“Death by the Book” by Julianna Deering

It’s the summer of 1932, and young Drew Farthering is focused on one thing – getting the beautiful American Madeline Parker to accept his proposal of marriage. She’s in love with him, but she isn’t quite ready to say yes. Nevertheless, Drew is having his will changed in Madeline’s favor, and is scheduled to meet with his lawyer.

Except the meeting never happens. The lawyer is found murdered, with an odd note stuck to his chest with a hairpin. The note, written in a beautiful cursive handwriting on parchment paper, doesn’t seem to make much sense.

And then a doctor is killed on a golf course belonging to Drew’s country club. And a note is found pinned to his chest; same handwriting and paper but a different inscription. And then there’s a third murder.

Something is clearly awry in the village of Farthering St. John. And the murders are getting closer and closer to Drew himself.

Julianna Deering

Death by the Book is Julianna Deering’s second novel in the Drew Fathering mystery series. Published in 2014, the stories are set in 1930s England – and they are meant to remind us of the Golden Age of Mystery (the 1920s and 1930s). Deering’s stories have the slight twist of also having references to faith. Others in the series include Rules of Murder, Murder at the Mikado, Dressed for Death, and Murder on the Moor. A sixth novel, Death at Thorburn Hall, is scheduled for publication in November.

With the help of his friend Nick Dennison, Drew begins to unravel the series of crimes. Madeline plays a somewhat smaller role than she did in the first novel; and she’s almost upstaged by a wonderfully domineering aunt who arrives from America to keep her niece out of the clutches of “those foreigners” like Drew.

Death by the Book is an intriguing mystery, and kudos to Deering for writing a story true to the Golden Age period.

Related:

My review of Julianna Deering’s Rules of Murder.

Top photograph by Petr Kratochvil via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.

Julianna Deering’s “Rules of Murder”

It’s 1931. Young Drew Fartherington and his friend Nick Dennison arrive at Drew’s home in Fartherington St. John to find his mother and stepfather throwing a house party that’s in full swing. He’s incensed to find his own room occupied, and occupied, no less, by David Lincoln, the man rumored to have had an affair with his mother. The only bright spot is the arrival of his stepfather’s American niece, Madeline Parker, whom Drew finds himself immediately drawn to.

Before the weekend is out, David Lincoln is found murdered in the greenhouse, and Drew’s mother has apparently committed suicide. But something seems wrong about both deaths, and Drew begins his own investigation, with the help of Nick and Madeline.

And what Drew finds in Rules of Murder by Julianna Deering are secrets buried in the distant past, a different view of his dead father and mother, his understanding of his own life turned upside down, the financial standing of the family firm threatened – and more than a touch of romance.

Published in 2013, Rules of Murder is the first of four Drew Fartherington detective novels written by Deering (two more are scheduled for publication). Her detective in an engaging and intelligent young man, the sole offspring of a wealthy family that owns a chemical research and manufacturing company. The family is relatively new landed gentry. Drew’s grandfather helped to found the firm, convinced the local town to change its name, and built a family home specifically constructed with old building materials and in different styles to architecture purposefully to appear old and established.

Julianna Deering

The author has done her research well. The story has the air of authenticity and the feel of the Golden Age of the murder mystery – the 1920s and 1930s. The police inspector is not so much bumbling as off investigating other leads, so that Drew and his friends occupy center stage in the story.

As the bodies pile up (and they do seem to pile up), Drew gets closer and closer to the truth, despite a plethora of red herrings tossed in his (and our) way. But the story finishes well, and Deering has provided an entertaining, highly readable whodunit.  

Photograph by Karen Arnold via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.