{"id":6414,"date":"2025-06-16T05:58:36","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T12:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=6414"},"modified":"2025-06-16T05:58:36","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T12:58:36","slug":"dianne-freeman-a-daughters-guide-to-mothers-and-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/dianne-freeman-a-daughters-guide-to-mothers-and-murder\/","title":{"rendered":"Dianne Freeman: A Daughter’s Guide to Mothers and Murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Countess of Harleigh #8<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A Daughter’s Guide to Mothers and Murder<\/em> is the eighth book in Dianne Freeman’s series about the American-born Frances, Countess of Harleigh, and her second husband, George Hazelton, a secret investigator for the British government.\u00a0 The series is set in the late 1890s\/early 1900s, usually in London, but this book and the previous one take place in Paris during the 1900 Exposition (World’s Fair).\u00a0 Frances and George have recently returned to Paris from their honeymoon, which was delayed at least twice because of murder, and are awaiting the arrival of Frances’ mother.\u00a0 Frances and her mother have not had the best of relationships, to put it mildly.\u00a0 She finds her mother overbearing, and her mother is always criticizing her and her sister.\u00a0 Frances’ mother has spent much of her daughters’ adulthood trying to marry them off, much like Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Also in Paris is Frances’ sister Lily, who is staying at her in-laws’ house with her infant daughter Amelia.\u00a0 Lily’s sister-in-law Anne is competing in the Olympic golf tournament.\u00a0 I love the way Freeman gives the reader details about the Paris Olympics of that time, so different from the most recent Olympics.\u00a0 In 1900, the World’s Fair was considered much more important than the Olympics, and many people did not even know the Olympics were taking place.\u00a0 Frances and George give Anne their support.\u00a0 George is quite a golf enthusiast, but Frances plays terribly.<\/p>\n

Frances’ mother arrives and instantly bonds with the baby.\u00a0 She is much less overbearing now that her daughters are married, and she and Frances get along better.\u00a0 Frances also misses her own daughter, Rose, by her first marriage.\u00a0 Rose has stayed behind in London, and Frances is anxious to get back to her.\u00a0 Frances and her mother are both concerned about Lily, who seems tired all the time because she doesn’t have any help for the baby, and Lily rejects Frances’ suggestion that she hire a nursemaid.<\/p>\n

Just as Frances’ relationship with her mother is improving, she gets involved in another murder investigation, and her mother insists on helping.\u00a0 Alicia Stoke-Whitney, Frances’ former nemesis (and the lover of her first husband) arrives in Paris and asks Frances to find out everything she can about Carlson Deaver, an American who is courting Alicia’s daughter.\u00a0 Frances and Alicia have learned to tolerate each other over time, even if they’re not exactly friends, and Frances agrees.\u00a0 Alicia has serious doubts about Carlson because his first wife, Isabelle, a former actress, was murdered several months before, and the killer has never been found, which means Carlson is still under suspicion.<\/p>\n

Isabelle’s body was found outside a caf\u00e9 shortly after a robbery at her house.\u00a0 Carlson was supposedly at his club playing cards with friends at the time.\u00a0 But did his friends lie for him?\u00a0 All previous leads have come to a dead end, until a new piece of evidence comes to light: an earring formerly belonging to Isabelle, sent to none other than the renowned actress Sarah Bernhardt<\/a>, along with a note saying “I know what you did.”\u00a0 Sarah had been seen arguing with Isabelle shortly before Isabelle was killed. \u00a0Could the Divine Sarah be guilty of murder?<\/p>\n

Inspector Cadieux, who worked with George and Frances on their previous case, asks them to investigate, because no member of the Paris police wants to be the one to arrest Sarah Bernhardt for murder.\u00a0 Sarah insists on being part of the investigation so she can prove she is not guilty.\u00a0 There is a delightful scene where a star-struck Frances interviews Sarah in her dressing room.\u00a0 Sarah says she was elsewhere when the murder took place, but she refuses to say exactly where.\u00a0 Still, she manages to convince Frances and George that she is not the killer.<\/p>\n

There are certainly plenty of suspects besides Sarah and Carlson.\u00a0 High on the list is Carlson’s mother Mimi, who has left her husband and moved to Paris to be with her lover, a French count.\u00a0 As it turns out, Carlson had been a suitor for Frances’ sister Lily, but his mother sent him away because she thought Lily wasn’t good enough for him.\u00a0 Mimi has a history of separating her son from every woman he’s been interested in, and she hated Isabelle at first.\u00a0 Supposedly, shortly before the murder, Mimi and Isabelle had started to get along better and they had been planning to go to the opera together on the night of the murder.\u00a0 But could their reconciliation have been only a ruse, and did Mimi murder her daughter-in-law?\u00a0 Carlson is quite an unpleasant character.\u00a0 He is disdainful of women, and he keeps another actress, Berthe, as a mistress.\u00a0 The relationship between Carlson and Berthe had been going on before his marriage to Isabelle, and he refused to give up his mistress.\u00a0 Could Berthe have murdered Isabelle in the hope that Carlson would marry her now that his wife is dead?<\/p>\n

Isabelle worked at a charity not far from where her body was found, and Frances wonders if one of the people at the charity could be the killer, either someone who was refused assistance or someone who worked there.\u00a0 Isabelle was very close to a young man who worked there.\u00a0 Did he have romantic feelings for her, and could he have killed her in a fit of jealousy?\u00a0 Also, there is a couple who were neighbors of Carlson and Isabelle.\u00a0 Frances and George had previously met them on their honeymoon, and the woman, Jeanne, had seriously injured her leg in a fall from a horse.\u00a0 It turns out Isabelle was pregnant when she was murdered, and Jeanne has never had a child.\u00a0 Could she have been jealous of Isabelle and killed her?<\/p>\n

The plot takes many turns, including another blackmail letter sent to another suspect, and, just when I thought I had figured it out, one of the prime suspects ends up murdered.\u00a0 To say who, though, would be a spoiler.\u00a0 Then another shocking twist happens, which I certainly didn’t see coming.\u00a0 Freeman keeps the reader guessing until the book reaches a satisfying conclusion.<\/p>\n

This is one of my favorite books in what is already a strong series.\u00a0 I loved the background of the Paris theatrical world, and Sarah Bernhardt makes a wonderful guest star.\u00a0 With all the various suspects and plot twists, it is hard to figure out who the killer is.\u00a0 Frances is a delightful heroine, as ever, and George is a loving, supportive husband.\u00a0 The witty banter between the two of them is a highlight of the whole series.\u00a0 I also loved the scenes where Frances drives a motorcar and tries to improve her golf game.<\/p>\n

An important theme in this particular book are relationships between mothers and daughters (and mothers and sons, in the case of Mimi and Carlson).\u00a0 Important relationships that are developed in this book include Frances and Lily and their mother, Lily and the baby Amelia, Lily’s mother-in-law Patricia and her daughter Anne, Alicia and her daughter Harriet, and Frances and her absent daughter Rose.\u00a0 Even though Rose doesn’t appear in this book, Frances thinks of her often and misses her.\u00a0 Frances’ mother, especially, is a delight, and I loved the scene where she and Mimi trade barbs at a luncheon.\u00a0 It will be interesting to see if Frances’ relationship with her mother continues to improve in the future.\u00a0 Even though this novel won’t be published until June, it is a perfect read for Mother’s Day. — Vicki Kondelik<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Countess of Harleigh #8 A Daughter’s Guide to Mothers and Murder is the eighth book in Dianne Freeman’s series about the American-born Frances, Countess of Harleigh, and her second husband, George Hazelton, a secret investigator for the British government.\u00a0 The series is set in the late 1890s\/early 1900s, usually in London, but this book and … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2107,2104,39,162,367,2105,2106,273],"class_list":["post-6414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-1900-paris","tag-a-daughters-guide-to-mothers-and-murder","tag-dianne-freeman","tag-kensington-books","tag-lady-harleigh","tag-mother-daughter-relationships","tag-sarah-bernhardt","tag-vicki-kondelik"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6414"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6416,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6414\/revisions\/6416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}