Beautiful and brilliant, Kendra Donovan is a rising star at the FBI. Yet her path to professional success hits a speed bump during a disastrous raid where half her team is murdered, a mole in the FBI is uncovered and she herself is severely wounded. As soon as she recovers, she goes rogue and travels to England to assassinate the man responsible for the deaths of her teammates.
While fleeing from an unexpected assassin herself, Kendra escapes into a stairwell that promises sanctuary but when she stumbles out again, she is in the same place - Aldrich Castle - but in a different time: 1815, to be exact.
Mistaken for a lady's maid hired to help with weekend guests, Kendra is forced to quickly adapt to the time period until she can figure out how she got there; and, more importantly, how to get back home. However, after the body of a young girl is found on the extensive grounds of the county estate, she starts to feel there's some purpose to her bizarre circumstances. Stripped of her twenty-first century tools, Kendra must use her wits alone in order to unmask a cunning madman.
My favorite part of A Murder in Time was Kendra trying to figure out how to utilize her knowledge of forensic science and the psychology of killers in a world when the term serial killer hadn’t even been coined. Heck, in 1815, London doesn’t even have a police force. There’s a lot of history and mulling over how to put things in context for the men Kendra encounters. Good thing most of the men she encounters are somewhat forward thinking and Kendra finds a like minded woman, Rebecca, to assist her in her investigation.
It was fairly easy to settle into the past with Kendra. (Once she accepted that’s where she was.) The story felt a bit like Outlander, Sherlock Holmes (both the Doyle and Moffat versions) and Downton Abbey. There was an air of familiarity which made it a perfect companion on my summer vacation.
The only disappointing aspect of the story was the romance. There was supposed to be something between Kendra and Alec, but I just wasn’t feeling it. Kendra was often with large groups of people during the investigation and doing her best to avoid everyone else the rest of the time in the off chance someone would figure out her secret. There’s wasn’t much chance for anything to develop between Kendra and Alec so the few times they are alone, it feels incredibly awkward.
Fans of time travel, mystery and forensic science will like A Murder in Time. Kendra’s adventures in the past are not complete and there’s plenty of adventure and intrigue awaiting her in the present time. I look forward t reading the next book in the Kendra Donovan series.
This review was originally posted on Second Run Reviews
Reading updates
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Started reading
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16 June, 2016:
Finished reading
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16 June, 2016:
Reviewed