Death Comes To The Fair (Kurland St. Mary Mystery, #4)

by Catherine Lloyd

It’s harvest time in the village of Kurland St. Mary as Lucy and Robert prepare to wed—but a murderer has taken an unseasonable vow of vengeance . . .
 
As Miss Lucy Harrington, daughter of the village rector, and Major Sir Robert Kurland plan their nuptials, the major is beginning to wonder if he’ll ever hear wedding bells. He’s seen complex military campaigns that involved less strategy, and he’s finding Lucy’s meddling family maddening.
 
When the body of Ezekiel Thurrock, the church verger, is discovered crushed by a gargoyle that has fallen from the bell tower, the wedding is delayed. But the evidence suggests this was no accident, and Lucy wonders if bad blood at the village fair had anything to do with the man’s mysterious demise, since there was much bitterness over Ezekiel’s prizewinning vegetables.
 
As Lucy and Robert uncover long-standing village feuds, the town’s dark secrets begin to take their toll and the couple soon finds they too are in grave danger . . .

• ISBN10: 1496702042
• ISBN13: 9781496702043
• Publish Date: 29 November 2016
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Out of Print: 7 December 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Kensington Publishing
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

Not quite the slump breaker I was hoping for, but not a bad little mystery either.  The novelty the main characters had in the first novel has worn off (reasonably enough) and the author is left with the tried and true: killing off the villagers.  From the sounds of this village, they may deserve it.   This book stumbled for me because a great draw is the chemistry and banter between the two MCs and they were kept apart quite a bit and their adventures when they were together lacked that certain something I enjoyed before.  A well known, loathsome villager gets what's coming by the end - which is great! - but there's this giant hole at the end where we miss out on the reaction of at least one significant character whose life is directly affected by the outcome of events.  That felt weird to me; the author couldn't spare a few more pages to flesh that out?   But there was still a lot I liked about this cozy; I enjoyed it more than most of what I've been reading lately.  It held my attention and the setting felt like an old friend.  Given my general grumpiness lately, I'll take that and be thankful for it.

[Mystereity Reviews]

See this and all of my reviews at Mystereity Reviews

I've enjoyed this historical mystery series from the start, and each book is better than the last. In Death Comes to the Fair, Robert is impatiently awaiting his wedding to Miss Lucy. Acting as a judge at the harvest fair's vegetable contest, Robert awards most of the prizes to Ezekial Thurrock, angering many villagers. When Thurrock is later found dead, Lucy begins to suspect that his death wasn't an accident. Was he killed by an angry villager? Or is his death connected to a decades old feud?

The suspenseful plot was enjoyable and tricky; there's a whole village of suspects, including the victim's brother, whose claims against the Kurland land and the story behind it were a great subplot. The plot unwound steadily up to an action packed ending, where Lucy proves herself a resourceful and stubborn woman, and I look forward to watching how Robert and Lucy spar once married - and their future investigations!


This book can be read as a standalone, or as an entry into the series, but I definitely recommend starting from the beginning, as there are some plot threads that run through the books.

Overall, Death Comes to the Fair is an excellent historical mystery that will appeal to fans of regency era stories.

Thank you to Kensington Books and Netgalley for providing an advance copy of the book in return for my honest review