Dianne Freeman: A Christmas Guide to Family and Murder
Countess of Harleigh #9
A Christmas Guide to Family and Murder is the ninth book in Dianne Freeman’s delightful series set at the turn of the 20th century, about Frances, the American-born Countess of Harleigh, and her second husband, George Hazelton, a younger son of an earl and a secret agent for the British government. The two of them solve crimes together, usually among the upper classes in London, even though the two books before this one have taken them to Paris. This novel introduces a new setting: a country estate in Norfolk. Frances is looking forward to spending Christmas of 1900 in London when she and George receive an invitation from Fiona, George’s sister and Frances’ best friend, to join her and her husband, Robert, at their estate, Hadley Grange. Rose, Frances’ nine-year-old daughter by her first husband, is excited about spending Christmas in Norfolk, as are the two most recent additions to the family: Lissette, George’s fifteen-year-old cousin and ward, and her half-sister Christine, a young woman in her early twenties. Frances’ aunt Hetty joins them as well, after indicating that things are not going smoothly between her and her suitor Gilliam, a theater manager.