The Burning of Rosemont Abbey

July 22, 2024
A church burns down, throwing a small British town into disarray, in this intricate and moody historical from Stephens (Shadows Among Sheaves). It’s 1956 and 26-year-old Louisa Everly has just returned home from a party when she’s overcome by the uncanny sense that her twin, Paul, has died. Almost immediately afterward, Rosemont Abbey—the church where Louisa’s father had been a vicar before dying when she was 12—burns down. Paul’s nowhere to be found, so the police zero in on him as an arson suspect, a prospect that’s not entirely far-fetched given his checkered past. Still, Louisa’s determined to prove his innocence—and, she believes, to find his body. She teams up with her childhood friend and local police inspector, Malcolm Sinclair, to uncover the real culprit. Soon she stumbles on a secret that threatens to rock her family and the town itself. Louisa’s resonant ruminations on how her relationship with Paul soured after their father’s death—and on her faith as a source of bravery—add depth and texture to the mystery as it spirals toward its satisfying conclusion. This immersive whodunit captivates.

September 1, 2024

Louisa Everly has not been close with her twin Paul in years, but in the middle of a crowded party, she senses he is in deadly peril. Within the hour, party guests are watching Rosemont Abbey burn, and the absent Paul becomes the prime suspect. In 1956 England, the village of Wilbeth Green is full of old money and resistant to new ideas, including Louisa sleuthing around to clear her brother's name. After all, it is hard to run from criminals in bright-yellow kitten heels and even harder to snoop for clues when her adoptive aunt is trying to set her up with the region's most eligible bachelor. With help from unlikely sources, including an octogenarian choir teacher and the local boy turned Detective Inspector, Louisa digs deeper into her family's past--and turns up more than she bargained for. VERDICT Stephens (Shadow Among Sheaves) has penned an expertly plotted mystery in the classic style of Agatha Christie or Alan Bradley. Readers will follow plenty of red herrings and suspect everyone at least once before the end.

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