Review: Enter Pale Death by Barbara Cleverly

A Mysterious Review of Enter Pale Death by Barbara Cleverly. A Joe Sandilands Mystery.

Review summary: Joe Sandilands is an endearing character and a fine lead, with the conflicts set up by the plot providing intrigue and credible misdirection for the reader. A solid mystery overall, and a terrific addition to this very good series set in 1930s England. (Click here for text of full review.)

Our rating:

Enter Pale Death
Barbara Cleverly
A Joe Sandilands Mystery
Soho Crime (December 2014)

Publisher synopsis: One morning before dawn in the stables of her country estate, Lady Truelove meets a violent death in an encounter with a dangerous horse. Classified as "death by misadventure," this appears a gruesome accident. But Scotland Yard Detective Joe Sandilands suspects foul play — a misgiving he is struggling to separate from his personal grievances toward Sir James Truelove, who is Lady Truelove's widower and the influential academic patron of Dorcas Joliffe, whom Joe one day hopes to marry.

Joe enlists old friend and former constable Lily Wentworth to trail James, and finds an ally in a fellow police officer familiar with the Truelove estate. But as the investigation yields surprising secrets about one of England's most powerful families, Joe discovers how little he knows about not only the gilded lives of the moneyed, but also his relationship with Dorcas. Is Joe prepared to risk a future with the girl he loves to uncover the truth behind Lady Truelove's death?