Book Review: It Had to Be You

Reviewed By: Dawn Dowdle

It Had to Be You     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Jill Churchill
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Amateur Sleuth   Historical   Cozy
Series: Grace and Favor # 5
William Morrow, Hardback, 2004, 219 pages, $23.95

It’s 1933. Lily and her brother Robert not only take in boarders at Grace and Favor, but they also take on jobs now and then. Miss Twibell who runs a local nursing home has hired them while her assistant nurse is out sick.

There are many colorful characters in the home. One old man, Sean Connor, is the only seriously ill patient. He is also very hard to deal with. He slips into a coma and passes away. No one was surprised by his death as he was very ill. That is, until it is discovered he was murdered. Why would anyone murder him when he only had hours left? He wasn’t well liked, even by his family. So, there are lots of suspects. He had several visits the morning he was killed.

Then a body surfaces when the spring arrives and melts the ice. Could this be the young mad who had disappeared last winter? Or has a third crime been committed?

Lily and Robert become involved in helping to solve these crimes. Plus Robert makes some great suggested to Miss Twibell to upgrade her home and assists with those upgrades.

Motives for Mr. Connor’s death are not as abundant as suspects, so it takes a lot of detecting and interviewing for it to be discovered and the guilty party caught.

I love this series. Lily and Robert are terrific. This is one of the few series set back in time that I enjoy so thoroughly. Jill Churchill has done a wonderful job creating these characters and the setting. The other people in town are also great characters in this series. They are all so well crafted. I feel like I’m there when I read a book in this series. Her books are so easy to read, and you don’t want to put them down.

I highly recommend this book. The Grace and Favor series is not to be missed.

Dawn Dowdle

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Dawn Dowdle

Please visit Dawns website at www.mysteryloverscorner.com