Recommended for fans of Hercule Poirot, ‘Rumpole of the Bailey’, and cosy murder mysteries.
The Inner Temple, 1901: a warren of shaded courtyards and ancient buildings that has formed the heart of legal London for hundreds of years. A place where tradition is everything, the police enter only by consent, and murder is only to be found in the case archives. Until now…
At precisely two minutes to seven every morning, Gabriel Ward KC steps out of his rooms in the Inner Temple, presses his oak front door three times to ensure it is locked, and walks to his office to begin his day. Except for today.
Today, the dead body of the Lord Chief Justice of England, immaculately clad in evening dress except for his bare feet, is lying on his doorstep – with one of the silver Temple carving knives sticking out of his chest.
As rumour and gossip fly round the chambers and the press set up camp outside the gates, an internal investigation is ordered by the head of the Temple, who coerces a very unwilling Gabriel into taking charge.
Paired with the eager young Constable Wright, he must draw on every bit of his legal training to solve the case – but not before he discovers that there are more surprising, and sometimes sinister, secrets hiding behind those heavy oak doors than he’d ever imagined.
There are two intertwined mysteries afoot in this novel: the first is a whodunnit involving the death of the Lord Chief Justice; the second is a whowroteit (I doubt that one will catch on!) surrounding the missing author of ‘Millie the Church Mouse’ – a fictional story for children which encourages their religious devotion and moral upbringing. It takes rather a while for the connection between these two stories to become apparent, yet each is interesting in its own way. However, the aspect of the novel which I most enjoyed was the glimpses into the inner-workings of the Temple – this was nicely handled, with little details being dropped in throughout the narrative, without the author’s enthusiasm for the setting they know so well becoming onerous.
I enjoyed the charming, yet rather ‘elegant’ nature of this nicely-paced murder mystery, and look forward to reading future novels in this series. I particularly hope to the see Constable Wright developing into more of a central character as sidekick to Gabriel.
The narration of the audiobook, by Matthew Lloyd Davies, was perfect for this novel. Just the right amount of elegance and wit, without it being comical. I felt that the narrator had a good grasp of the character and read him with sensitivity and respect for the type of gentleman that he is portrayed to be.
Thank you to NetGalley, Sally Smith, Bloomsbury UK audio, and Raven Books for a copy of this audiobook in return for my honest review.
