The Buzz...About Books

By pure coincidence, I recently enjoyed three historical mysteries that featured a lady amateur detective, all of which were set in England during the 18th and 19th centuries.    If you have enjoyed other mysteries featuring lady amateur detectives set in Victorian England, please share in the comments.

The Pigeon Pie Mystery by Julia Stuart.  Written by the author the quirky and delightful The Tower, the Zoo and the Tortoise,
this novel is set in Hampton Court Palace during the spring of 1898.  It is the story
of Princess Alexandrina, known as Mink, and her loyal maid Pooki.  When the
Princess' father, the Maharaja, dies in scandalous circumstances, the
Princess and Pooki are left in financial difficulty.  Queen Victoria, who liked the Maharaja, generously permits them to move into a house in Hampton Court Palace.  Here they join
the other 'grace-and-favour' ladies of reduced circumstances living there. 

Not long after arriving, Pooki becomes the main suspect in the
death of General Bagshot, the local scoundrel, when he dies after
eating the pigeon pie she made especially for him.  Knowing
that Pooki did not kill the General, Princess Mink sets out to solve the murder.  In the course of her investigation, all the secrets of the residents of Hampton Court Palace are revealed.   Another entertaining story full of eccentric
characters set in a former British Royal residence.    The Pigeon Pie Mystery is also available in audiobook.

And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander is more suspenseful than The Pigeon Pie Mystery.  Lady Emily
Bromley agreed to marry the handsome and eligible Philip, Viscount
Ashton not for love or for his title and income, but to escape her
very, very overbearing mother.  When the Viscount Ashton died during an African hunting trip just months into their marriage, the new Lady Ashton felt more relief than sadness.  After all, she hardly knew her husband. 

Eighteen months later, as she is beginning the last six monts of her official mourning period and gradually returning to society, she start to know some of her
husbands friends better, particularly the handsome Colin Hargreaves.  From them, she finally begins to learn about the man she married.   Soon strange things start to happen.  She
uncovers threatening notes left for Viscount Ashton, has her hotel room in Paris ransacked and discovers a  mystery around the antiquities that the Viscount purchased and
donated to the British Museum.   As Lady Ashton becomes determined to find out  the truth about the man she married, as well as figure out which of his friends she can'trust, she finds herself in quite a bit of danger.   This is the first book in a series, which also contains A Poisoned Season, A Fatal Waltz, Tears of Pearl, Dangerous to Know and A Crimson Warning. 

Elizabeth Bailey's  The Gilded Shroud is the first in her mystery series about the sharp-witted Ottilia Draycott.   Shortly after starting her new job as the companion to the Dowager Lady Polbrook, the Dowager's daughter-in-law is found murdered in her own bed.  The prime suspect is her husband, Randal, who has vanished.  Despite the skepticism of the Dowager and her attractive younger son, Francis, Ottilia sets out to find the murderer before Randal is found.  During her investigation, she uncovers the secrets of the Marchioness' life, including her many affairs.  Being new to the house, only Ottilia can
unmask and outwit a desperate killer and keep a Polbrook family secret
buried.  The second Lady Fan mystery is The Deathly Portent.  Both the The Gilded Shroud and The Deathly Portent are available in Large Print.