Miss Morton #4
Not so long ago, Caroline Morton lost everything when her titled father died, leaving only debts and forcing her into service. Her employer, Mrs. Frogerton, treats her as a member of the family, however, and she likes being in control of her own fate. That free lifestyle is threatened when a claimant to the Morton earldom steps forward. In this fourth installment of the Regency set series by Catherine Llyod, Miss Morton and the Missing Heir, things get complicated quickly.
Mr. Scutton, the claimant, and his family arrive in town and want to meet Caroline. Caroline would rather have nothing to do with the Morton estate, as she can’t inherit anything herself anyway, but the Scuttons are immediately quite interested in her. Mrs. Scutton asks after her personal life, Mr. Scutton is much too interested in her marriage prospects and who she is friends with, and both are not the most polite. Even when Mrs. Frogerton offers to let them stay in her house to get to know Caroline so they don’t have to stay in a hotel, as the Morton home itself is run down and uninhabitable.
The only one Caroline finds bearable is the recently bereaved Mary, Mr. Scutton’s sister. Mary quickly reveals that her husband isn’t dead, however, just in debtor’s prison – and she believes he will come get her soon. When he does arrive, however, things quickly go south and Mary ends up murdered and her mother injured. The murder itself is shocking and tragic and, unfortunately, it also means that the remaining Scuttons have become the thing that wouldn’t leave – and Caroline’s relationship with them isn’t improving.
The bombastic Mrs. Frogerton is fun as always, and she and the strong willed Caroline are an excellent duo. Though neither Mrs. Frogerton’s children or Caroline’s sister feature in this addition, it doesn’t cut out any enjoyment of the book. The Scuttons themselves are grisly unpleasant – we’ve all met people like them before – and the reader will love to hate them very quickly. There is a bit of a love triangle featured between Caroline, the surly doctor, and the suave policemen, but Caroline herself doesn’t set much stock by it, so the reader can do the same if they so choose.
This is a good installment, and one that can be read alone without really affecting the story. The character and the pacing kept the narrative flowing easily, and this was a quick read. However, for me, the mystery was a little easy to solve. There weren’t a lot of suspects to choose from, after all, as this was nearly a locked room mystery – but that didn’t lower my enjoyment any. This is one I can definitely recommend. — Margaret Agnew