Really, who doesn’t love a good murder mystery? There’s a reason Dame Agatha Christie was so successful – aside from the fact that she was a cracking writer, of course – and it has a lot to do with our fascination with the gruesome and macabre business of a grisly murder, and the puzzle associated with determining means, motive, and opportunity in a way that invariably leads back to the killer.
The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne by Elsa Hart offers up a delightfully enigmatic murder in an interesting setting: 18th Century London, amid the culture of collectors of natural history. Sir Barnaby Mayne, whose cabinets are renowned for being the most complete, most extensive collection in London, and perhaps the world, is murdered and his meek assistant confesses to the crime. However, Lady Cecily Kay, who is staying with Sir Barnaby to reference part of his collection, is convinced that things are more than they seem. A chance encounter with a childhood friend sees her investigating the mystery and seeking out the true killer.
Hart has clearly done a significant amount of research in constructing this world, painting a comprehensive and immersive portrait of London at the beginning of the 18th Century. Not only does it mean she vividly conjures the miasma of smog that blanketed London at the time, but she evocatively describes the obsession and competition that underscored the hobby of the wealthy in the form of collecting. In reading how men (and to a very limited extent, women) of power scoured the world for new specimens of reptile, plant, rock, fish, skeleton, jewel, to name but a few, Hart, deliberately or otherwise, hints at two interesting things. The first, is that people have always sought and created ways to measure and rank status and esteem. The characters use their dress with elegant clothes and impressive wigs as much as the new specimen of unusual snake which they just acquired from a far-flung place of the world to point out how much more clever and important they are relative to their peers. The second point which Hart seems to suggest, which overlaps with the first, is that much of our current understanding of natural science has its origins in the actions and passion of wealthy men seeking to prove how wealthy, intelligent, and relevant they were. It’s not something most people would think about – the very specific but dedicated culture which arose around the act of curating collections that laid out and ordered the natural world, nor would we consider that the amateur observations and musings of people over the contents of these cabinets helped to reinforce ideas that were emerging at the time with regard to scientific theory and methodology.
If the above seems a little jargon-y to you, I must apologise; the book did a good job of appealing to several of my interests and intersecting with various pieces of knowledge I’ve accrued over a life of being good at trivia (and writing books). At its core, Hart sketches out a world in which wealthy people compete with one another to have the ‘most impressive’ collection, and the way that competition and the passion of collecting can swiftly devolve into obsession. Crucially, that clearly defined element tied well into the mystery, which I particularly enjoyed when it came to the reveal.
At times, the mystery element was a little unnecessarily convoluted, and a section around the book’s middle did drag a little. This in part could be attributed to the prose. By and large, Hale’s writing style is clear and enjoyable with descriptions that vividly evoke the scene and atmosphere of her setting. Indeed, during some of the novel’s eerier moments, it genuinely conjured a sense of unease. However, Hale’s writing could at times tend toward the purple. Those sections dragged down the pace of the events and I had to push to get through one or two patches.
On the whole, The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne is a thoroughly enjoyable murder mystery with just enough difference from other novels of similar genres (historical fiction, historical murder mystery) that makes it an engrossing read. It places enough of the pieces to the mystery before the reader that they are engaged in creating a solid hypothesis as to who is responsible, however it ensures right to the very end that there are still questions that mystify the reader, and leaves them desperate to have answered.
The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers as of August 4th 2020.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
London, 1703. In a time when the old approaches to science coexist with the new, one elite community attempts to understand the world by collecting its wonders. Sir Barnaby Mayne, the most formidable of these collectors, has devoted his life to filling his cabinets. While the curious-minded vie for invitations to study the rare stones, bones, books, and artifacts he has amassed, some visitors come with a darker purpose.
For Cecily Kay, it is a passion for plants that brings her to the Mayne house. The only puzzle she expects to encounter is how to locate the specimens she needs within Sir Barnaby’s crowded cabinets. But when her host is stabbed to death, Cecily finds the confession of the supposed killer unconvincing. She pays attention to details–years of practice have taught her that the smallest particulars can distinguish a harmless herb from a deadly one–and in the case of Sir Barnaby’s murder, there are too many inconsistencies for her to ignore.
To discover the truth, Cecily must enter the world of the collectors, a realm where intellect is distorted by obsession and greed. As her pursuit of answers brings her closer to a killer, she risks being given a final resting place amid the bones that wait, silent and still, in the cabinets of Barnaby Mayne.
