Because I Could Not Stop for Death

Title: Because I Could Not Stop For Death

Series: An Emily Dickinson Mystery #1

Author: Amanda Flower

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime

Genre: Mystery, Historical Fiction,

Source: Library

My Review:

Because I Could Not Stop for Death is the first in the Emily Dickinson Mystery series by Amanda Flower.

Trigger warnings: descriptions of a horse being burned by a poker, death of a sibling,

I am not the intended audience for this book. I typically don't enjoy cozy mysteries, and I didn't realize that Because I Could Not Stop for Death was one. That is on me.

I found the story to be slow, and the characters to be dry, and while the story itself was well-written, it just didn't hold my interest. I think part of that is there is not romance in this story, and I just realized that was part of my problem!

If you enjoy cozy mysteries, with historically accurate details, it might be the story for you.

★★★/5

Synopsis (Goodreads): 

Emily Dickinson and her housemaid, Willa Noble, realize there is nothing poetic about murder in this first book in an all-new series from USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award-winning author Amanda Flower.

January 1855 Willa Noble knew it was bad luck when it was pouring rain on the day of her ever-important job interview at the Dickinson home in Amherst, Massachusetts. When she arrived late, disheveled with her skirts sodden and filthy, she'd lost all hope of being hired for the position. As the housekeeper politely told her they'd be in touch, Willa started toward the door of the stately home only to be called back by the soft but strong voice of Emily Dickinson. What begins as tenuous employment turns to friendship as the reclusive poet takes Willa under her wing.

Tragedy soon strikes and Willa's beloved brother, Henry, is killed in a tragic accident at the town stables. With no other family and nowhere else to turn, Willa tells Emily about her brother's death and why she believes it was no accident. Willa is convinced it was murder. Henry had been very secretive of late, only hinting to Willa that he'd found a way to earn money to take care of them both. Viewing it first as a puzzle to piece together, Emily offers to help, only to realize that she and Willa are caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse that reveals corruption in Amherst that is generations deep. Some very high-powered people will stop at nothing to keep their profitable secrets even if that means forever silencing Willa and her new mistress....