The story takes place just after WWI at an engagement party in a Castle at Umbersea Island. Verity Kent attends this party after receiving an anonymous letter suggesting that her husband may have committed treason.
At Umbersea she secretly receives a book with a hidden letter written in code. Her hope is to crack the cipher and find out the truth about her husband.
This Side of Murder by Anna Lee Huber definitely kept me in suspense. I was eager to find out who was behind the letter and the crimes being committed on the Island. Just when I believed I knew who the suspect was I was wrong - again.
My only disappointment was the chapter with the seance which had me worrying if the story may go in a different direction than what I was expecting. Fortunately, the chapter was brief and the story was back on track with more mysterious occurrences.
I received this ARC from Kensington Books through NetGalley for an honest review.

Did not finish. I made it 20% through this book and abandoned it. It was very slow moving and had way to many characters. Not enough back story was given on the main character, or her deceased husband. I just didn't care what happened to her, or what had happened to him. I was very disappointed, because this seemed like it could be a good series to catch at the start.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy via netGalley.

Interesting characters to start a new series. Fans of Kerry Greenwood's Phyrne Fisher mysteries will like this book.

A cracking good debut mystery! As a long time Lady Darby fan, I was a little worried about Anna Huber beginning a second series. Was I wrong! Anna takes the classic setting of a manor house, a accusation of treason and makes it into an outstanding mystery! Most everyone invited to the weekend has the motive, means and opportunity to be the culprit. As the bodies are discovered, the stakes continue to get higher to find out whodunit! It kept me guessing until the end. The character development was good, the pacing, which was a little slow in the beginning, pick up until I was racing thru to get to the finish line.

Anna Lee Huber's novel, "This Side of Murder" is a historical mystery that is reminiscent of an Agatha Christie novel. A group of characters is stranded on an island, (think "And Then There Were None"), as the action unfolds. Widow Verity attends an engagement party weekend while trying to find out whether her husband, Sidney, was a traitor during WWI. Not the most believable plot but Verity is a plucky character and one that I rooted for.

Anna Lee Huber is rightfully well known for her Lady Darby mysteries (The Anatomist's Wife and others). This book is the first entry in what I fervently hope will be another long and successful series.


An aside: it takes serious chops to stand in a ring and go a few rounds with Muhammad Ali, or share a stage with Eric Clapton holding a guitar, or have a paint-off duel with Matisse. Not a bit of hyperbole to say this book represents exactly that. Ms. Huber takes the classic Christie setting: remote English country house, on an island, isolated by a storm, cut off from help, tosses in a house party of odd characters absolutely resonating with unresolved history and sets it in the English interwar period.

The writing is solid. The pacing is perfect and the plot moves along at a clip. The research into place and setting are perfect. I truly enjoyed reading this book so very much. The 'rules' of the setting and mystery writing were adhered to and I hadn't worked it all out by the end of the book.

To be perfectly honest, I revere Agatha Christie (and Ngaio Marsh and Dorothy Sayers and all the grand dames of mystery). I think Huber has the potential to stand right up there with them. This book is wonderful with flashes of real brilliance.

Five stars seem too few but five it is.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.

Thank you Net Galley. This is an interesting new series from Ms. Huber. I have read her earlier novels and enjoyed this one too. I read the book at one go and recommend it highly.

Very enjoyable read, left the ending open but not a cliff hanger which is an enjoyable way to end the read. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

I am a big sucker for a good historical mystery and being a big fan of Charles Todd and Jacqueline Winspeare I am always looking for a good World War 1 era mystery. I had not gotten into the authors previous series but I am glad I gave this book a try!
This book was engaging and full of surprises from the very beginning. The main character was charming and clever. The mystery was well developed and intriguing catching one by surprise for sure and I loved how this book continued to surprise and delight. All in all an outstanding read!

I don't read a lot of historical fiction and it's been ages since I've read any of Agatha Christie's work. But I instantly fell in love with the character of Verity Kent. Author Anna Lee Huber really brings the character alive as well as post-World-War-I England.

Still struggling to cope with the death of her husband, Verity Kent accepts an invitation to an island on the southern England coast to celebrate the engagement for one of her late husband's military comrades. But the celebration is short-lived when Verity begins to receive cryptic messages about her husband and guests turn up dead. Verity draws on her experience in the Secret Service to unravel a plot of treason, conspiracy, and murder.

The book is beautifully written with a wonderful mix of characters and plenty of plot twists. Verity is bold, smart and resourceful.

Umbersea Island, the setting of the story, is a fictionalized version of Brownsea Island. Huber did a wonderful job bringing this location to life, complete with the castle, church, and the abandoned potters village, all of which play a role in the story.

If you're looking for a classic Christie-era mystery that will keep you guessing till the very end, you won't go wrong with THIS SIDE OF MURDER.

I loooooved this book. Anna Lee Huber is so talented, and I love that she's branching out into different areas of the historical mystery genre. This is her best writing so far, with characters and scene descriptions that leap off the page and feel cinematic in nature. The suspense of the characters' isolation and resulting paranoia -- similar to And Then There Were None -- plus the many shocking twists, make the story so hard to put down.

Verity Kent, a war widow and former British Secret Service agent during World War I, begins receiving cryptic anonymous messages hinting that her deceased husband was not the war hero she thought him to be. The messages prompt her to accept an invitation to an engagement party for her husband's best friend and his bride to be which is taking place on a remote island estate in the English Channel. Verity quickly realizes that the party is not what it seems and the guests -- all former soldiers and officers from her husband's unit or otherwise connected to the relatives of those soldiers -- are hiding secrets about what really happened during the war. As the guests start suffering fatal "accidents" and ominous messages from beyond the grave are found on their bodies, Verity is in a race to uncover the truth of what really happened to the unit before it's too late.

Verity is a complex blend of supreme capability, intellect and vulnerability. She's used to keeping calm and carrying on, but can't help feeling adrift now that she's lost her husband of only a few years, as well as her formerly active life as a code-breaker and agent during the war. The constant reminders of her husband at the party, and the slow unraveling of anecdotes from the guests that make her question her own memories of him, add to her feeling of uncertainty.

I'd be remiss not to also mention Max, who managed to push Sebastian Gage out of top place for my favorite of Huber's heros. Book 1 is only scraping the surface of his story, but he's already made a very favorable impression :-)

Thank you to Kensington Books and Netgalley for providing an ARC for review!

I discovered this author with her Lady Darby mysteries, which are my absolute favorite. Huber is a master at mysteries. This one has loads of intrigue and you guess till the end.

I absolutely loved This Side of Murder. Verity Kent is relatable and logical without being quirky or silly, like some investigative women are portrayed. The book takes a little while to get going and I had a hard time following who all of the characters are in the beginning but quickly figured it out. Intense, entertaining, and hard to put down!

It was OK, but did not seem at all realistic or terribly accurate. An interesting time period and some important topics concerning WWI, but nothing like the depth of Jacqueline Winspear's early Maisie Dobbs series or Charles Todd's Ian Rutledge or Bess Crawford series.

This Side of Murder is a great historical murder mystery set in one of my favorite time periods, the beginning of 20th century just after WW1 ended. It has a cast of interesting characters lead by our main heroine Verity, who is a war widow and a former Secret Service operative. Verity is smart, resourceful, and very likeable. The setting of This Side of Murder is very atmospheric. As I was reading I was getting Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" vibes: an isolated island, a storm, a party with a strange mix of people who start dropping dead one by one. I found the first part of the book a little slow but as I got to the middle there was a major twist/revelation that I didn’t see coming, and from then on I couldn't put the book down. The ending was satisfying but I still have major feels and questions about it and cannot wait for the second book to find out what's next in store for Verity and co

Thank you allowing me to read an early copy of this for an honest review! This book is a mixture of an interesting time period, the perfect setting for a mystery, full of surprises, and good historical fiction! I love the main character, Verity. This is a great first book of a series that I hope continues for a while!

The Lady Darby Series set in 1830-31 Scotland has been pure delight. The Verity Kent Series begins in 1919 England. Verity, as expected, is a very different heroine than Lady Darby. Verity a likeable character with intelligence, heart and grit. The time period is an interesting one. It's set just after the end of WWI.

Beyond Verity, there was one other interesting character. For the most part though, I wasn't terribly interested in the cast of characters. There was quite a large focus on alcohol in the early part of the novel. I understand soldiers, wives and girlfriends had been through so much and found relief in alcohol and drugs, however, the emphasis on this piece of the story was rather heavy in the early part of the novel. This focus did lessen substantially. There was then a section on seance, tarot cards, etc. While other readers may not have blinked about the focus on alcohol and occult, it stood out as not adding to the novel for this reader.

The mystery itself was o.k. With my limited interest in the characters, this took away from the appeal of the mystery.

I am looking forward to the next novel in the Lady Darby series.

Having fallen in love with the Lady Darby series, I was thrilled to be able to receive an ARC for the debut of the Verity Kent series. Needless to say, This Side of Murder does not disappoint--it is a crackling good mystery. Huber's riff on Dame Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None centers around a post World War I engagement party held on an isolated island and attended by a group of socially connected men and women. The connections and the motives of each only become clear as murders and attempted murders begin to take place.

Verity is a war widow with her own secrets whose grief has caused her to do some things she's not particularly proud of. Initially she declines the party, but changes her mind when she receives disturbing messages regarding her late husband. Was Sidney a traitor? Who can she trust to help her investigate what's happening on the island? Who could know about the nature of her own work during the War?

Huber throws in a great twist about two thirds of the way through which will have a major effect on future entries in the series. I'm already looking forward to the second book in the series. Verity is an intelligent, compelling heroine and I want to spend more time with her.

Full Disclosure--Net Gallery and the publisher provided me with a digital ARC of this book. This is my honest review.

I received a copy of this title from the publisher for an honest review. Wow, what a great start to a new series; I couldn't put this one down! The book opens when our heroine, Verity Kent almost crashes her motor car into another vehicle on her way to meet a boat to take her to an engagement party. Verity is intrigued by the other driver, Max, the Earl of Ryde, especially when she finds out he is a fellow guest at the party. A widow of a little over a year, Verity has been struggling with the death of her husband during WWI and has been coping by drinking a little too much at night and going out dancing to numb her pain. Like many other war brides, she married right before her husband, Sidney left for France and only had short snatches of time with him during leaves, making her grief even more difficult because they never truly got to begin their married life. Unlike other women especially of her class, Verity found a way to contribute to the war effort by working secretly for the Secret Service and has also struggled with losing her sense of purpose in life once her job ended. The house party is a celebration of the engagement between her husband Sidney's old friend Walter and his young fiance Helen; other guests consist of the surviving members of the Thirtieth who served with her husband. Verity was reluctant to attend until she received a mysterious note hinting that Sidney may have been involved in treason. Once aboard the yacht, they travel to a nearby island where Walter's family owns an estate that Helen is refurbishing using her inheritance. Ms. Huber does a wonderful job of portraying the post war atmosphere of England - everyone is trying to come to terms with the deaths of so many young people and soliders are trying to move past the horrible things they witnessed during the war; using too much booze and forced high spirits to help cope setting the stage for the excesses of the Roaring '20s. After arrival, Verity discovers a copy of a book she'd purchased for her husband and hidden in it a coded message. After the suspicious suicide of one of the guests, Verity is determined to discover what really happened to her husband. Add in an attraction to Max despite her mixed emotions on moving on and a horrible storming cutting of the party from the mainland, you have all the perfect elements for a fantastic who done it mystery. The mystery aspect kept me guessing throughout and the reveal of pieces of it throughout the story was very well done including some unexpected twists and turns. Verity is smart, resourceful, and just plain likeable - I can't wait to see where her next adventure takes her!

Don't you love when a favorite author starts a new series, and you fall in love all over again with a new cast of characters?! So glad I got the chance to read this ARC as I've been anxiously awaiting the release in September. New time period (just following WW1) rather than regency (Lady Darby), but still lots of historical detail, vivid characters and compelling mystery. If you like historical mystery, try Huber. She's great and just keeps getting better and better with each outing. ❤️ Thanks NetGalley!
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*