Book Review: The Secret Staircase by Sheila Connolly

The Secret Staircase: A Victorian Village Mystery

by Sheila Connolly (Connolly)

 

Kate Hamilton has the money in place to begin restoring the Barton House. She decides to begin with the kitchen. After bringing three contractors out to look over the project only one of them seems at all interested in taking on the job. Morgan even brings an endoscope along to check out what’s in the walls. Sadly, his first look into the kitchen walls he discovers a hidden staircase and a dead body. A hundred-year-old body, but still another dead body. After the police remove the dried bones, Kate gets to meet the crew that will be working on the house. Bethany an electrician and Steve and his brother Lars the plumbers. One evening she overhears an argument between Morgan and Steve. That night someone finds Steve’s body on the basement stairs, he’d fallen or been pushed down them.

 

I felt The Secret Staircase was slow to start. This is the third book and they hadn’t done any renovation on the house or the town. But as the heroine and her trusty sidekick Carroll find the lady of the house’s diaries and more information comes to light it picks up pace.

 

The characters aren’t as developed as well as they could be, but they aren’t unlikeable. The descriptions of the house are fantastic I can just picture the beauty of the old mansion. The mystery is well done and keeps the reader guessing..

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Walled Flower by L.L. Bartlett, Better Late Than Never by Jenn McKinlay or Draw and Order by Cheryl Hollon.]

[ official Victorian Village series page on the official Sheila Connolly web site ]

Recommended by Marcy G.
South Branch Library

 

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If you're a mystery fan, join us for the next Just Desserts meeting on August 26th, where we'll be discussing the suspense novel The Red Lotus by Chris Bohjalian. The Just Desserts group has returned to in-person meetings as of June 2021. Join us at 6:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. in the 4th floor auditorium of the Bennett Martin Public Library downtown at 14th & "N" St. on the last Thursday of each upcoming month. For more information, check out the Just Desserts schedule at https://lincolnlibraries.org/bookguide/book-groups/#justdesserts