Death of an Avid Reader by Frances Brody

Death of an Avid Reader by Frances Brody

An intricate plot set in the 1920s English countryside and Frances Brody's refreshingly complex heroine (Kirkus) Kate Shackleton make Death of an Avid Reader an absorbing 6th installment in this mystery series.

The Search for a Daughter
Lady Coulton gave up the baby that would have ruined her marriage, born when Lord Coulton was abroad. Now that her husband is dying, she asks Kate to find Sophia.

A Haunted Library
It is forty years since the ghost of a dead librarian haunted the old library, yet the stories have begun again. Kate does not believe in ghosts but obligingly takes part in a ceremony to expel the restless spirit. Shockingly, there is a body in the basement, strangled, and covered in dusty volumes from a fallen bookcase. It is Dr. Potter, a mathematician.

A Killer on the Loose
Dr. Potter's body is taken away. The police find a sick man sheltering in the basement. He is an Italian, Umberto, an organ grinder and owner of a lively Capuchin monkey. Umberto becomes the prime suspect and will be charged with murder. Kate goes with Umberto to the infirmary. But he is too weak to be a suspect. And now Kate must set out to find the real culprit.

FRANCES BRODY is a writer who lives in Leeds, England. She authored historical sagas before turning to crime with Dying in the Wool, the first novel in the Kate Shackleton series, for which she won the HarperCollins Elizabeth Elgin award for most regionally evocative debut saga of the millennium. Death at the Seaside, A Death in the Dales, and Murder on a Summer's Day are some of Kate Shackleton's other mysteries.