Death at the Abbey

Lady of Ashes #5

by Christine Trent

While on a much-needed respite with her husband Sam in Nottinghamshire, undertaker Violet Harper is summoned to Welbeck Abbey by the Fifth Duke of Portland to prepare a body. His Grace is known as the “mad duke,” and Violet has more than an inkling of why when she arrives at the grand estate and discovers that the corpse in question is that of the duke’s favorite raven, Aristotle. Many of the duke’s servants believe a dead raven is a harbinger of doom, and the peculiar peer hopes to allay their superstitious fears with an elaborate funeral for his feathered friend.

But Aristotle’s demise is soon followed by the violent murder of one of the young workers on the estate. Wishing to avoid any whisper of scandal, the reclusive duke implores Violet to conduct her own discreet investigation. In her hunt for evidence, Violet wonders if the manner of the raven’s death might provide a crucial clue in solving the crime. . .before someone else—including herself—risks an untimely fate.

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Historical, Victorian, British Literature, 19th Century

255 pages, Paperback

First published October 27, 2015

About the author

Christine Trent is the author of the Heart of St. Mary's County series set in her beloved Maryland hometown. Book 3, THE CEDAR POINT AFFAIR, releases in July 2025 and Book 4, THE MADNESS OF MOLL DYER, will release in February 2026.

She is also the author of the ROYAL TRADES series about women in unusual professions, including THE QUEEN'S DOLLMAKER (a dollmaker to Marie Antoinette), A ROYAL LIKENESS (an apprentice to the great waxworker, Madame Tussaud), and BY THE KING'S DESIGN (a cloth merchant to the Prince Regent). These books were re-released in 2023.

Christine is best known for her LADY OF ASHES series featuring Violet Harper, a Victorian undertaker with a passion for her macabre work. Christine's latest entry in this historical mystery series is THE DEADLY HOURS, an anthology written with Susanna Kearsley, C.S. Harris, and Anna Lee Huber, which follows the travels of a cursed pocket watch through time.

Can't get enough historical mystery? Christine has also written two novels (NO CURE FOR THE DEAD and A MURDEROUS MALADY) featuring Florence Nightingale as an intrepid sleuth.

Learn more about Christine at www.christinetrent.com.

Reviews

[Alyssa Maxwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great installment in Christine Trent's Lady of the Ashes series! Ms. Trent skillfully and seamlessly weaves historic facts and people into her fictional story. Violet Harper is called to Welbeck Abbey, home of the Duke of Portland, to prepare a body for burial. But the deceased is nothing like what she expected--it's the duke's prized raven--and to make matters worse, the staff see this death as a harbinger of doom. Seems they're right, as more bodies start turning up, and the reclusive duke decides Violet, rather than the police, is the best person to investigate the crimes. The duke proves to be extremely eccentric, but here fact is stranger than fiction. The fifth Duke of Portland, William Cavendish Bentinck, really did do all the odd things we see in the story, including building an elaborate system of tunnels beneath his estate. We see more of Violet's husband, Sam, in this book, and while he's a help to her, she's once again the driving force of the investigation, a strong female character readers can cheer for.

[Vizma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pulled me in from the beginning - really enjoyed this installment!

[Nina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The storyline was rather weak and I was more annoyed than charmed by the main character’s habit of talking to corpses (she is female undertaker in Victorian England who seems to alternately stick her nose in where it isn’t warranted, and then fails to find clues because she didn’t want to stick her nose in where it wasn’t wanted). However, I give the book points for being rooted in the actual fascinating history of Welbeck Abbey and its extraordinarily unique owner, the 5th Duke of Portland. The Duke built miles of tunnels all over his property, which kept over 1,000 of the local men working for years. The tunnels were always built in pairs, with one tunnel for the servants (wide enough they could walk four abreast) and the other for the Duke himself – big enough for him to ride in his coach with four horses. Tunnels connected him to the train station in town and to the priory. He liked going about invisibly. He had an enormous underground ballroom built despite the fact he never held balls or even had company. The house was HUGE, but he lived in a small set of rooms that were sparsely furnished, painted salmon, and had a toilet in every room. The house always smelled of roasting chicken, partly because he wanted the smell around in 24/7, and because he ate a whole chicken every day. If I hadn’t looked this stuff up to verify it, I would have found him to be an unrealistic bit of fiction. Unfortunately, the current owners have apparently not maintained the tunnels. They would be extremely cool to explore!

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another wonderfully written installment.....and the story of Violet and Sam Harper continues!!

[Kimberly Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a strange one, and I had thought it might be the 2nd in the series (as the Library dates acquisition date), but I was wrong..

Violet is a remarried widow, her first husband left her is undertaker business in London. When she remarried Sam, an American Lawyer, she sold the business & they moved to Colorado.

Violet had returned to England to help take care of her
mother, when Queen Victoria remanded Violet (who had done a splendid job providing the King Consort's funeral) to help conduct a funeral of a Peer.

As Violet worked in conjunction with her former partners for the funerary needs and one of the partner's wives was unhappy being married to an undertaker, Violet bought him out & has formally returned to work in England.

At this point, Violet is still in England w/ Sam, who has just met Mr Alfred Nobel (Nobel Prize) and is attempting to gain backing for a mine, touting it as safer by using Nobel's invention of dynamite... which The Queen is adamantly against.

Violet is summoned by Duke Portland to attend to the lifeless body of his favorite Raven Aristotle (we never find out what killed him) to prepare & bury him.

The Duke is a recluse that does his business from behind a screen and rarely goes out except at night. He is in the process of restoring the mansion, but never has guests. The Duke is also in the process of building tunnels, he travels to town, church, railway, everyplace by tunnels that are large enough for his carriage. There is a ball room underground, a chapel, and soon to be a skating rink for the staff, which Sam is helping to excavate w/ use of his dymanite...

The Duke is generous, when a worker dies, their family is kept on w/ a stipend & a cottage. The Duke also employs boys from an orphanage at full adult wages, which are set aside & given to them when they emigrate to Canada, where he finds the jobs.

While a guest of the enigmatic Portland, Violet stumbles upon three other bodies, two estate workers and a retired Colonel, a war-time friend of the Duke's who had a penchant for glass eyes and digging for buried treasure on the estate: it is up to violet to take care of their remains and find out who murdered them.

There are no end of suspects and there are, of course, Red Herrings... The main clue coming when Violet visits the Duke's sister while on an errand to visit P.M. Gladstone in order to investigate a suspect.

The book held my interest, some of it was just ok, some of it didn't make sense: how do 3 men end up being murdered & no one reports the murders to the Police or Scotland Yard? The one small part where Scotland yard is called in, is the attack on Violet while in London...

There wasn't as much discussion on funerary practices in this book as the last one I read, which is what really makes the books interesting for me and as Violet isn't a coroner, she isn't able to always discern w/ certainty the exact cause of death.

[Sophie Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book I've read by this author and late into the series (maybe bought from a freebie or discounted price?). But, the story flowed well enough that I didn't need to read the first in the series to understand what was going on.
Set in the Victorian era, Violet Harper is an undertaker by trade. (Makes me want to read the first in the series to understand that possibility in Victorian times!) She is summoned to prepare the body of a raven for burial at the estate of an eccentric Duke who enjoys the constant odor of cooked chickens in the manor. Yes, she prepares a bird for burial, but that is just par for the course at this bizarre property that features underground tunnels and 1,500 workers on site who engage in regular exercise like skating and rowing - at the duke's request. The death of the raven leads to more bodies of actual humans turning up and even leads to an attempt on her own life. Determined to uncover the truth, Violet sets out to find out who is behind the murders but she has to figure out who she can trust.
I enjoyed the historical background provided at the end of the book. It is truly filled with historical facts and details that really are stranger than fiction.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Violet is trying to take a vacation while her husband tries to find mines to buy to demonstrate his dynamite when the local duke summons her to undertake...a bird. And then a few murdered staff members. Once again filled with real people, like the "mad duke," but this time at least they are mostly lesser known people than the Royal family. The Duke and his underground estate (with a roller rink!!) were honestly fascinating. Still with the fat shaming.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story

In this tale, Violet becomes embroiled in a strange set of circumstances involving an eccentric aristocrat. Luckily, she's a bit more intuitive than usual and doesn't let her preconceived notions of how people ought to act overly influence her investigation. Maybe she's learning!

[Connie Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was so slow for me. I skimmed a lot. It’s about a lady undertaker that is called to a big estate for a death and finds out it’s a raven. The owner of the estate is eccentric. There are some other deaths of humans and she figures out the mystery. Too much description for me. I did finish it.

[loretta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though this is book 5 in this series of female undertaker Violet Harper, it’s the first book of hers I’ve read. It is an enjoyable read. Well researched and I enjoyed the authors note as much as I enjoyed the novel. In the style of Victorian novels, it does meander but the descriptions and characterizations are worth the time.

[BRT · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of quirky and suspicious characters in this mystery at a country ducal estate. Good mystery, excellent historical references. One of Violet Harper’s more complicated murder mysteries with plenty of bodies for her to practice her funerary arts on.

[Space Cowgirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dead men tell tales.
Victorian murder mystery.

I got this e-book from amazon with kindle unlimited.

The book is part of a series about a lady undertaker and her husband who also seems to end up investigating murders wherever they go.

[Beverly Short · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great mystery from one of my favorite series. Ms Trent has a great talent for sharing Victorian historic facts. Here's to many more.

[Caroline Hayes · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good.

[Marci Wheeler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely not one of the better ones of the series.

[Linda Wells · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was "okay". I was reading quickly at the end so I could finish it and move onto another book.

[Tonya Mathis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. I would love to see the Abbey and it's tunnels. It sounds amazing. I enjoyed this book. I can't wait for the next one.

[Rcpgpugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun light read. Had some very interesting historical facts as part of the story.

[Tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book #5 in the series; read if you like mysteries or historical fiction.

[Kimberlee · Rating 2 out of 5]

http://www.girllostinabook.com/2016/0...

[Cindy Kline · Rating 5 out of 5]

they just get better

Historical fiction, great details, captivatingly interesting. I recommend it and will be saddened after I finish the last one. Quick Read.

[Sally Archer · Rating 5 out of 5]

another good book by this author

[Deborah R Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Questions

What a wonderful book. This turned out to be so much great history, and what a mystery this story held, I surely enjoyed every page!

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting storyline. Too many small mysteries, too many people ignoring facts for me.

[CedarS · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book shows you what a mystery is like. You will suspect everyone and once you have a suspect in mind a new character is killed or a lie is revieled. This is a page quwiver book.

[Evelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful mystery set in historical Victorian England. I enjoyed this book because of the fascinating history of a man I had not heard of before. The fictional mystery set in this place in history was equally engaging.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again Violet wanders around and manages not only to find herself burying bodies, but also solving murders. Again, I find that her husband, who is actually in the same little village as her, is off being busy most of the time (he didn't even stay with her when she had to stay on the estate!). I wish they were a little more of a duo, like I found they were in the first book.

Enjoyable, but the (unintentional) separation of Sam and Violet is starting to bother me. Off to the next book! We are finally going to the Suez Canal!

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Violet travels to Nottinghamshire with her husband, Sam, for a much needed holiday. She is summoned to Welbeck Abbey by the Duke of Portland, also known as the “mad duke”. The corpse is his favorite raven and as an undertaker, she is asked to make funeral arrangements. Many of the Duke’s workers see the raven’s death as an indication to future tragedies and bad fortune. When Violet discovers a body on the estate, the Duke asks her to discreetly solve the mystery. Aside from the murder mystery component, I enjoy reading about the unusual and little known historical characters and events which are portrayed in Trent’s books.

[Diana Petty-stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

An eccentric duke request the services of the lady undertaker for his favorite raven. After her arrival Violet Harper is called upon to perform 3 more burials and becomes acquainted with the very strange Fifth Duke of Portland who is have tunnels dug all over his estate so he can come and go without encountering other people. This is historical fiction at it's best and I have become so fascinated by the duke that I had to look him up.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, Violet Harper our Victorian undertaker sleuth does not disappoint as it's a thrilling romp of murder,mistaken identities plus the eccentric 5th Duke of Portland, Welbeck Abbey as our amazing backdrop to this superb narrative.
Rich in historical detail & superstition this atmospheric novel will delight the reader.

My Postmortem of "Death at the Abbey" dictates 4.5 stars!