A feisty sleuth digs into a wartime disappearance for a woman she hated.

This is my 4th Posie Parker (a feisty private detective in the 1920’s). L.B. Hathaway has very readable books that are easy to get through in a few hours.

Posie is a consistently developed character. The premise is fantastic – this one about a doctor presumed dead in the war who is later spotted in Oxford. Having the person who hires Posie turn out to be someone she hated and who also hated her was an excellent twist.

I enjoyed the puzzle and the clues, although I was very surprised to hear for the first time that Posie has a brother who was never mentioned in the previous 3 books. The plot line of the missing doctor happened to help her connect with her dead brother.

The romantic angle is promising, I don’t know how it continues to grow despite the fact that we almost never see Posie and Alaric together. In the brief glimpses he maintains his allure – gorgeous, good-hearted and always somewhere else.

I was surprised by the addition of a real ghost but it fit into the motif of the book (ghosts of the war).

I greatly admire L.B. Hathaway and look forward to the next book!

The previous books are Murder Offstage, The Tomb of the Honeybee and Murder at Maypole Manor.