The Egyptian Antiquities Murder (High Society Lady Detective)
Historical Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Setting – England
McGuffin Ink (April 12, 2019)
Paperback: 272 pages
ISBN-10: 0998843180
ISBN-13: 978-0998843186
Kindle ASIN: B07MTTXRYC

Dollycas’s Thoughts

The 3rd book in this series takes us to Mulvern House where Olive Belgrave meets with Lady Agnes about her uncle’s death. A death that has been ruled a suicide. Lady Agnes is sure her uncle would never take his own life. This is where I need to encase my heart in virtual steel to keep reading because as the mother of a suicide victim, families rarely think our loved ones would take their own lives. Knowing stories like this I know that Lord Mulvern death was not by his own hand, I can keep reading. Many think an old curse struck Lord Mulvern down but Olive starts to investigate and believes Lady Agnes is right, the old boy was murdered. Now Olive just needs to figure out whodunit and why.

I loved the setting for this story. Lord Mulvern was an eminent Egyptologist with a vast collection and his niece shared his passion. There was a major renovation to the building, a grand gallery, in order to store and showcase the collection. Ms. Rosett vividly describes the places and several of the magnificent pieces. I was never really been interested in Egyptian antiquities or mummies and the like until my kids got me to watch The Mummy movies with Brendan Fraser a few years ago. It was fun to read about this collection.

The author again introduces us to several new characters. Lady Agnes wants to keep her uncles vision alive, unlike the other heirs. Her brother Gilbert and his wife Nora care mainly about the money and themselves making them suspects on Olive’s list. The Lord’s valet/butler received a generous bequest and retired so he too lands on her list. There are several others interested in obtaining the collection and the digging location that comes with it. There is also a collection manager and a new butler. Olive must speak to them all. All these characters take center stage with Olive but Jasper and Essie do pop into the picture now and again.

I knew from the start this would be a hard mystery for Olive to solve. So much time has passed, no real evidence was left behind. She found one piece of evidence and really ran with it and all the clues that subsequently followed. I enjoyed following along with Olive and her process. With all the twists I didn’t solve this one at all.

Another Perfect Escape from Sara Rosett. An engaging protagonist and a great mystery. I anxiously await Olive’s next case.