Elsa Hart has written three mysteries featuring a crime-solving librarian in 18th-century China. Her fourth novel, The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne, is yet another mystery set in the same century, but with a new locale (London) and not one but two female sleuths.
The Barnaby Mayne of the title is a wealthy and obsessive collector of artifacts, books, jewels, flora and oddities who has agreed to allow botanist Cecily Kay to examine his holdings as she tries to identify plants she collected while living in Smyrna. Newly arrived at Mayne's home, she encounters Meacan Barlow, a childhood friend hired by Mayne as an illustrator.
Within hours of Kay’s arrival, Mayne is stabbed to death in his study and his mild-mannered curator, Walter Dinley, confesses to the crime while armed with a bloody knife. But Kay and Barlow believe Dinley is innocent, and they set out to uncover the truth before he meets his doom.
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