Monday, June 27, 2016

Death Sits Down to Dinner

This is the 2nd in the "Lady Montfort" series by Tessa Arlen, set in pre-WWI London and England. Compared by reviewers to Downton Abbey with a bit of murder mystery thrown in. Definitely provides the "upstairs-downstairs" perspectives of class-based society at that time.  Lady Montfort and her husband are invited to a dinner in honor of Winston Churchill's birthday, even though they personally do not like the man. At the story's point in time, he is First Lord of the Admiralty and very verbose about England's need to prepare for a potential war with Germany. The hostess, Lady Hermione Kingsley, is founder of the largest charity for orphans in England, the Chimney Sweep Boys. The board chairman, remains alone in the dining room after dinner in response to a note passed to him by one of Lady Kingsley's footmen. He never leaves the table, having ended up with a knife in his chest. Lady Montfort and her most proper but nevertheless intrepid housekeeper, Mrs. Jackson, are determined to find the killer, even though the government, and certainly Lady Kingsley, want to hush up the whole affair. There are motives aplenty for murdering the self-important gentleman--thwarted love, financial shenanigans at the charity--but this is a big red herring. I won't spoil it, but you will be surprised by "who done it" and why. Enjoyable read for those who like mysteries with a historical setting, involving actual historical persons, in this case including: Winston Churchill, Lady Cunard (yes that Cunard), Sir Thomas Beecham, opera star Nellie Melba, and dancer/choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky.

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