Book Review: A Collection of Lies by Connie Berry (Kate Hamilton #5)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Kate and Tom; strong second half

Cons: Missing regular supporting characters; uneven first half

The Bottom Line:

Dead body turns up

While investigating dress

Uneven but good

Working Honeymoon Turns Deadly

Kate Hamilton’s plans for the future have been up in the air for a while now.  Yes, she got married in the Christmas novella we got in 2023, but her new husband, DI Tom Mallory, was considering a new job offer that would include her.  That plays into the premise of A Collection of Lies, which fans will ultimately enjoy.

If you are new to the series Kate is a widow who met Tom on a trip to Scotland.  The attraction was mutual, and she moved from Ohio to England to see where their relationship would go.  Fortunately, she’s been able to work with a local to help expand his antiques business.  Obviously, her relationship with Tom went well since they are now married and on a honeymoon to Devon.

While in Devon, Kate and Tom have been asked by the company that wants to hire them as professional investigators to look into a dress that has been recently donated to a local museum.  The dress proports to belong to Nancy Thorne, a lacemaker who was rumored to be involved in a murder back in 1885.  The murder was never solved – in fact, no body was ever found.  They’ve been asked to authenticate the dress, but Kate is intrigued by the very cold case.

However, a more modern mystery envelops them when someone fires a gun at a fundraiser for the museum.  No one is hurt – in fact, there seems to be some disagreement as to who the target even was.  Sadly, someone does turn up dead a couple of days later.  While Kate continues to investigate the dress, Tom gets pulled into the murder investigation.  Is there a connection between the two?

Obviously, there is a lot going on here.  Ironically, I felt like the first half dragged even with multiple storylines.  Part of that is because Kate gets distracted by historical detail that I didn’t care about.  And part of that is because Kate and Tom are spinning their wheels.  They learn a little bit, but not enough to feel like the story was advancing.

But this is a book of two halves.  Things really pick up in the second half, and at that point, I was fully on board.  There’s a great action scene, as we often get in these books.  This back half has plenty of twists as well.  They came late, so I felt like things were a little rushed, although the solution to the mystery does make sense.

Since Kate and Tom aren’t at home, we don’t get the normal supporting characters.  I did find I missed seeing them.  On the other hand, Tom was a much more active part of the story, which was great.  And this isn’t to take anything away from the new characters, which are good.

And yes, it does appear we’ve solved the mystery of what Kate and Tom will be doing in the future at the end of this book.

If you are new to the series, I recommend you got back to the beginning before picking up A Collection of Lies.  Fans of the series will find their patience with this book rewarded by the end.

Here are the rest of the Kate Hamilton Mysteries.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.