1916, London, Hannah is volunteering as a librarian at the hospital library but one morning she finds a patient has been shot dead. The man had been unpopular among the other soldiers, patients and medical staff but who wanted him dead? Then a nurse, who she thinks she is being followed, disappears…
Murder in the Library is the second book to feature Hannah and her aunt Violet. I have previously read and reviewed the first book Murder in the Bookshop. There are spoilers about characters, events and the culprit so I would advise reading the books in order.
Hannah has two mysteries to solve. First a shooting of a rather unpleasant man and then the disappearance of a nurse. Her sleuthing puts her at odds with the police and she also has a romantic tension which offers a different dimension to her personality. There are lots of threads for Hannah to unpick and follow towards the solution, with twists and red herrings thrown in to keep readers guessing.
Once again, it is aunt Violet that steals every scene she is in. However, both women are passionate and strong willed, surprisingly modern in outlook while their world changes around them during WW1. I enjoyed the historical setting and thought it had been resarched well to support the plot and character development.
Murder in the Library is an enjoyable cosy historical murder mystery.
Murder in the Library
A body in a hospital isn’t so unusual. Unless they’ve been murdered!
1916, London: Keen to support the war effort, bookshop manager and sometime amateur sleuth Hannah Merrill has taken a volunteer role in the library of the nearby military hospital. But arriving at the hospital one cold winter’s morning, she is horrified to find the body of a dead soldier in the library.
What’s more, a beautiful young nurse confides in Hannah that she thinks she’s being followed, and then she abruptly disappears. Hannah can’t shake the suspicion that the two cases are connected, but she can’t solve the case alone. She’ll once again need to call upon her delightful, demanding, only-occasionally devious aunt, Violet. The two women know they must find the missing nurse before it’s too late… but they don’t realise they’re now both in the killer’s sights.
Anita Davison is the author of the successful Flora Maguire historical mystery series. Previously published by Aria, she is writing a new cosy mystery series for Boldwood, the first title of which, Murder in the Bookshop, will be published in August 2023.
