The cabinets of Barnaby Mayne /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Winner of the Mary Higgins Clark Award
One of Publishers Weekly 's Top Ten Fall Mysteries
Minneapolis Star Tribune 's Summer Reading List
One of The Washington Post 's Five New Thrillers & Mysteries for the Beach
One of Amazon's Best of the Month
One of Christian Science Monitor' s Ten Best Books of the Month
One of LitHub 's Five Books You May Have Missed This Month

From the author of the acclaimed Li Du novels comes Elsa Hart's new atmospheric mystery series.

London, 1703. In a time when the old approaches to science coexist with the new, one elite community attempts to understand the world by collecting its wonders. Sir Barnaby Mayne, the most formidable of these collectors, has devoted his life to filling his cabinets. While the curious-minded vie for invitations to study the rare stones, bones, books, and artifacts he has amassed, some visitors come with a darker purpose.

For Cecily Kay, it is a passion for plants that brings her to the Mayne house. The only puzzle she expects to encounter is how to locate the specimens she needs within Sir Barnaby's crowded cabinets. But when her host is stabbed to death, Cecily finds the confession of the supposed killer unconvincing. She pays attention to details--years of practice have taught her that the smallest particulars can distinguish a harmless herb from a deadly one--and in the case of Sir Barnaby's murder, there are too many inconsistencies for her to ignore.

To discover the truth, Cecily must enter the world of the collectors, a realm where intellect is distorted by obsession and greed. As her pursuit of answers brings her closer to a killer, she risks being given a final resting place amid the bones that wait, silent and still, in the cabinets of Barnaby Mayne.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Hart moves from the closed world of the early 18th-century China of her "Li Du" novels to the shuttered and locked cabinets of eccentric Barnaby Mayne in early 18th-century London, and the quirky minds of the tight-knit circle of obsessive collectors, among whom Mayne was somewhat of an elder statesman until his untimely demise. While the mystery lies in not just whodunit but why and how it was done, the fascination in this atmospheric story lies with its two offbeat detectives, illustrator-turned-spy Meacan Barlow and her childhood friend, plant collector Cecily Kay. Both women exist on the fringes of the exclusively male world of competitive, combative collectors--which provides them with the knowledge and opportunity to figure out who murdered Mayne before an innocent man goes to the gallows. VERDICT This glimpse into the intimate circles that will eventually spawn the great museums is highly recommended for historical fiction readers looking for a peek into a fascinating closed society. It is an equally solid choice for historical mystery readers who want to see women with intelligence and agency navigate a time and place not meant for them, but where they thrive nonetheless while solving a delightfully twisty murder. [See Prepub Alert, 11/18/19.]--Marlene Harris, Reading Reality, LLC, Duluth, GA

Publishers Weekly Review

Hart (City of Ink and two other mysteries featuring 18th-century Chinese librarian Li Du) establishes herself as a versatile talent with this exceptional standalone set in 1703 London. Botanist Cecily Kay has left her diplomat husband behind in Smyrna to spend time in the home of Sir Barnaby Mayne, a legendary collector, who believes his holdings "contain no less than the future course of all knowledge toward the secrets God left for man to discover." Kay hopes to use Mayne's collection of plants to help her classify the flora she collected in Smyrna. She's delighted to find that Mayne's other guests include a childhood friend, Meacan Barlow, an artist who's been retained to illustrate a new catalogue of the nobleman's possessions. Both women's plans are disrupted when Mayne is found stabbed to death in his study, with the bloody knife in the hands of another member of the household, who confesses to the murder before fleeing. The astute Kay doubts the confession's truthfulness, but her pursuit of answers puts her in danger. The author has a gift for vivid similes (randomly displayed objects are "like guests at a poorly planned party who cannot find a common topic of conversation"). Hart is bound to become a household name for readers who love clever and fair whodunits. Agent: Stephanie Cabot, Gernert Co. (Aug.)

Booklist Review

After unveiling an embezzlement scheme that her husband, the English consul to Smyrna, missed, Cecily is dispatched back to London where her unseemly (for 1703) behavior won't cause further embarrassment. In London, her first stop is Barnaby Mayne's collection of curiosities, where she hopes to identify the botanical samples she's collected abroad. To Cecily's surprise, she's reunited with her childhood friend Meacan, who is illustrating Mayne's latest catalog. But Cecily's round of good fortune ends when Mayne is found murdered in his study and his assistant confesses. Cecily and Meacan don't buy the mild-mannered assistant as Mayne's killer, and they delve into London's cutthroat collector culture to find the truth. Their hunt allies them with Covo, the collecting world's fixer, who reveals a secret occult society and provides a firsthand introduction to the dangers of obsession. The collectors' subculture is fascinating, especially through the eyes of a decorum-flouting narrator, and the mystery is satisfyingly complex. A must-read series debut for fans of Tasha Alexander's and Deanna Raybourn's historical whodunits.

Kirkus Book Review

Intellectual curiosity serves an aspiring botanist well when she investigates the baffling murder of a mentor. London, 1703. In response to her letter of inquiry, Lady Cecily Kay receives an invitation to visit the fashionable residence of Sir Barnaby Mayne in Bloomsbury Square. Not only does Mayne have an impressive collection of books, jewels, and artifacts from all over the world, but his cabinets of flora, which Cecily will have a week to examine, are equally notable. The residence itself is meticulously organized--Serpent Room, Bird Room, Beast Room, etc. When they go looking for Mayne in his study, Cecily and a handful of other guests discover the corpse of their ill-tempered host along with a frenzied Walter Dinley, one of the other guests, who declares that he killed Mayne after a quarrel. The case seems open-and-shut, but Cecily, who's not so sure, secretly examines the murder scene and begins questioning the household staff. The arrival of the imperious Lady Mayne, who seems unmoved by her husband's death, adds a twist: She won't inherit her husband's priceless collection. Instead, it will go to his courtly, amiable friend Giles Inwood. The sudden return of guest Otto Helm, who had left before dinner and the murder, makes Cecily even more suspicious, especially when he claims to have been assaulted and robbed. The solution is complex, but Cecily is determined to find it in this series debut from the author of the trio of Li Du mysteries. Hart's juicy character portraits and graceful prose make for a delightful period whodunit. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Elsa Hart is the author of several acclaimed mystery novels set in eighteenth-century China, including City of Ink , one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2018. She was born in Rome, but her earliest memories are of Moscow, where her family lived until 1991. Since then she has lived in the Czech Republic, the U.S.A., and China. She earned a B.A. from Swarthmore College and a J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law.