The Shadow of Memory

March 14, 2022
In Berry’s intriguing fourth mystery featuring antiques expert Kate Hamilton (after 2021’s The Art of Betrayal), Kate and two older friends, including Vivian Bunn, find Will Parker, a retired police inspector and a sweetheart of Vivian’s from many years ago, dead in a graveyard in the Suffolk village of Long Barton. Will was investigating a cold case that he, Vivian, and some friends had first encountered as teenagers when they discovered the abandoned home of a physician and his wife who had been poisoned. When Kate learns that Will was murdered, that the physician may have been embroiled in dubious activities connected to a local mental health facility and a priceless painting, and that suspicious circumstances have arisen with other members of Vivian’s teenage group, she begins to fear for her friend’s safety. New and faithful fans alike will appreciate the tying together of present and past, as well as the poignancy in the long effects of unfortunate choices. As usual, Kate and her fellow villagers provide congenial company for readers. Agent: Paula Munier, Talcott Notch Literary Services.

Starred review from April 1, 2022

Following a hen party, American antiques dealer Kate Hamilton walks two friends home, but finds a body in the graveyard. She also finds a note with the name and address of one of those friends, Vivian Bunn. The body is identified as Will Parker, a retired police detective; 58 years earlier, at 17, Will was Vivian's first romantic crush at a British holiday camp. Along with three other teens, they spent the week spinning stories that would account for the murders at an abandoned house. It's Kate's trip to a former sanatorium, Netherfield, that links the two locations and a mystery from half a century ago. The board of Netherfield hope to sell a painting by Jan van Eyck at auction to raise needed money, but Kate has doubts about the work. While she waits for authentication of the painting, someone is tracking down the teens, seniors who once gathered evidence at the house now owned by a Netherfield board member. Is there any other reason these seniors are now targets of a killer? VERDICT Well-developed characters, antiques and art, along with a riveting case with roots in the past elevate this traditional mystery. The sequel to The Art of Betrayal is a seamlessly plotted mystery for fans of English puzzles.--Lesa Holstine

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