Time Will Tell - "Sister" Jane #16

 

 

Time Will Tell is the 16th "Sister" Jane mystery by Rita Mae Brown. Released 12th Nov 2024 by Penguin Random House on their Ballantine imprint, it's 304 pages and available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. 

This is a well paced, engaging cozy mystery in an episodic very-long-running series which will please current fans and pick up some new ones. Ms. Brown is a prolific, wide-ranging, versatile author with enough "serious" writing awards to do anything she sets her mind to, but happily, she seems to enjoy the cozy genre, especially the one with anthropomorphic animal characters. This series and her Mrs. Murphy series are -full- of opinionated animals, from cats and dogs to farm animals. For folks who loathe anthropomorphism and light paranormal elements, this probably isn't going to be a good fit.

It's the 16th book in the series, so readers who hop in mid-stream should expect some spoilers for developments from earlier books. The author/publisher have also helpfully included a glossary and list of characters with short descriptions to help readers stay in the story. That being said, the mystery itself is self-contained and resolved in this book, so picking through the series out of order isn't a deal-breaker.

The dialogue and writing are pitch perfect.  Typically for Ms. Brown, the writing is solidly comfortable and engaging.  Reading her books is almost like visiting with an old friend you haven't seen for a while; you just pick up where you left off the last time, even if you haven't seen them for ages.

Four stars, it's a well constructed cozy mystery full of characters from a world outside of the one most people inhabit (including many old-money wealthy FFVs who are crazy about American fox hunting). Bonus points for the author's managing to make her characters ethnically diverse, and not just pasted on, either. Many of the characters have faced and worked through part of their tragic shared traumatic past, from slave times onward and at this point there seems to be more good-natured camaraderie than any festering resentment.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.