She Treads Softly: A Grave Deception

Sunday, November 16, 2025

A Grave Deception

A Grave Deception by Connie Berry
12/9/25; 336 pages
Crooked Lane Books
Kate Hamilton Mystery #6

A Grave Deception by Connie Berry is a very highly recommended cozy murder mystery and the sixth book in the series featuring Kate Hamilton. Kate and her husband, Detective Inspector Tom Mallory, have settled into married life in Long Barston, UK.

When members of an archeology team lead by Dr. Simon Sinclair, including Dr. Niall Nevin, DR. Celia Whybrew, and PhD students Mark Lambe and Tamzin Oliver, discover a miraculously preserved body of a 14th century woman, dubbed Egemere woman, while excavating by a church in the ruins of a nearby plague village. Antiques expert Kate Hamilton and her business partner, Ivor Tweedy, are called in to appraise the grave goods being stored at Ravenswyck Court, the estate near the dig owned by wealthy businessman Alex Belcourt. The items include a valuable pearl which Kate has a visceral reaction when she sees it, feeling violence and fear attached to the pearl.

It is discovered that Egemere woman was pregnant when buried and Belcourt wants Kate to try and find out the identity of the woman. He had his wife, Carrie, disappear a decade earlier and is presumed dead. He is mourning her even while he is still a suspect in her death. Tensions rise when the body of Sinclair is found at the dig site with fake pearls in his mouth and stomach. Kate uses 700-year-old documents found through clues left by a deceased historian who was researching the area. At the same time she is keeping her ears open to assist Tom in the case too. Things become even more tense when a third body is found.

This is a very well-written interesting mystery that keeps you guessing right to the end while remaining very compelling while reading. There are several suspects along the way, including almost everyone on the dig team, but although I had my favorite suspects, I did not guess whodunit until it was revealed. There is also plenty of basic information about 14th century artifacts found and/or sold. Adding to the atmosphere are the many pubs Kate and Tom or others visit/eat at while conducting the investigation. There is an interesting tie-in to a group of protestors and the historian, which all helped Kate. Kate and the rest of the recurring characters are all likable and believable.

A Grave Deception is a perfect choice for those who enjoy cozy mysteries with a historical bent, and everyone following the series. Thanks to Crooked Lane Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.