The Body in the Garden (Lily Adler #1)
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
I took a really long time to read this one. I'm not too sure what went wrong with this, but it barely kept my interest up. Still, I believe this to be a pretty good read, with realistic characters and a strong plot.
Lily Adler, recently widowed, finds herself back in the midst of London society. She hardly misses any of it, except to be back in the companionship of her friend, Lady Walter. But things take a turn when, in the very garden of Lady Walter's household, a young man is shot dead. Lily heard discussions of blackmail before the murder happened, and is happy to leave it to the constables to solve the mystery, until Lord Walter decides to bribe the constables to drop the case. She then decides to take it upon herself to bring the murderer to justice with the help of a navy captain and a West Indies heiress. Secrets are revealed one by one, and this book takes us on a gripping chase as Lily tries her hardest to find the murderer before she becomes their next target.
I really like the author's writing style. Other than the fact that she repeats 'she lifted her chin' one too many times, it reads and flows easily. There is obvious planning in the plot, and readers will be sure to be left with multiple red herrings and twists. My suspicions were all wrong, to be honest, and to be able to find out who it really was at the end took me by surprise.
Characters included in here are also realistic. Lily may be smart and independent, but she is not perfect and the author makes sure she showcases her flaws for all to see with wonderful descriptions. Our heiress, Ofelia, too, is strong and determined, but she also has her insecurities, afraid of losing the one she loves most. And dear Jack, the navy captain, finds himself at war between his heart and mind as he is forced to accept that there are other ways to support a friend. How their friendship tie together really makes it a heart-warming read, and, inevitably, they grew on me.
As much as I'd like not to do so, I unconsciously compared this to the Lizzie Hardwicke series by Georgina Clarke. The more I did that, the more I find that the overall storyline is pretty... dull for this one. This might be the reason why I took almost three weeks to finish reading, but it doesn't mean this book isn't any good. I actually do look forward to reading about subsequent cases Lily will solve. It would also be very interesting to see how Lily and Jack's relationship will develop (or not).
This review is written based on the ARC provided by the publisher through Netgalley.