A Collection of Lies

by Connie Berry

Overview

In USA Today bestselling author Connie Berry’s fifth Kate Hamilton mystery, American antiques dealer Kate Hamilton follows bloodstained clues to discover the truth about the murder of a modern-day Victorian gentleman.

As Kate Hamilton and her new husband, DI Tom Mallory, honeymoon in Devon, a local history museum asks them to trace the provenance of a bloodstained dress said to belong to a Victorian lacemaker accused of murder. If genuine, the dress and its puzzling connections to a nineteenth-century Romani family who camped on Dartmoor will be the centerpiece of a new historic crimes exhibit—exactly Kate’s kind of mystery. But matters turn deadly when a shot is fired during a fundraising gala, injuring the man who donated the dress.

The injured donor, Gideon Littlejohn, is a cybersecurity expert who lives and dresses as a Victorian gentleman, but everyone believes the real target of the attack to be another attendee—a controversial politician intent on rooting out local corruption. This belief is overturned when Gideon is found dead in a pool of blood. But then the politician receives a death threat.

Who was the real target? Who would want to kill both a man with an obsession for history and a tough-on-crime politician? When asked to assist in the investigation, Kate races to discover the truth, as it becomes clear the killer isn’t going to come quietly.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781639106677
Publisher:	CROOKED LANE BOOKS
Publication date:	06/18/2024
Series:	Kate Hamilton Series , #5
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	37,588
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Connie Berry is the author of the Kate Hamilton mysteries, set in the UK and featuring an American antiques dealer with a gift for solving crimes. Like her protagonist, Connie was raised by antiques dealers who instilled in her a passion for history, fine art, and travel. During college she studied at the University of Freiburg in Germany and St. Clare's College, Oxford, where she fell under the spell of the British Isles. In 2019 Connie won the IPPY Gold Medal for Mystery and was a finalist for the Agatha Award's Best Debut. She's a member of Mystery Writers of America and is on the board of the Guppies and her local Sisters in Crime chapter. Besides reading and writing mysteries, Connie loves history, foreign travel, cute animals, and all things British. She lives in Ohio with her husband and adorable Shih Tzu, Emmie.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for A Collection of Lies:
“Berry’s fifth Kate Hamilton novel combines a cold case and contemporary murder in an outstanding traditional mystery.”
—Library Journal, starred review

“Fascinating historical research combines with modern murder in this charming page-turner.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“A complex, beautifully descriptive mystery . . . Fans of Jane K. Cleland’s Josie Prescott Antiques Mysteries will relish this satisfying series.”
—Booklist

“Connie Berry had me at 'Devon,' but then added a history museum, a bloodstained dress, and an antiques dealer sleuth—and I realized I had a page-turner of a story on my hands. A Collection of Lies is a welcome addition to the traditional mystery genre. More, please.”
—G. M. Malliet, Agatha Award–winning author of the DCI St. Just and the Rev. Max Tudor mysteries

“What a wonderful addition to Connie Berry's Kate Hamilton series. A Collection of Lies ticks all the boxes: an evocative English countryside setting, a deliciously twisty plot, unique and engaging characters, and elegant prose. A winner from start to finish.”
—Jane K. Cleland, Agatha-award winning author of Jane Austen’s Lost Letters

Praise for the Kate Hamilton Mysteries
“Suspenseful layers of intrigue and intelligent characters. Riveting . . . I couldn’t put it down.”
—Hannah Reed, national bestselling author of the Scottish Highland mysteries

“I’m looking forward to many more installments in this intriguing series.”
—Bailey Cates, New York Times bestselling author of the Magical Bakery mysteries

“Deliciously atmospheric and beautifully written.”
—Peg Cochran, USA Today bestselling author of the Cranberry Cove mysteries

“A Scottish delight that will keep you on your toes until the very end.”
—Carlene O’Connor, USA Today bestselling author of the Irish Village mysteries

"Masterfully plotted with compelling characters and a setting rich in history.”
—Gretchen Archer, bestselling author of the Davis Way Crime Caper series

“I can’t imagine a better way to spend an afternoon.” 
—Molly MacRae, national bestselling author of the Highland Bookshop mysteries

“A seamlessly plotted mystery for fans of English puzzles.”
—Library Journal, starred review

“Intriguing . . . New and faithful fans alike will appreciate the tying together of present and past, as well as the poignancy in the long effects of unfortunate choices.”
—Publishers Weekly, on The Shadow of Memory

“A well-realized cast and a beautifully described setting.”
—Booklist

“A veritable treasure.”
—Midwest Book Review

From the Publisher

★ 03/01/2024

Kate Hamilton and her husband, Tom Mallory, take a working honeymoon to Devon, England. Suffolk Constable Tom has a case from a private investigation firm, and he's trying to decide if he wants to take early retirement and turn PI. The museum where Kate works has received a donation of a bloodstained dress from 1885, whose provenance Kate and Tom plan to investigate to prove whether it belonged to lacemaker Nancy Thorne, who returned to her cottage covered in blood, but never explained what happened. Before they can dig into the history, the man who donated the dress is murdered. While Tom assists the Devon Constabulary, Kate investigates the history of the dress, assisted by a local librarian. It's a complex case with entanglements involving the cold case, a village that disappeared, and a Romany family. All the threads will lead back to the donor of the dress and his killer. VERDICT Berry's fifth Kate Hamilton novel, following The Shadow of Memory, combines a cold case and contemporary murder in an outstanding traditional mystery. Fans of Kate Ellis and Jane K. Cleland will appreciate this book.—Lesa Holstine

Library Journal

2024-04-05
Murders past and present provide a puzzle for newlyweds.

While DI Tom Mallory and his American wife, Kate Hamilton, are on honeymoon in Devon, they consider a proposal from Tom’s friend Grahame Nash, who runs an international private detective agency and wants their help. Grahame has been hired by the Museum of Devon Life to authenticate a blood-soaked dress thought to have been worn by Victorian lacemaker—and murderer—Nancy Thorne. Because Kate has antiques expertise, they’re asked to establish whether the blood on the dress is human and the dress an actual period creation. When Tom and Kate arrive at the museum, the curator describes the dress, donated by eccentric local Gideon Littlejohn, as beautifully constructed, probably by Nancy’s seamstress sister, featuring an exquisite lace collar, and fully worthy of being the centerpiece of an upcoming exhibition on famous Devon crimes. Littlejohn, who dresses and lives as a Victorian gentleman, has not donated the trunk, purchased at auction, that contained the dress, but he does let Tom and Kate examine it. After a museum fundraiser during which Littlejohn is wounded, local MP Theodore Pearce announces that he was the shooter’s probable target. The local police ask Tom for his help as Kate starts researching in local libraries and churches and online. Although her extensive search turns up a connection between the dress and a 19th-century Romany family, she can’t document a murder. When Littlejohn is killed, the pressure intensifies on both sleuths to learn more about suspects from two different centuries.

Fascinating historical research combines with modern murder in this charming page-turner.

Kirkus Reviews