It's my turn on the BlogTour The Golden Hour: A Lady Evelyn Mystery by Malia Zaidi. It's a murder mystery interwoven with the complex societal rules and hierarchy of the upper echelon.
Malia Zaidi is the author of the Lady Evelyn Mysteries. She studied at the University of Pittsburgh and at the University of Oxford. Having grown up in Germany, she currently lives in Washington DC, though through her love of reading, she resides vicariously (if temporarily) in countries around the world.
Follow @MaliaZaidi on Twitter, on Facebook, on Goodreads,
Visit maliazaidi.com or princessandpen.com
Buy The Golden Hour
About the book
London 1927
Lady Evelyn Carlisle has barely arrived in London when familial duty calls her away again. Her cousin Gemma is desperate for help with her ailing mother before her imminent wedding, which Evelyn knew nothing about! Aunt Agnes in tow, she journeys to Scotland, expecting to find Malmo Manor in turmoil. To her surprise, her Scottish family has been keeping far more secrets than the troubled state of their matriarch. Adding to the tension in the house a neighbour has opened his home, Elderbrooke Park, as a retreat for artistic veterans of the Great War. This development does not sit well with everyone in the community. Is the suspicion towards the residents a catalyst for murder? A tragedy at Elderbrooke Park’s May Day celebration awakens Evelyn’s sleuthing instinct, which is strengthened when the story of another unsolved death emerges, connected to her own family. What she uncovers on her quest to expose the truth will change several lives forever, including her own.
With the shadow of history looming over her, Evelyn must trust in her instinct and ability to comb through the past to understand the present, before the murderer can stop her and tragedy strikes again.
As Evelyn circumnavigates the emotional complexity of the relationships between herself and her family members, especially her aunts, she finds quite a few obstacles in her way. Then seemingly out of nowhere and without reason a young maid is murdered.
It all appears to be connected to Elderbrooke Park, a retreat that a family member is helping to set up. A retreat for artistic veterans of the Great War. This is the latest in a long line of distractions for Aunt Iris, a way to cope with the grief of losing her son. A son, missing since 1916, along with thousands of other poor souls in the Great War.
The loved ones who are left behind are left in a limbo when they receive an MIA notification. Somewhere in their hearts there is a tiny spark of hope, born out of desperation, that their son, husband or brother might still be alive. Simultaneously they know that their child, husband, loved one is buried in anonymity with his brothers in arms under layers of once sodden now dried earth in a foreign country across the sea.
Zaidi brings up a few poignant points up about the veterans of the Great War. It's actually tragic to realise that the perception and generalisation of war veterans hasn't changed much. They are considered untrustworthy, volatile and emotionally unstable. The communities, people and country they fought for treat them like a bad memory, an ill omen and perhaps most importantly like a reminder of what they have lost. It's unfortunate that a century later this still remains a problem for veterans.
Don't be fooled by the cover, which implies a flighty fun read. It doesn't accurately represent the depth of the character and plot development. It's a murder mystery interwoven with the complex societal rules and hierarchy of the upper echelon.
The Lady Evelyn Mysteries remind me of a combination of Christie's world of the aristocracy and Anne Perry's drawn out plots. The first gives a certain hierarchy to the setting and the relationships, and the latter takes the readers on a journey through the many levels and doors of said hierarchy.
Buy The Golden Hour: A Lady Evelyn Mystery (#4) at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: BookBaby; pub date 26 Mar. 2019. Buy at Amazon com.
Buy A Poisonous Journey (Lady Evelyn Mystery #1) at Amazon Uk or Amazon com.
Buy A Darker Shore (Lady Evelyn Mystery #2) at Amazon Uk or Amazon com.
Buy The Study of Silence (Lady Evelyn Mystery #3) at Amazon Uk or Amazon com.
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