Book Review: This Side of Murder by Anna Lee Huber

This Side of Murder (Verity Kent #1). Anna Lee Huber. Kensington (2017). 289 pages. Genre: Mystery.

First Lines: "You might question whether this is all a ruse, whether I truly have anything to reveal.  But I know what kind of work you really did during the war.  I know the secrets you hide.  Why shouldn't I also know your husband's?"

Summary:  Verity Kent is invited to a house party to celebrate the engagement of one of her deceased husband's fellow officers.  Initially she intends to send her regrets.  But when she receives a letter claiming the writer had information about her late husband and his treasonous activities, Verity decides she must attend the party and perhaps learn more about this accusation of treasonous activity.  

Soon after the party gets started, one of the guests disappears.  Verity and three other guests discover his body when they are exploring the island.  Before long another body is discovered.  To make matters worse, there is a storm raging outside and the phone lines are down.  Will Verity be able to discover who the murderer is before someone else loses their life?

My thoughts:  I love the covers of the books in this series.  I was also drawn to the time period - the time between the wars.  

I was glad I had read a few reviews before beginning this book because several of them indicated that the beginning of the book was slow.  I found this to be true and probably would not have continued had I not been prepared for this. There is a lot of set up for the first half or so of the book.  But once things start to happen it really picks up.  

It has been fifteen months since Verity's husband was shot in a battle.  She thought she would be done grieving by now, but finds herself still missing him terribly.  That makes it especially hard to attend this party where everyone knew her husband.  The letter she received suggesting that her husband was involved in treasonous activities is what compels her to go.  She can't believe Sidney would have been involved in anything treasonous, but then again, they hadn't had a lot of time to spend together before he was sent off to war. Verity was keeping secrets from her husband, so it is possible he was keeping secrets from her.  

The setting and atmosphere of this book are similar to And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.  It is set on an island in a large house, actually a castle in this case, and when a storm hits, no one can leave.  However, that is where the similarities end.  Verity and one of the other guests, Max, trust one another, but they are not sure who else they can trust.  The mystery is not straight forward and after a major plot twist, things get more complicated. 

Another thing that took away from my enjoyment of the novel was a section involving a seance and tarot cards.  In most cases, this would have been a deal breaker for me.  However, all of the characters except the one who wants to hold the seance were uncomfortable and Verity lets the reader know that she believes the other character is just pretending to converse with the dead person.  Also, it occurred more than half way through the novel and by that point I wanted to finish.  

Unfortunately, I was left with mixed feelings about the novel.  I have heard great things about Anna Lee Huber and her writing is terrific, but I am not sure if I will continue with this series. 

Quotes:

"Our fighting men simply didn't discuss such things with those at home.  They couldn't. Not without exposing us to the horrors they were trying so hard to keep us from finding out about."

"The music grew softer and the hushed sounds of night reached my ears again - the hum of crickets and the rustle of the wind trailing its fingers through the leaves.  On this side of the castle, away from the sea, the trees grew thicker, for I could smell them and the faint perfume of London Pride in the bushes bordering this end of the terrace."