The Picture House Murders by Fiona Veitch Smith

Miss Clara Vale is one of the first of the graduating group that includes women getting a degree in chemistry. Unfortunately, she is not able to find a job that will let her work in that field. Even more unfortunately, the one person who seemed to ever support her, her Uncle Bob, has passed away. She hasn't seen him for years but he's left Clara his worldly fortune, including his detective agency. 

Unsure of what to do, she decides to give herself a little bit of time to figure it all out. While she is searching through her thoughts and talking to the people who were closest to her uncle, one of his clients stops by. The woman's case was still open and she is hoping that Clara will  take it on. Alice is asking Clara to go up against an insurance company that isn't paying out for their movie theater. And her husband died in between. When a second fire occurs, Clara gets suspicious.

This was an interesting story and a nice start to a new series. With that, there was a lot going on and one or two threads probably could have been shaved to allow more room for character development. 

Three and a half stars

This book comes out August 29, 2023

Followed by the Pantomime Murders

ARC kindly provided by Embla Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own