Neil Richards and Matthew Costello, authors of the delightful Cherringham short story collections, have now released a series of historical mystery novellas Mydworth Mysteries, starting with A Shot in the Dark. It is 1929, and Sir Harry Mortimer has returned from years abroad working for the foreign office, his new American wife, Kat, by his side. As the pair approach the manor home of Harry’s aunt, Lady Lavinia, shots ring out, and a man fleeing from the house falls out a window, dead. He has stolen highly valuable jewelry from one of the guests, who shot him as he was getting away. His partner, however, has gotten away with 10,000 guineas* worth of jewels. With their unusual experience of adventure working for their respective governments throughout the world, Harry and Kat find themselves the ideal people to investigate this crime.
A Shot in the Dark was a sweet novella, just perfect for the mystery lover who doesn’t have much time to listen to a full novel. The characters of Harry and Kat make a great team with fun covert skills and other assets. This book does not develop the characters as fully as I would have liked, but I see a lot of promise for future books to build upon what this book already offers.
I did notice a couple areas where the book was lacking. I did not find the solution to be a surprise, but that did not significantly detract from my enjoyment of the book. However, the one thing that did disappoint me was that the book did not do much to create a sense of the 1929 setting. For all I saw, it could just as easily have taken place today instead of a century ago.
Nathaniel Parker, famous for playing the lead in the Inspector Lynley Mysteries, performs the audio edition of A Shot in the Dark. With an expressive voice that takes listeners back to 1929, Parker gives just the right degree of emphasis to his performance to entice listeners
I really enjoyed listening to A Shot in the Dark, and for such a short mystery piece, the book accomplished a lot. It introduced and began to develop the two main characters of the series and gave us a fun detective story to investigate. I did find a few things lacking, but overall, this was a good start to a series. I give this book four stars.
*10,000 guineas in 1929 are comparable to £671,435.69 or $836,622.30 today.
