The House on Graveyard Lane

English language

Published Aug. 27, 2024 by Poisoned Pen Press.

ISBN:: 978-1-7282-9798-9

No rating (1 review)

"I want you to solve my murder," said the woman in white.

Rachel Savernake gave a sardonic smile. "Quite a challenge."

The woman in white—surreal artist Damaris Gethin—has invited a select group to the opening of her exhibit "Artist in Crime," held in the eerie subterranean Hades Gallery. As costumed models reenact famously violent deaths, the artist herself portrays Marie Antoinette on the day of her execution, complete with a guillotine on the stage. It's not a prop; within ten minutes of Rachel's promise to solve Damaris's future murder, the artist slips her neck into the collar of the device and the very real blade sends her head rolling at the feet of her horrified audience.

As everyone reels from the shock, Rachel quickly learns that Damaris herself accomplished the deed with the push of a button—a suicide. So then why did she ask Rachel to solve her "murder?"

Keen …

"I want you to solve my murder," said the woman in white.

Rachel Savernake gave a sardonic smile. "Quite a challenge."

The woman in white—surreal artist Damaris Gethin—has invited a select group to the opening of her exhibit "Artist in Crime," held in the eerie subterranean Hades Gallery. As costumed models reenact famously violent deaths, the artist herself portrays Marie Antoinette on the day of her execution, complete with a guillotine on the stage. It's not a prop; within ten minutes of Rachel's promise to solve Damaris's future murder, the artist slips her neck into the collar of the device and the very real blade sends her head rolling at the feet of her horrified audience.

As everyone reels from the shock, Rachel quickly learns that Damaris herself accomplished the deed with the push of a button—a suicide. So then why did she ask Rachel to solve her "murder?"

Keen for the hunt, Rachel begins sniffing around the other invited guests, including a former lover with shady financial dealings, his widowed sister-in-law, and her has-been songwriter friend. Meanwhile, crime reporter Jacob Flint—also in attendance, in hopes of meeting celebrated French beauty Kiki de Villiers, allows his fascination with her to endanger his own life when a ruthless gangster returns to London, looking to take back what's his.

Equal parts thriller and whodunit, THE HOUSE ON GRAVEYARD LANE leads Rachel and Jacob into a viper's pit of suspects, each sneakier and more venomous than the last.

1 edition

lastblossom reviewed The House on Graveyard Lane by Martin Edwards (Rachel Savernake, #4)

More thriller than mystery. A reasonably fun and twisty tale, but be advised that the description and the actual book aren't entirely in line.

No rating

This is fourth in a series, a thing I was entirely unaware of when I started it. Thankfully, there was enough catchup woven in that it wasn't a pain point for me to jump into the story. That being said, maybe I would have known better what to expect when the story took a sudden swerve from a very interesting hook to an entirely different plotline. There are two leads here - Rachel and Jacob - and despite the book description spending more time on Rachel, the book itself spends a lot more time on Jacob. The story begins with the death of Damaris Gethin (Rachel's case), but immediately takes a turn to follow the life of another woman, Kiki de Villiers (Jacob's case). Kiki is a person of interest for unspecified reasons. She's got history in this town, and there are a lot of different threads connected to her: …

This is fourth in a series, a thing I was entirely unaware of when I started it. Thankfully, there was enough catchup woven in that it wasn't a pain point for me to jump into the story. That being said, maybe I would have known better what to expect when the story took a sudden swerve from a very interesting hook to an entirely different plotline. There are two leads here - Rachel and Jacob - and despite the book description spending more time on Rachel, the book itself spends a lot more time on Jacob. The story begins with the death of Damaris Gethin (Rachel's case), but immediately takes a turn to follow the life of another woman, Kiki de Villiers (Jacob's case). Kiki is a person of interest for unspecified reasons. She's got history in this town, and there are a lot of different threads connected to her: the police, organized crime, a mysterious third party? Is Damaris also part of her story? Only somewhat. Jacob and Rachel intersect a few times, more out of coincidence than connection, but the lion's share of the story is about Kiki. There's plenty of cat and mouse in here leaning more into a thriller than a mystery, with a large amount of legwork in Rachel's case being done off the page. It's a shame, because she and the case are incredibly interesting, and I would have liked to follow that thread more. Still, if you want to follow the adventures of a crime reporter tracking down a woman with a mysterious past as she tangles with a crime organization, then this might be the book for you.

Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an advance copy! All thoughts in this review are my own.