Sally Smith – She Reads Novels

If, like me, you enjoyed meeting Sir Gabriel Ward KC in last year’s A Case of Mice and Murder, you’ll be pleased to hear that he’s back again with another mystery to solve in A Case of Life and Limb! The book is again set in 1901 in and around London’s Inner Temple, one of the four Inns of Court, where Sir Gabriel lives and carries out his work as a barrister. It’s not necessary to have read the first book before this one, but I would highly recommend reading both anyway!

Early in the novel, Gabriel is approached by Topsy Tillotson, the latest young star of the London theatrical scene, who is determined to sue a tabloid newspaper for libel. Reluctant to accept the case at first, Gabriel ends up agreeing to represent her, feeling that Topsy doesn’t deserve to have her reputation tarnished by unscrupulous journalists. However, Gabriel soon finds that he’ll have to divide his time between this and another, more sinister, case…one which really is ‘a case of life and limb’.

Sir William Waring, Master Treasurer of the Inner Temple, has received a very unpleasant gift on Christmas Eve: a severed hand, presented in a box with a card asking Can I give you a hand? Gabriel happens to be visiting the Treasurer when the box is opened and, due to his previous success at mystery solving, Waring asks him to investigate. As the Temple is outside the jurisdiction of the City of London, Waring hopes the crime can be solved internally without involving the police, but when more body parts start arriving, Gabriel enlists the help of his friend, Constable Wright.

These two separate cases unfold in parallel, largely separate but intersecting now and then, and I enjoyed following both. The mystery surrounding the body parts gives Gabriel a chance to further develop his skills as a detective and the reader a chance to learn more about the residents of the Inner Temple, some of whom we met in the first novel and others who are newly arrived. I particularly loved getting to know Delphinium, the Temple cat! The Topsy Tillotson storyline, like the one involving Millie the Mouse in the previous book, takes Gabriel into the wider world outside the confines of the Temple and allows Smith to explore some of the social issues of the time – in this case, the double standards and prejudices affecting women working in certain professions and the ethical responsibilities of journalism.

I think, though, that it’s Gabriel himself who makes these books such a delight to read. He’s a genuinely nice person who is very easy to like, but he also has some eccentricities and signs of obsessive-compulsive behaviour which have restricted his social opportunities. In the first book there were some hints that he was starting to gain confidence and live a less isolated life; this continues in this second book as his friendship with Constable Wright grows stronger and he spends more time with people of other classes and backgrounds such as Topsy and her colleagues. It’s always good to see a character develop as a series progresses. I can’t wait for a third book as I’m sure it will be just as much fun as the first two!

Thanks to Raven Books for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.

After finishing Sally Smith’s A Case of Mice and Murder I was delighted to find that it’s the start of a new historical mystery series, which is great news as this first book is excellent. I hope we don’t have to wait too long for a second!

The novel is set in 1901 in the Inner Temple, one of the four Inns of Court that make up London’s legal community. Sir Gabriel Ward KC is a barrister who leads a quiet, reclusive life within the Temple grounds, only venturing into the outside world when absolutely necessary. He’s not the sort of person you would expect to become an amateur detective, but that’s what happens when he steps out of his rooms early one morning in May and stumbles across the dead body of the Lord Chief Justice. Sir Gabriel is persuaded by his superiors to investigate before the police are brought in and he reluctantly agrees, despite already being busy with a very different case.

The manuscript of a children’s book, Millie the Temple Church Mouse, had been left at the door of Herbert Moore’s publishing house with no way of identifying or contacting the author. Moore went ahead with publishing the book anyway and it has become a huge success, inspiring Millie toys and a forthcoming stage play. Now a woman has come forward claiming to be the author and Moore is in trouble! Gabriel is Moore’s lawyer and must work on establishing authorship of the book while also trying to solve the mystery of the Lord Chief Justice’s death.

When writing a novel set in the past, creating a sense of time and place is incredibly important and Sally Smith does that extremely well here. She writes in a style that is appropriate to the time period and at no point does it really feel like a ‘modern’ book. The descriptions of the Inner Temple are perfect, both in terms of the physical buildings, chambers and grounds, and the way of life with its rituals and traditions. The Inner Temple, like the neighbouring Middle Temple, is considered a local authority largely outside the jurisdiction of the City of London (hence the police needing to be invited in to investigate the murder) and it makes a fascinating and unusual setting.

Gabriel Ward is a great character and it’s interesting to see him grow as person as the story progresses. At the beginning he is a quiet, solitary man who spends most of his time in his rooms with his books and his legal work, following little routines, such as checking the door three times, that today would be called an OCD. Being forced to leave the confines of the Temple to interview suspects and witnesses from a range of social backgrounds gives Gabriel a different perspective on life and helps him to open up to new ideas. My only complaint is that Smith gives him the character trait of ‘snuffling’, a word she repeats far too often throughout the book. Looking at other reviews, I can see that many of us felt the same way, so I hope Gabriel will snuffle a bit less often in the next book!

The murder mystery is an interesting one, with a solution I hadn’t seen coming, but I found the Millie the Mouse storyline even more enjoyable. I started to have my suspicions about that second mystery by the middle of the book and was pleased to be proved right. I can’t wait to see what Gabriel’s next case will be!

Thanks to Raven Books for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.