A Dream of Death: An Antique Mystery

In Berry’s suspenseful, elegantly written debut and series launch, Ohio antiques dealer Kate Hamilton reluctantly returns to the Scottish isle of Glenroth, where “memories and regrets lay as thick on the ground as yellow gorse in autumn”—and where three years earlier her husband, Bill, drowned while visiting his sister, Elenor Spurgeon. Kate travels there at Elenor’s urgent request. At the manor house that Elenor has turned into an upscale hotel, Kate finds the staff preparing for the annual Tartan Ball. Elenor whisks Kate aside and shows her a small 18th-century chest covered in intricate carvings and promises to tell her more about the chest after the ball. When a murder interrupts the festivities, Kate turns amateur sleuth. Her only clue rests in the pages of a recently published novel based on the case of Flora Arnott, a young bride who was murdered on the island two centuries earlier in a manner similar to the present-day crime. Readers will look forward to seeing more of the intelligent and resourceful Kate. [em]Agent: Paula Munier, Talcott Notch. (Apr.) [/em]