Murder at the Elms by Alyssa Maxwell

Murder at the Elms
by Alyssa Maxwell

ISBN-13: 9781496736192
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Kensington
Released: August 22, 2023

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
1901: Back from their honeymoon in Italy, Emma and Derrick are adapting to married life as they return to Newport, Rhode Island and their duties at their jointly owned newspaper, the Newport Messenger.

The Elms, coal baron Edward Berwind’s newly completed Bellevue Avenue estate, is newsworthy for two reasons: it is one of the first homes in America to be wired for electricity with no backup power system, generated by coal from Berwind’s own mines. And their house servants have gone on strike to protest their working conditions. Summarily dismissing and replacing his staff with cool and callous efficiency, Berwind still throws a musicale and invites Emma and Derrick. But the evening ends with an unforeseen tragedy: a chambermaid is found dead in the coal tunnel. A guest’s diamond necklace is also missing, and an outdoor worker has disappeared. Emma and Derrick help Detective Jessie Whyte to determine if the murdered maid and stolen necklace are connected.


My Review:
Murder at the Elms is a mystery set in 1901 in Newport. Emma was a horrible judge of character and was easily mislead by her own assumptions. She quickly jumped to wrong conclusions and held to those conclusions in the face of logic and actual evidence. Not that there was much evidence. Emma and Derrick only made headway by spying on other people's private conversations. At the end, Emma recognized a clue but didn't make the logical connections. However, whodunit thought she had it all figured out, so confessed all while getting ready to kill her. It was another character that saved Emma's life and solved the mystery.

Very little in this story was logical. For example, whodunit kept setting up complex schemes to make it look like other people were the prime suspects only to do things that undercut that impression, like dump a murder victim in an easy-to-find place after setting up a scene to make it look like they'd jumped off a cliff. The story also didn't feel historically accurate. For example, Emma continued working as a common newspaper reporter but the social-conscious, rich "cottage" owners didn't seem to care, inviting her (not as a reporter) to social functions and even basically letting her invite herself over to stay at their house. Emma faced no real consequences for her independent, non-conformist behavior. Finally, the author often picked the wrong word or one that gave the wrong impression. For example, a man grabbed a horse by the bit (which is mostly in the horse's mouth) when he probably grabbed the bridle or reins. I'd periodically have to stop to figure out what the author meant, so I never became immersed in the story.

This story was the 11th in the series. It started out with a rather detailed summary of Emma and Derrick's past and wedding, so it can be read as a stand-alone. It didn't spoil any previous whodunits. There were only a few uses of bad language. There were no sex scenes, though married sex was implied.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.