Hour is Come by Victoria Tait

Dotty L. Sayers is recently widowed and wants to take life one day at a time. She has her late husband Al’s Labrador Banff by her side. The regiment helps Dotty – they allow her to stay in the quarters for 3 months and also suggest she take a job at the canteen when a vacancy arises (soon).

When her husband’s ex-wife claims she needs to sell some of Al’s furniture to pay school fees of her two children, Dotty cannot say no. Well, Dotty cannot say no because she’s never stood up for herself. Nor at her father when he ‘suggested’ she marry Al, a man 15 years her senior.

The antique shop movers take away the furniture that Angela (the ex-wife) has selected to be auctioned off. Dotty remembers she did not clear the drawers of the cabinet and it now lies in the auction house’s storeroom. She goes to the store and tells them she wants to take away all the things from the drawers. They agree and allow her into the storeroom. The drawer is stuck and when Dotty forces it open, the grandfather clock next to the cabinet flies open and… a body slips out of it!

The police are too busy to catch the killer that they ignore Dotty’s findings. When Angela becomes one of the suspects, she asks Dotty to help her in proving her innocence. Can Dotty find the killer before she becomes their next victim?

I am going just to say just this: My favorite author’s new cozy mystery series featuring an amateur sleuth so no doubt this is a fantastic, marvelous, interesting, engrossing, entertaining and completely enjoyable story. End of review.

Not!

I have read Victoria’s Kenya Kanga series and have loved each and every book. Dotty Sayers mysteries is a brand new series featuring a widowed amateur sleuth – amateur sleuth not by choice, though. The circumstances made Dotty choose to dig deeper into the murder case. The ‘circumstance’ being her late husband’s nagging and bossy ex-wife.

Dotty finds a dead body in a grandfather clock at the auction house. When the local police are called in, they focus on blackmail and jealousy as motives for murder. The clumsy Constable Varma is the only one who’s friendly to Dotty and… um, nothing stays secret for long when it comes to Keya Varma. She reveals a few findings and proceedings of the case which helps Dotty in sleuthing. As the story ends, the duo becomes friends – something I am going to look out for in the next book. I like our clumsy little constable!

Angela is questioned by the police as she was seen arguing with Gail (the victim) in the pub. Turns out, Gail had hots for Angela’s current boyfriend, Steve. But Angela is innocent. Or at least, she claims to be. She ‘orders’ Dotty to find the killer so that she can be proved innocent. Dotty is the kind of person who cannot say no so she agrees to investigate.

As a prequel to the series, Hour is Come is the perfect combination of character introduction, setting, and mystery. Apart from Dotty, the other characters in the story include Gilly Wimsey (the auction house co-owner) and her husband Peter Wimsey (the doctor), George (Gilly’s sister and auction house co-owner), Adrian (porter at the auction house), Marion (works at the auction house), Angela, Zoe and Lucas (Al’s ex-wife and kids, Inspector Evans and Constable Keya Varma.

I was hooked on to the story and could not put it down till the end. The mystery kept me guessing for more. As the story proceeds, we learn murder is not the only crime that occurred at the auction house. Well, here’s a clue: it’s an auction house for antiques and some things can disappear all of a sudden…

It goes without saying Victoria Tait is a master storyteller. Be it the character portrayal or the suspense or the plot-to-story development, Hour is Come is a masterpiece! Let me say, Dotty Sayers is my new favorite amateur sleuth and this series has already made it to my favorite list.

Hour is Come by Victoria Tait is a prequel to Dotty Sayers mysteries and is available only to those who sign up for Victoria’s newsletter. So what are you waiting for? Go on, sign up for the newsletter. Chop chop.

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