"Death and the search of a lost sonnet"

Grace Hollister is still staying in the Lake District. She has just sold her first book, and is enjoying her time with the charming antiques dealer and ex-jewel thief Peter Fox.

Peter recently acquired all the antique furnishings and papers from an old farmhouse. They begin to sort everything out. Grace discovers an old letter that refers to a Shelley sonnet, "Sate the Sphinx" that has never been published and is now lost. The writer appears to have disappeared during World War II not long after writing it. Unfortunately before they can sort the rest of the papers, boxes and boxes of papers, to try to find the sonnet, everything is purchased back by the current owner.

Hayri Kayaci was a guard in the Turkish prison Peter served some time in. He shows up at Rogue's Gallery (Peter's gallery). He demands the return of an item that Peter has no idea how to obtain. He threatens to extradite Peter if he doesn't cooperate.

Soon after that, Hayri is found murdered. Peter is the prime suspect. Grace is conflicted on whether she thinks Peter did it.

In the meantime, she is hot on the trail of the sonnet. She is trying to piece together the life of the man who discovered it and wrote about it.

Can she find the sonnet and evade the person trying to kill her? Will she be able to figure out who is the murderer?

I really like Grace and Peter. They are such fun characters. The Lake District setting really adds to the story.

I was sad to learn that this is the last in this series at this time. I hope the author is able to locate a new publisher fast so that we can have many more adventures with Grace and Peter.

I highly recommend this book.

Reviewed by Dawn Dowdle
Courtesy Mystery Lovers Corner
Posted February 21, 2007

Summary

For one of Innisdale's residents, a priceless sonnet means poetic license to kill. . . . Grace Hollister's stay in England's picturesque Lake District has proven doubly fruitful -- the American literary scholar just sold her first book, and her romance with charming antiques dealer and ex-jewel thief Peter Fox has begun a new chapter. Sorting through a hoard of papers found in an old farmhouse, Grace and Peter discover an old letter that refers to a lost Shelley sonnet, "Sate the Sphinx." Before Grace can start tracking down this poetic treasure, though, Peter's shady past rears its head -- a particularly ugly head, belonging to a menacing Turk who's eager to see Peter dead. But there's plenty more trouble in store. Suddenly Grace and Peter are suspects in a murder investigation, and someone has tried his level best to kill her -- not once, but twice. The hieroglyphics are on the wall: unless Grace can unravel an inscrutable riddle and unearth the villain amid a cache of likely suspects, her story might be at an end. . . .