Margaret Agnew

Elly Griffiths: The Last Word

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Harbinder Kaur #4

There is really nothing better than a great cast of characters, and Elly Griffiths always delivers one. In the fourth instalment of her Harbinder Kaur series, The Last Word, Griffiths revisits one of my all time favorite casts in Benedict, Natalka, and Edwin. The trio has been living happily in Shoreham since we last saw them, and Natalka and Edwin have even started their own PI business, while Benedict continues to run his coffee shop, the Shack. Their PI firm generally deals with cheating spouses, but both are excited when a murder accusation falls into their lap. read more

Best of 2023: Reviewer’s favorites

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Our reviewers, Margaret Agnew, Vicki Kondelik, and Carla Schantz, have all shared their top 10 lists with me.  If you’d like to know more about them, you can read about them here.  All of them are accomplished women and passionate readers.  I appreciate Margaret’s way with words, Vicki’s love of historical mysteries, and Carla’s passion for cozies.  There’s lots here to add to your TBR piles!  Full reviews can be found in most cases by searching the site, though Vicki has some classics on her list she didn’t review here.  Carla’s list can be found in the forthcoming Best of Cozies post. read more

Vanessa Riley: Murder in Drury Lane

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Lady Worthing #2

The second book in Vanessa Riley’s Lady Worthing Series, Murder in Drury Lane, starts off with a recently reformed rake getting stabbed with a theater prop. Though Anthony Danielson had lived far from a blameless life, and died with others owing him money they couldn’t pay, it seems he truly had turned over a new leaf. Newly married to the previously upstanding Joanna Mathews Danielson, Anthony had a lot to look forward to. He was even writing a new play that he was sure would be a smash hit. read more

Catherine Lloyd: Miss Morton and the Spirits of the Underworld

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Miss Morton #2

Following on the heels of Catherine Lloyd’s first Miss Morton book, Miss Morton and the Spirits of the Underworld, set in 1830’s Britain, brings back Miss Morton and her boisterous employer, Mrs. Frogerton. Caroline Morton is Mrs. Frogerton’s paid companion, following a loss of wealth and status that left her needing to make her own way in the world. Her job is far from an unpleasant one, however, as she and Mrs. Frogerton get on well. And now that the daughter of the house, Dorothy, is of age, the two women plan to guide her through her first season together. read more

Kirsty Manning: The Paris Mystery

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Charlotte James #1

Following a massive upheaval in her life, Charlotte “Charlie” James moves to 1938 Paris to take a new job at The Times as a correspondent. Kirsty Manning’s debut novel, The Paris Mystery, follows Charlie as she gets settled in the city of love. With help from her new glamorous friend, the paper’s receptionist Violet, Charlie puts on a glittering dress and sets out to make friends with Lady Eleanor Ashworth.

Lady Ashworth is a philanthropic, wealthy woman, whose main interest is in making things beautiful. She and her husband, Lord Ashworth, a British blueblood, run with a crowd of the French elite, including military men, designers, and financiers. Charlie’s first assignment is covering one of Lady Ashworth’s lavish parties, a circus themed affair for the cream of society. But things don’t go as planned, and a rich but unpleasant investor turns up dead. read more

Jessica Ellicott: Murder at a London Finishing School

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Beryl & Edwina #7

Jessica Ellicott’s seventh book in her Beryl and Edwina post WWI series, Murder at a London Finishing School, takes the titular heroines on a tour of their past. Both attended Miss Dupont’s Finishing school – it’s where they met – but neither had the best time of their lives there. Daring Beryl was far from suited to the stuffy conventions of the place, and shy Edwina was often homesick. The two were pretty unlikely to ever attend a reunion, pay a nostalgic visit, or, as neither have children, send a daughter of their own to the school. read more

Alex Hay: The Housekeepers

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Alex Hay’s debut novel, The Housekeepers, is a tale of an all female heist in 1905 London. After Mrs. King, respectable housekeeper of a fine house, is let go, she’s all ready for revenge. Suspected of visiting a boyfriend in the middle of the night, but actually searching for secrets above stairs, Mrs. King wastes no time recruiting a team. Soon the plan to rob the house of all its contents, on the night of the Madame’s costume ball, is in motion.

But Mrs. King is hiding things, even from the reader. A con artist hired on at the house mysteriously, she was never what she seemed. Her compatriots aren’t exactly upstanding either – former fellow employee Winnie, her half sister and seamstress Alice, crime lord Mrs. Bone, washed up actress Hepzibah – but they’re all brought in pretty easily. Alongside Mrs. Bone’s most trusted women, and her fleet of men, they’re a force to be reckoned with. read more

Claudia Gray: The Late Mrs. Willoughby

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Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney #2

Fans of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility will guess from the first the victim of Claudia Gray’s latest murder mystery, The Late Mrs. Willoughby.  As the second novel in Gray’s Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney series, it’s pretty clear that Gray is working her way through Austen’s unrepentant rakes – or at the very least their families. It opens with Lizzie and Darcy’s son, Jonathan, being summoned to Willoughby’s newly inherited house for a visit. read more

Anastasia Hastings: Of Manners and Murder

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Of Manners and Murder, the first in Anastasia Hastings’ new series starring an agony aunt heroine, is far from the author’s first book. Anastasia Hastings is one of many pseudonyms for Casey Daniels, a veteran author with dozens of works to her name. Of Manners and Murder reads like it was written by a practiced hand. It opens with Violet, our heroine, discovering that her aunt, Adelia, is the most famous agony aunt in London in 1885. Adelia writes as Miss Hermione and has managed, for years, to keep the truth from everyone, including the two girls living with her. Just as Violet is given this information, Adelia leaves on vacation – and puts Violet in charge of answering her mail. read more

Louise Penny: A World of Curiosities

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It’s not easy to tell a good story in the past and present at the same time. Often, characters get lost along the way, or one plot is simply far better. Louise Penny manages it handily in A World of Curiosities. In many ways, though it’s the eighteenth book in the series, it’s an origin story, too. It helps that these characters we’ve come to love play such a strong part in both stories. And, though the backbone of Penny’s books is built on Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir’s relationship, we’ve never seen their first case together. We know how they met, of course, but Penny had never gone in depth. read more