While I arrived home yesterday, I have catching up to do for Library Journal, and around the house. I’m going to allow Sandie Herron and Kevin Tipple to finish the weekend for me. Don’t worry. I have my own reviews scheduled for all of this forthcoming week. I really appreciate Sandie and Kevin’s help, though.
Today, Sandie reviews the audiobook of Dianne Freeman’s A Lady’s Guide to Gossip and Murder. Thank you, Sandie!
A Lady’s Guide to Gossip and Murder
Written by Dianne Freeman
Narrated by Sarah Zimmerman
Series: Countess of Harleigh Mystery Series, Book 2
Unabridged Audiobook
HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books (6/25/2019)
Listening Length: 7 hours 59 minutes
ASIN: B07SW1RJQQ
Lady Frances Wynn, Countess of Harleigh, is summering in London rather than retiring to the country as so many of her friends. She is still sponsoring her sister Lily in looking for a husband, and a friend from New York has joined her. While born and raised in America, Frances is adjusting quite well to widowhood in the British aristocracy of 1899. She is getting closer to her neighbor, George Hazelton, a distinguished gentleman who helped her in a real pinch. Frances has even found a way to his home via her back garden.
One day while visiting George she meets up with her cousin Charles by marriage. Charles had been courting widow Mary Archer when she was strangled to death in her home. Police found piles of notes hidden about her home and with his connections, George has been given the task of sorting them out. The police wonder if blackmail was the motive in Mary’s death. Many of Mary’s notes are juicy tidbits about others in society. With possibly hundreds of bits of gossip, George asks Frances for help in this task. Frances then enlists her Aunt Hettie and her sister’s friend Lottie for their help as well.
It is Lottie who makes a breakthrough discovery. Since Mrs. Archer’s death, there have been no more gossip columns in the daily newspaper. As they read through her notes, they discover the wording from old columns match the notes word for word. Mrs. Archer had been “Miss Information” and wrote the column which generated a tiny salary. When Frances and George visit the paper to check up on this idea, they discover that Mrs. Archer’s editor had also been murdered, but the police hadn’t a clue to make the connection. Suddenly, more sensitive facts come to light and the reasons for the secrecy are revealed at none other than Lily and Leo’s engagement party!
While the men this story touched seem to think women all gossiped and couldn’t hold a confidence, it was them that held the most important and scandalous secrets. Briefly becoming Miss Information herself, Frances found the very documents needed to implicate a thief and a murderer. George had Frances to thank in a big way and keeps bumbling his proposals. I hope that one day she accepts. They make a deliciously naughty but nice pair. But first Frances hopes to marry off her sister into a suitable London family.
This was a delightful romp through society. Frances used all her wiles above and below stairs to gather the information needed. Sarah Zimmerman narrates this beautifully, never distracting the reader from proper society. The mystery held my attention throughout, twisting a bit this way and that, before a satisfying conclusion.
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