Distilled Spirits by Kate Danley is the third installment in the O’Hare House Mysteries. In this one, we delve more into the mysteries surrounding the Nero family, tracing all the way back to the missing Peter Nero. This one truly had me in for a bit of a doozy, let me tell you.
So, Clara ends up hiring Red as a personal driver for her household for his apparent ability to see Minnie. It is through him that they find out about Peter Nero's sister, Rhoda Beltza, Red's previous employer... The plot thickens in this installment as not all things are what they appear to be...
(SPOILER WARNING! START)
Clara hires Red as her personal driver and while questioning him on his previous employer, she figures out that they are connected to the Nero family. Soon enough, Clara, Wesley and Red are on their way to Beltza's, to try and speak with the master of the house to get some answers to what the heck could be happening. Instead, they get an extremely rude woman in the shape of Mrs. Rhoda Beltza, a widow and the head of the house. She is very short with them and does not care in the slightest about playing the part of a good hostess. Not long after, they are on their way home when they get into an accident and therefore forced back to the manor.
They hitch a ride with Trevor Beltza, the son of Rhoda, who was headed home in his carriage. He was completely fascinated with Wesley, having known his name as a very famous medium. Rhoda isn't pleased to have them back so soon, but Trevor convinces Wesley to hold a seance that night. Clara notices the pattern of the four doors again in a couple of paintings on a pocket watch, the same pattern that has appeared in the last two cases they had been involved with. With Rhoda and Trevor extremely inebriated from dinner, they hold the seance, Clara requesting for the pocket watch for a better connection. It leads them to a secret letter that held a key to a deposit box from the same bank that Clara's dear late Thomas worked at. This sends her into a tizzy, no longer believing in coincidences anymore due to all the connections and events from the last few weeks. She starts to think that Thomas' death may not have been a mere heart attack after all...
When back in town, she brings up her new theory with Marguerite, who writes it off as nothing but a grieving woman's want for closure. Afterwards, Clara gets an unexpected guest in the form of Rhoda, telling her the box was empty and Clara, wanting to investigate more, ask for a note and the key to go look at the box herself. She goes to the bank and is able to get a hold of the box and check out Thomas' desk from when he worked there. On his desk, she finds the four doors pattern etched into the wood.
Clara brings the box home and doesn't have the time to look at it until she is once again whisked away to the Beltza's for another seance, thi time a woman nae Daphne Grey joining them. Her daughter was the one who had supposedly drowned herself at the manor, overcome with heartbreak over Trevor. During the seance, they find out that Julie, the daughter, was killed, not drowned, and Clara finds out why soon enough in the form of letters, confronting Daphne about it. Daphne and Alastair were having an affair in the manor and the money that went missing was for her. Rhoda has had enough and had Trevor put Wesley at gun point because she wants to know where the money went. Wesley and Clara were to go home but were not allowed to until they contacted Alastair and find out what happened to the money.
Finally, Daphne snaps and reveals her affair and the reason for the money. Rhoda runs, Trevor is captured and Rhoda tries to kill Clara. Rhoda ends up taking her own life, not wanting to be handed to the authorities for her crimes, screaming out, "Vives les Quatre Portes!" The cops arrive and take Trevor away and Daphne was able to get closure for her daughter. Clara and Wesley head home, finally being able to examine the deposit box, finding a false bottom. In it there was a letter written by Thomas: "I take these funds to stop a great evil. May god protect my soul from the Quatre Portes."
The door bell rings and then there are two officers there, asking for Wesley, stating that he is being arrested for the murder of Mrs. Rhoda Beltza..
(SPOILER WARNING! END)
This book, I felt, was better paced than the last two. I actually enjoyed this volume quite a bit. I do wish that the series was just one whole stand alone novel though. Sure, the ending points of each novel has been natural, not suddenly cut off, but they are very much cliffhangers which the next book just picks right up like there was no stop in the first place. There is no natural break between the volumes.
Anyways, I thought this book was very exciting, the conspiracy continues! And the fact that Thomas somehow got roped into all of this was slightly unexpected, but only slightly. There are some points that are predictable, but after the fact that all the coincidences were connected, it was easy to tell that Thomas was going to be pulled into the plot sooner or later. But other than this, I didn't find too much I had a problem with, plot wise of course. I really despised Rhoda and her holier-than-thou attitude, belittling Clara and such.
I still do recommend the series, the mystery aspect of it all is much more interesting than the sprinkled in romance that's there. I will be reading the next novel as soon as I finish writing this post. I hope that the conclusion will be satisfying and not a cliffhanger.
Thank you all for reading this review! I hope you will all stick around for the thrilling conclusion I will be posting next week! There is only one more to chug through, we can do this! Please continue to stay safe and stay healthy! Also, thank you for your continued support, I very much appreciate it! Keep on reading!
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