Death on the Sapphire

This is the first of an intended series featuring Edwardian-era Lady Frances Ffolkes by R. S. Koreto. She is an unusual woman in so many respects. She persuaded her parents--over vigorous objections--to let her travel to America for a college education. Her mother's winning argument was that is Frances did outlandish things, fewer of their friends would hear about it! Of course she has come back to London, bolstered in her beliefs about the independence of women and is an active and ardent supporter of the Suffragist movement as well as many other charities. She works one night a week at the soup kitchen and so has up-close knowledge of the disparities between the classes. When the sister of her older brother's best friend call Frances for help in finding her dead brother's final memoir manuscript, Frances stirs up a lot of fear and violence. Because it turns out that the manuscript of this former British officer in the Boer wars plans to reveal how his men were sent into a suicide mission by traditionalists back home who could not accommodate to the new style of guerrilla warfare being waged there. Powerful people do NOT want this information to come out and those who have knowledge of the events are quickly disappearing. Frances contacts Scotland Yard, who in turn put her in touch with the new secret service and this sets alarm bells ringing for her and trusty lady's maid, June Mallow. Frances begins to think that Major Colcombe's death was murder and not an accident. Loyalty in all sorts of forms drives the actors in this story and the characters are very well developed. Setting is also well described and evocative. Definitely a superior read to the earlier book I reviewed with basically the same settings and similar pair of protagonists (lady and her maid, see Death Sits Down to Dinner). Review here from Publishers Weekly