Hyde & Seek: A Bohemian Lake Cozy Mystery (Bookish Adventures in Witch-Lit, #2) by Rachael Stapleton and DeAnn Howe

Hyde & Seek by Rachael Stapleton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

On their second Gas Lamp Literary Tour, Sera Popescu and the rest of the Bohemian Lake book club members are touring Edinburgh, Scotland, and learning about Robert Lewis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. With tour director, Nelle Story, in London preparing the way for part two of the tour, Sera and her fellow bookstore staffer, Hansen Dressler, accompany the group to the various relevant sites (i.e., museums, spooky after-hours haunted cemeteries.) However, when one of the participants, Daniel Brodey, is discovered hanging from a tree during one of the cemetery tours, an apparent suicide, and another goes missing, Sera begins to suspect the witch hunter organization that plagued them during their previous tour is back. When the attacks against the group continue in London, Dr. Gretchen Dressler (Hansen’s sister) begins to act more erratically than ever, and Nelle Story seems to have secrets of her own to hide as well, Sera starts to look at the project materials Nelle has regarding her investigation of the Jack the Ripper case for possible connections.

This second outing for Sera, Hansen, and the book club from Bohemian Lake was every bit as dark as the previous one with quite a few deaths and some adult themes as well. It still tracks a well-known literary tale: this time a double dose. The authors did a good job of matching up aspects of the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde theme and creating a very interesting plotline dealing with Nelle’s ongoing research in the mystery of Jack the Ripper. We have another trip with characters from book one and learn more about them all. We also get a fun, virtual tour through Edinburgh and London, courtesy of Gas Lamp Literary Tours, which really sets the scene in both history-laden cities.

I recommend this book to cozy mystery readers that don’t mind a little witchy magic in their stores and those that like a literary link. It is best to read the first book in this trilogy before jumping in here on book two, if not the entire Bohemian Lake series. They are very good, each one, and I highly recommend those as well.


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