June 13, 2024
Length:
293 pages
Summary:
This was the first book in the series that I have read. I skipped to book three because I liked the premise and location. It worked as a stand alone just fine, although starting at the beginning is usually better I agree.
Clara Vale is an independent woman for 1930. She studied chemistry but began working as a detective of sorts which is unusual for women in her time. She attends a party at the Hancock Museum's opening exhibit of Egyptian artifacts and her good friend Daphne is counting on her support as it is her job to display and present the show. When the mummy inside the grand display sarcophagus turns out to be a fake, obviously replaced and the real mummy stolen, everyone is shocked and wonders where the real mummy might be. Clara wants to help, knowing her friend's reputation is on the line as well as wanting to catch the person who committed this theft.
As she begins to investigate further, Clara finds that the mummy in the case is a person who has not been dead long. And she starts to suspect this is connected with a secret society and artifact smuggling ring. Traveling many miles across England and eventually led to Cairo in her search, Clara plays detective and walks a line between trying to find out the identify of the corpse without alerting the murderer and thieves. She is joined in her search by dashing men and her sidekick Bella who keeps her secrets well and is always there for her support and sleuthing.
She uses letters and information from her deceased Uncle Bob, who worked on archeological digs and clearly knew things he shouldn't in order to stay safe. Bob's notebooks and insight guide Clara as she tries to learn who to trust.
My Thoughts:
While I enjoyed the setting and storyline, this wasn't the strongest cozy mystery I've read. I didn't get very attached to Clara or her sidekick Bella. Maybe I've just read too many of these set in this era this year and need to change the timeline up a bit! The independent, detective lady thing is very popular in cozy mysteries these days. They are a dime a dozen it seems.
I did think I enjoyed it more as it went on and I did want to know how it ended. The descriptions of food and scenery were excellent and I thought the premise and unfolding of the mystery was original. So I might go back and read the series in time. It is still a good cozy mystery and I'd recommend it if you like this genre.
The most interesting parts concerned the origin of the smuggling ring, although if I write too much I will create spoilers and I don't want that! Sometimes in the past I've been tempted to write off these books as simplistic but these authors often add history and mystery enough that they are deeper than they look. This one had some of that in the descriptions of Egypt and its culture.
It seems Clara also has love interests enough to keep the romance going with a dashing pilot and other, less suitable men after her. So there is a little bit of it all to keep the reader engaged. I read these stories between more challenging books and they are uplifting in that all usually ends well. So this one does its job, and was still a fun read.
Thanks for sharing this review with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.
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