December 1, 2023
When the person who needs help from advice columnist Lady Agony is the sister of a friend, things get complicated. Lady Agony is actually Amelia, Lady Amesbury, a widow who shares a close friendship and maybe more with her late husband's best friend, Simon, Lord Bainbridge. His sister, Lady Marielle, is thinking of eloping to Gretna Green with a man her family strongly disapproves of. Simon has excellent reasons to dislike their former stable manager, George Davies, but he can't get Marielle to see sense. So Amelia and Simon go to the opera to keep an eye on Marielle, who's attending with George. After an evening of ticklish conversation, George vanishes, and the three find him in a nearby alley, stabbed to death. Clearly, Amelia and Simon must solve the murder if Simon is to regain his sister's respect. Amelia has her own problems with placating her aunt, keeping an eye on her stepdaughter, and trying to prevent her best friend from being dragged off to her husband's country estate. And, of course, Amelia--who's teamed up with Simon to solve earlier mysteries--knows that as a wealthy young widow, she needs to guard her own reputation no matter how tedious she finds the task. George Davies was a fortune hunter and a gambler who made many enemies, and the society parties Amelia attends are a fertile field for gossip. Still, plucking the murderer from a bunch of likely prospects will be no easy task. Enjoy the charming characters, a touch of romance, and an unexpected denouement.
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December 1, 2023
Amelia, Countess of Amesbury, enjoys answering the "Lady Agony" letters she receives as columnist for a penny weekly. Her friend Simon, the Marquis of Bainbridge, is angry when his younger sister Marielle sends a letter complaining that her family doesn't like the man she loves, George Davies; she says she plans to elope. Simon sees Davies, onetime stable manager for the Bainbridge estate, as a no-good gambler and social climber who's after Marielle's money and status. When Simon and Amelia attend an opera and spot Marielle and George, there's tension in the boxes, but it's nothing compared to the emotions when Marielle stumbles over George's dead body in an alley afterward and accuses her brother of killing her betrothed. Simon asks Amelia to help find George's killer and exonerate himself. Amelia is once again on the case, but she suspects Simon is hiding evidence from her. Horse races, croquet matches, and a garden party are all part of her scheme to root out a murderer. VERDICT The follow-up to Murder in Postscript emphasizes Victorian social customs and society. Fans of Dianne Freeman's "Countess of Harleigh" mysteries will enjoy.--Lesa Holstine
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February 19, 2024
Countess and undercover advice columnist Amelia Amesbury returns for Winters’s underwhelming sequel to Murder in Postscript. When Amelia, who writes a column as Lady Agony for a pulpy newspaper in Victorian London, receives an anonymous letter from a woman who’s father disapproves of her impending marriage, she clocks the author immediately. It’s Lady Marielle Bainbridge, sister of Simon Bainbridge, a hunky object of Amelia’s affection who’s recently told her that he fears Marielle will run away with the family’s former stable manager, George Davies. Simon and his father believe that George, a gambler, is after Marielle for her money, so Lady Agony advises her to drop their proposed elopement. Then, after receiving another letter asking how to say goodbye to a loved one, Amelia discovers George murdered in an alleyway while she’s out with Simon and Marielle one evening. Once again thrust into the middle of a whodunit, Amelia asks herself if her beloved Simon might be capable of violence? Or is an unknown killer zeroing in on the Bainbridge family? Unfortunately, the sleuthing is limp and undermotivated, and Winters provides little in the way of memorable historical detail. Readers drawn to the premise would be better served by Kathleen Bailey’s Olivia Penn series. Agent: Amanda Jain, BookEnds Literary.