The Sign of Death by Callie Hutton (Book Beginnings & Friday 56)

Title: The Sign of Death

Author: Callie Hutton

Publication: 13 April 2021

Format: eARC provided by Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley

Amazon Description: 

Bath, England, 1891. Mr. James Harding was a lot of things--businessman, well-to-do, probable scoundrel--but a drinker he most assuredly was not. So when Harding is believed to have drunkenly fallen to his death into the icy River Avon, Lord William Wethington is immediately suspicious. Finding Lord William's name on a letter in the victim's pocket, the local constabulary summons William to identify the victim. Police detectives learn that William had been one of Harding's business clients--and undoubtedly not the only client the dead man had cheated.
William entreats Lady Amy Lovell, a fellow member of the Mystery Book Club of Bath, to help him deduce what really happened to the late Mr. Harding. Lady Amy, a celebrated mystery author herself, once called on William to help her solve a real-life mystery, and now she fully intends to return the favor. But it won't be easy.
Practically every one of Harding's many clients had ample reason to want to do him in. And there's precious little time to narrow down the list: William and Amy soon become prime suspects themselves when the police discover them ruffling through files in Harding's house. Lady Amy will have to be as clever as her characters if she's to save William from the gallows...and herself from Harding's real killer.

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff

I finished Hutton's first Victorian Book Club Mystery, A Study in Murder, this morning and was quite pleased with myself for already having the next two in the series lined up and waiting thanks to NetGalley. It was splendidly delightful and I was anxious to continue and to find out what Lady Amy and Lord William were going to get themselves into next. The two books briefly overlap -- the "six months later" epilogue from the previous book occurring at the beginning of Chapter 3 of this one. I haven't made it further than that as of yet (I jumped to the 56% mark for the blurb), but I'm already quite pleased that I decided to plunge right in rather than pick up something else to stagger them out.

(Sorry if the formatting is a bit whack. I'm attempting the blogger app on my phone and will check/edit/whatever once I get to the computer. I've never been a fan of phone blogging but didn't want to wait!)

As always, Friday 56 (share a blurb from the 56th page or 56% mark) is hosted at Freda's Voice & Book Beginnings (share the first few sentences) is at Rose City Reader.