has a wonderful Agatha Christie flavor to it, steeped in a bittersweet brew that finds a way to provide true justice for all concerned. While I'm more of a Miss Marple person than a Poirot(and I suspect Kate Shackleton would be agree with me), this does put me in mind of a certain Christie tale that dealt with similar issues and Brody honors that legacy well in her own unique way:
Before I get into the last on this list for 2020, let's take a look at my Series-ous Reading plans for the new year.
The 2021 SR theme is going to be "A Cozy Culinary Feast", featuring authors such as Joanne Fluke(still have a lot of Hannah Swensen books to finish!), Diane Mott Davidson, Avery Aames and Livia J. Washburn.
I will keep an open spot for any new authors in this category and hope that all of you out there enjoy tucking into these tasty reads along with me.
To round out this year, I'm reading the third Kate Shackleton mystery, Murder in the Afternoon, where Kate meets her birth sister(she was adopted) and is asked to look into the possible murder of her brother-in-law. So far, this is an intriguing case and Kate's niece Harriet, who sadly found her father's body which later went missing, is a right clever girl that both her aunt and I wish to known better:
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