Dressed for Death – the Fourth Drew Farthering Mystery

Sometimes life throws us some unexpected surprises.  I read the first three Drew Farthering mysteries a few years back, and they were very enjoyable Christian-based murder mysteries set in England.  After finishing the third book, it appeared that the series was merely a trilogy, as the third book ended with the protagonists, Drew Farthering and Madeline Parker, getting married and settling down at Farthering’s estate.  I gave it no more thought until a few months back, while browsing on Amazon, I stumbled across not one, not two, but THREE more titles in the series that I apparently missed.  The fourth and fifth books were already published, and the sixth book was soon to be out.  Without hesitation, I ordered books four and five.

Dressed for Death, the fourth book, is set six months after Drew and Madeline’s marriage.  The two of them, along with Drew’s house manager Nick and Madeline’s best friend from the States, Carrie Holland, and her younger brother William, head off to the great Winteroak House to enjoy the weeklong festivities in a Regency-era setting.  Drew and Nick are old friends with the hosts son, Talbot Cummins, and they are excited to learn he is engaged to be married.  His fiancé, Alice, however, seems a bit off, but everyone puts it down as pre-wedding jitters.

Until she turns up dead of  an apparent cocaine overdose.

Author Julianna Deering (which, it turns out, is merely a pseudonym for DeAnna Julie Dodson – have yet to figure out why these authors choose to continue using pen names, when their real identity is revealed in the short bio at the back of the book…) is without a doubt a master storyteller when it comes to telling a good mystery. There is more than one murder, and while the clues are anything but obvious, I honestly believed I had figured out one of the people involved – in fact, I was so sure, I was patting myself on the back for figuring it out so early in the story, and asking myself why Deering made it so obvious, when the prior books had not been quite so easy to figure out.  Then, in Chapter 18, when the killer is revealed, my jaw dropped.  I couldn’t have been farther from the truth!  I had not seen this one coming at all – Deering surprised the heck out of me, but once revealed, it all sort of fell into place and made sense.  Not many mysteries these days give me this much of a surprise, so I give Deering (a/k/a Dobson) my highest esteem for misleading the reader with subtle clues that take you in one direction, only to pull the rug out at the end.  Red herrings at their finest, indeed!

The characters are relatable and likable, and it was so easy to find myself sharing the emotions of the characters when Alice is killed – and later, when a second body turns up – and later still, when a third body is discovered.  The pain and heartache of losing someone you love, and the guilt of feeling like there was something you could have, should have, done that would have prevented it from happening.  The sense of loss and despondency, the feeling and frustration of feeling useless and totally incapable of doing anything…Deering more than pulls on the readers’ heartstrings with this story, but it’s well worth the read.  She gets her readers completely invested in all of the characters, so much so, that when a death occurs, it hurts you - - and when the killer is revealed, it fully shocks you.

And, this being a Christian based mystery, it is clean reading (no cursing, no graphic violence or sex). In addition, while it doesn’t beat you over the head with Christian beliefs or the evil of sin, it does provide some comforting truths that definitely struck a chord with me.

When trying to cope with a recent death, Drew is beside himself with guilt, so Madeline, one page 234, reminds him that “Our times are in God’s hands, and if it’s my time or yours or anyone else’s, there’s nothing you can do to change that.  All you can do is keep on doing whatever it is He’s given you to do for the time you’re given to do it.”

Later, near the end, when Drew, Madeline, and their friends are preparing to leave, Drew is given some very sage advice on page 303: “Don’t let anyone despise the gifts you’ve been given, and don’t you do so, either.  They may not fit anyone else’s idea of a calling, but the world has all sorts of needs, and God has provided for each of them to be filled if we all do our part.  It would be a shame if your part were left undone.”

Well said, Deering.  Well said.

RATING:  10 cat collars with bells on them out of 10 for showing that Christianity and murder/mystery fiction are not necessarily mutually exclusive things.