Rebecca Lane has always felt a responsibility for her brother since he fell out of a tree on her watch when he was younger. Although she’s been traveling as a paid companion for several years, Rebecca is summoned home by a letter from her brother’s housekeeper stating that she’s concerned about his behavior. When she arrives home, she finds that her brother has written a second novel, which he wants her to present to an author to pass along to his publisher. Rebecca must go to Swanford Abbey, where the publisher and the author who stole her brother’s first novel are staying.
Reluctantly agreeing to her brother’s proposal, Rebecca stays at Swanford Abbey, although she’s not happy about it. She least expected to meet Sir Frederick, her first love, also staying at the Abbey. If things weren’t complicated enough for Rebecca, she and the other guests are soon forbidden to leave the Abbey as the author has been found dead in his room. Fearful that she or her brother might be suspected, she is secretive around the investigating magistrate – who just happens to be Sir Frederick. As they both begin to recognize their feelings for one another, Sir Frederick also notices Rebecca’s reticence, and wonders if the tender feelings he’s unlocked for Rebecca are going to be over before they’ve barely begun.
If you’ve made it through that complex synopsis, congratulations! There is a lot going on in Shadows of Swanford Abbey, although luckily Klassen does a better job of walking us through the story than I just did. If you’re thinking “that sounds like a lot of coincidences,” you’d also be correct about that. This story is very coincidence-oriented, as I suppose a lot of mysteries are. Overall, I’d give this novel three out of five stars. I didn’t love it enough to read it again but didn’t hate it enough to give it less than that. Let’s talk about it!
As far as plots go, I thought this one was a little stretched with the whole brother-book debacle. I didn’t really understand why Rebecca’s brother wanted to use the same author who stole his first book to get his second one published. We do learn why later in the story, although the reason just felt too manufactured as a red herring to be meaningful. It did add an element to the story, but not one that I bought into.
I did like the romance plot in this novel; I really appreciated how Rebecca didn’t want to tell Sir Fredick everything but also opened her eyes to the fact that if her brother had committed a crime (because she and us readers knew that she didn’t commit it), she couldn’t bear the moral weight of hiding it from the law. As Rebecca got to know and trust Sir Frederick again, the more she felt open to sharing with him about her movements and ideas, and that was written really organically. I thought the interactions between Rebecca and Sir Frederick were spot-on and I respect Klassen’s choice to make Rebecca a sensible woman!
As far as the mystery goes, I thought it was reasonably well-done. I won’t say it’s the most thrilling I’ve ever read, but I didn’t figure out the solution until it was revealed to me. I think it’s very hard to fit a good romance and a good mystery into one novel; I suppose that’s why my favorite romantic mystery series are series! Klassen does a solid job of creating both a compelling romance and mystery, although neither was stellar enough for me to want a second book about these characters. Which, by the way, I think is totally fine. It stands well on its own.
I guess you can see why the synopsis was so long; that’s a lot of plot going on in one book! If you’re in the market for a very palatable, HEA, romantic suspense novel, give this a try. There wasn’t anything about this book that really frustrated me in particular (yay!), but there also wasn’t anything that made me forcefully recommend it to other people. In other words, this is just a solid book. It’s consistent, constant, and shouldn’t disappoint the reader, which is very commendable and should make it appealing to a lot of audiences.