I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley to facilitate my review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Corpse in the Canal by Mary Lancaster Series: Silver and Grey #9
Published by Dragonblade Publishing Inc on 07/02/2026
Genres: FICTION / Romance / General, Fiction / Romance / Historical, Fiction / Romance / Regency, Fiction / Romance / Suspense, Fiction / Romance / Victorian
Pages: 286
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Could this be their last case?
Hired to find a landowner’s missing son, Constance and Solomon’s inquiries reveal a hedonistic and entitled young man, heavily in debt, who might have wronged too many people.
Dragged off to the country on what should have been a wild goose chase, they instead discover the corpse of the missing man being pulled from the local canal. They set out to find his murderer from among the tangle of secretive people who had motives to kill him - from his own family to the quick-tempered lock keeper with the unfaithful wife.
But their chief suspect turns out to be a woman from Solomon’s past, who churns up all sorts of insecurities.
An attack on Solomon brings home the dangers of the life he and Constance have chosen, and they have some hard decisions to make. They’re not the only ones. While they draw closer to the killer, life is changing for them and those they love, and things will never be the same again…
I like historical romance and I like mysteries, so Corpse in the Canal was a no-brainer for me to give a whirl. The 9th book in Mary Lancaster’s Silver and Grey series, I had not read any of the previous eight books – yet there was no need as I wasn’t confused at all about anything. If I needed to know it – it was mentioned. If I didn’t, well, it wasn’t.
Characters
There are a myriad of characters in this particular story, but the ones we deal with the most are Mr. and Mrs. Solomon Grey – aka Solomon Grey and his wife, Constance Silver (Grey). I loved both of these characters. They were fun, incorrigible, and interesting. I was particularly taken with Constance, as the hints about her not-so-proper past gave just the insight needed to understand her. I do wish we’d had a bit more background info for Solomon, and his brother David, but I can only assume that previous books would have provided that information.
As for the rest of the cast, you don’t get to know them so much as you get to see glimpses into their lives based on the level of suspicion they are under by the Greys. I did like Mrs. Jenkins and her little boy, Clarence, as we do get some background info and get to know them a tad better than the rest of the characters. But… why would we need to know so much about the rest – they’ll likely not appear in any subsequent books (although I do hope Mrs. Jenkins and Clarence do, and that’s all I’ll say about that).
Atmosphere
Set in a small village in England for the most part, with some bits in London, the atmosphere for this book was very interesting. This would be more of a “cozy” mystery. Yes, there was some danger and dark parts. But this wasn’t your dark and spooky mystery. It was a cozy, Victorian era read that kept me wanting to know what was happening next, and of course, who murdered the victim. Interestingly enough, while I knew it was Victorian era, I was never quite sure what year it was as I don’t recall the year ever actually being given – which meant I could more or less choose what part of the era I was reading in.
Writing
Mrs. Lancaster has an easy to read, fun writing style. Her novels are pretty quickly paced – while it may seem that you are going to be bogged down with all the investigation details, you really aren’t. It is quick, light hearted (most of the time), and fun to read. I also appreciate that, at least in Corpse in the Canal, the lovemaking scenes are closed door/fade to black. While I don’t mind some spice, I appreciate a good fade to black or closed door romance novel.
Plot
The plot for this book isn’t that much different from most mystery books – someone has been murdered and one or more of our main characters are needed to find out who did it. While it isn’t the most original plot you’ll ever see, it’s also a plot that is tested and tried and just plain works. It’s the classic mystery plot – with a touch of romance thrown in on top. I, for one, don’t see the need to fix plots that aren’t broken.
Intrigue
To say this book has intrigue is doing it an injustice. This book is amazing for the amount of intrigue. You won’t guess who actually murdered the victim found in the canal – although you might guess why without being explicitly told. However, the twists and turns in this book are mostly very subtle. You won’t always notice until the twist is right there on top of you. Kudos to Mrs. Lancaster for that.
Relationships
I adore the relationship between Constance and Solomon. I haven’t even read the majority of their story and I can tell they’re a match made in heaven! They made me want to go back and read the whole series just to be able to read the whole story for myself. I can’t wait to see more books for this series (and I really hope there will be more)!
Ending
The book had a very satisfying ending. Some might say it took too long, but I don’t think so. It builds up some suspense, and makes you wonder if the suspicions the Greys have are correct or not. It was a great ending to a great book.
I gave this book 5 stars – it was a great read, hard to put down, and made me want to grab the first 8 books in the series to check them all out. I highly recommend this to readers who like to read historical romance with mystery involved.
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