keira anne with an e

Paul Everly is dead.

But no one believes it.

Louisa is sure that she felt the death of her estranged twin brother one night– only to learn that he is accused of arson an hour later.

In order to prove that her brother is dead– not on the run– she’s going to have to prove his innocence, and to do that, she just might need the help of her childhood friend, Inspector Malcolm Sinclair.

But what if the truth about what happened that night changes everything she believed to be true?

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⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5 stars)

Well, that was a fun ride.

The entire time, I was completely sucked into this story. I wasn’t expecting this one to be quite so captivating, but it totally was. I spent the entire time trying to piece this mystery together, and I’m very proud to say I was fairly accurate in my guesses. The aesthetics and overall feel of the book very much reminded me of Agatha Christie (more her Miss Marple series than Hercule Poirot, if that makes any sense).

Our main girl definitely had more fight in her than I had thought she would. I appreciated her ambition and resilience– and also the way she addressed and dealt with her character flaws. Honestly, I really ended up enjoying her quite a fair bit, especially with her interactions with our main guy.

Because, they were cute.

Usually, in a historical mystery, I don’t find myself giggling and smiling at the romantic interactions. This was, quite happily, the exception. I spent the entire book smirking at the things they would say to each other. Honestly, they were both driven and intelligent people, so I really found myself enjoying the dynamic between them as they figured things out.

The family dynamic was a little melancholy for my personal taste, I’ll admit. Just the way things were between the various family members… it was definitely sad, which did affect my rating just a little.

I would say that the aesthetic of this book was what really sold it for me. I think this would make an excellent miniseries, because the story just moved at a really solid pace, and I felt the author did a wonderful job of presenting this story in an engaging way. It was just enough to feel a little spine-tingling, but not too much, if that makes any sense.

I will admit I forgot to write down the content as I was going, but I feel like it was pretty average content for a mystery novel/whodunnit. Not any language (that I can recall), and only sweet and clean romance. I would definitely recommend it to any adult readers who enjoy a good mystery.

All in all, this one was very fun. It was my first book by this author, but I definitely don’t think it will be my last– especially if she writes more mysteries in the future. I would highly recommend this one to fans of Agatha Christie and Christian historical novels.

EMOJI REVIEW!

• 🕰️ historical Christian fiction
• 🔎 mystery/whodunnit
• 🏚️ nice slightly-spooky aesthetics
• 🔥 tracking down an arsonist
• 🌫️ very good atmosphere
• 📻 1950s setting

Thanks so much for reading this review! I’d love to hear about what your favorite mysteries are, or if you’ve read this one. Thanks for being here!!!