A Red Herring Without Mustard is the third book in Alan Bradley’s Flavia De Luce series. Curiously enough, this is the first book I have reviewed because I am woefully behind with my reviews.

Flavia De Luce is a young girl living in a crumbling manor house near a small village in post-WWII England. She lives with her stamp collecting father, her two teenage sisters, and Dogger, their father’s butler/valet/gardener.

A Red Herring Without Mustard concerns the events following a village fair. Flavia invites the gypsy fortuneteller to park her caravan in a remote part of the Buckshaw estate. When Flavia returns to check on her guest, she sees that the woman has been brutally attacked. As if that were not bad enough, Flavia then stumbles upon a body on the Buckshaw estate. With two crimes that may or may not be related, our intrepid young sleuth has two mysteries to solve!     Read more

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley/the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading Alyssa Maxwell’s Murder Most Malicious, so I was excited about the opportunity to read the next entry in her Lady and Lady’s Maid series.

A Pinch of Poison takes place a few months after the events in Murder Most Malicious. Lady Phoebe does not intend to make a habit of engaging in detective work, but this changes when the headmistress of her alma mater dies unexpectedly during a school function. When signs point to a poisoning, Lady Phoebe knows that she needs to assist the investigation in any way possible. After all, she is an alumna of the school and her sister is a current student. Perhaps she can speak to the students in a manner in which the male police officers cannot. Likewise, the household staff at the school might be more comfortable speaking to lady’s maid Eva. Read more

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley/the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Diamonds of Death is the second book in Vivian Conroy’s Lady Alkmene mystery series. I enjoyed reading the first book in the series, so I was looking forward to this book.

Lord Winters was murdered in his manor house. Logic and reason dictate that the perpetrator of this heinous act was the burglar who was found standing over the body, but the man claims that Lord Winters was already dead and the precious gems he came to steal are nowhere to be found.

It just so happens that Lord Winters’ late wife was Lady Alkmene’s aunt, and the burglar is a friend of Lady Alkmene’s friend Jake Dubois. This is a little too much of a coincidence, but this provides Alkmene and Jake with the opportunity to go to the manor house to visit her cousins. Alkmene plans to offer her condolences to these cousins she has never met, and Jake will pose as her chauffeur.   Read more

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley/the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I love historical fiction and mysteries, so I was very excited about the opportunity to read A Proposal to Die For. This is the first entry in Vivian Conroy’s new series featuring Lady Alkmene Callender, a young socialite in 1920s London.

When Silas Norwhich, a wealthy man, dies under suspicious circumstances, Lady Alkmene feels compelled to investigate. It doesn’t really matter to her that she has no experience or much of a connection to the deceased; she knows that something is not quite right, and she is determined to uncover the truth.

Alkmene crosses paths with a reporter named Jake Dubois, and at first, he sees her as an annoyance, and that she sees detective work as something to do to pass the time while her father is out of the country. Alkmene quickly realizes that he is not entirely incorrect; there is a great deal that she does not know about the way the world works. However, Jake must admit that Alkmene’s status provides her with admission to places that he would not be able to reach on his own. The two form an unlikely partnership. Read more