December 15, 2019
A titled lady and her clever maid solve yet another difficult case of murder. It's 1920. Lady Phoebe Renshaw and her maid, Eva Huntford, have been instrumental in solving many a murder, including, most recently, that of Phoebe's sister Julia's husband (A Murderous Marriage, 2018). Lady Julia, pregnant and moping around her grandparents' home, still blames herself for her husband's death. Phoebe is surprised to learn that the family's longtime head gardener has retired, leaving the job to Stephen Ripley, brother to Keenan, whose orchard produces pears for the cider known as perry. Stephen's debut is marred when he's seen bullying the garden boy, William. So when he's found dead in the garden, not even his brother seems all that sad--especially since Stephen was evidently conspiring with a brash American who wanted to buy the orchard and build a hotel on the heavily mortgaged property. In the absence of William, who's vanished, Keenan is arrested by the local chief inspector, who sees no need to look further. Luckily, Eva's boyfriend, Constable Miles Brannock, is keeping an open mind. Eva worries about her sister Alice, who comes to visit without her children and seems out of sorts and perhaps a bit too interested in Keenan, her old boyfriend. Phoebe fears that William's seen the killer and gone into hiding and ponders who'd want Stephen dead. Local pub owner Joe Murdock, whose business depends on perry, almost came to blows with the American, and sheep farmer Fred Corbyn stands to lose pasture and watering rights if the property is sold. The villagers, who loyally try to give Keenan an alibi, pitch in to harvest the pears and make the perry while he languishes in jail and Phoebe and Eva seek to unearth a killer. A stylish post-World War I mystery with plenty of twists and strong female characters fully capable of negotiating them.
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January 6, 2020
Early in Maxwell’s appealing fifth a Lady and a Lady’s Maid mystery set in post-WWI England (after 2019’s A Murderous Marriage), maid Eva Huntford and her employer, Lady Phoebe Renshaw, are disturbed to hear that a brash American, Horace Walker, wants to buy the struggling orchard of Cotswolds resident Keenan Ripley and level it to build a resort on the site. Keenan’s ne’er-do-well brother, Stephen, is abetting Horace in this scheme. The locals value the product of Keenan’s pear crop—perry, a type of hard cider—and view Horace as an interloper. When Lady Phoebe finds Stephen murdered with a pair of hedge clippers, Keenan is arrested. Eva worries that her married sister, Alice, a former sweetheart of Keenan, may be involved, and Lady Phoebe worries about the disappearance of a servant and the toll of the crime on her infirm grandfather, the Earl of Wroxly. Eva and Lady Phoebe provide smart sleuthing and insight into the upstairs and downstairs worlds. Fans of traditional English mysteries will be rewarded. Agent: Evan Marshall, Evan Marshall Agency.