THE SECRET STAIRCASE is the third book in Sheila Connolly’s “Victorian Village Mysteries” series. I like a book with more than one mystery to solve – especially in one of them is something that happened eons ago. THE SECRET STAIRCASE has all that and more. Kate Hamilton wants to restore some of the buildings around Asheboro, Maryland by making the old look new again. She starts with the Barton Mansion. She gets her financial backing together, assembles a team of locals and friends, and prepares to get to work. Unfortunately for Kate, this process involves finding two dead bodies. One of some unknown man from Victorian times, and one that recently passed away. Having these two bodies on the property she’s trying to renovate gives Kate motivation to try and find out what happened in both cases.
I Kate as a businesswoman and amateur sleuth. Most of the characters in THE SECRET STAIRCASE are realistically flawed and complex. Because of the construction work, a mummified body from the Victorian era is discovered walled in. I love this Edgar Allan Poe touch. While there are no gory bits with this find, it’s unnerving to some people because of how it was hidden away for so many years. The history buffs associated with this restoration project are naturally interested in finding out more about who the person was and what happened, but Kate also takes an interest in order to clarify the history of the house. Sheila Connolly does a fantastic job of mixing history and fiction to create an absorbing account for the reader. The more recent death in the house involves a character that nobody was that sad to see go, but leaves people freaked out by an unknown killer in their midst. The forensic tidbits used to determine where and how the person died are fascinating, and you don’t get that with every mystery novel.
THE SECRET STAIRCASE is an engrossing tale of two murders with the past impacting the present in a huge way. A minor secondary story in THE SECRET STAIRCASE involves Kate and the evolving relationship of her off and on love interest. I found this to be an interesting side note but wasn’t sure throughout the book whether I wanted the relationship to thrive or end. I look forward to reading the next installment in Sheila Connolly’s “Victorian Village Mysteries” series.
From New York Times bestselling author Sheila Connolly, The Secret Staircase is the third Victorian Village Mystery, which finds Katherine Hamilton discovering a long-dead body on a hidden staircase.
Kate Hamilton is feeling good about her plans to recreate Asheboro, Maryland as the Victorian town it once was. The town is finally on her side, and the finances are coming together. Even two recent murders aren't enough to discourage her: after she helped to solve them, she put them behind her.
Now comes the time to make real plans, and her first goal is to renovate the Barton Mansion on the outskirts of town. Luckily, it's been maintained in good condition in the century since the wealthy Henry Barton lived and died there. So the only substantial change she's planning is to update the original kitchen so that it can be used to cater events in the building. But when the contractor gets started, he discovers a staircase that had been walled in years earlier. And of course, given the way Kate's luck has been going, there's a body on the stairs.
After the first shock, Kate is relieved when the autopsy reveals that the man had died around 1880. Unfortunately, it also reveals that he had not died a natural death—he had been murdered. And the questions remain: who was he and what was he doing there?
So Kate and Carroll Peterson, who Kate had drafted to sort through Henry Barton's papers, start a hunt to identify the man and why he died at the Barton Mansion. But when a second body is found—this time from the present day—Kate realizes that someone may not be so keen on her digging up the past...
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