A Newlywed’s Guide to Fortune and Murder is the sixth in the Countess of Harleigh cozy mystery series, set in London in 1900. In this story, the reader finds Frances, the Countess of Harleigh sponsoring the dowager Viscountess Winstead’s niece for presentation to Queen Victoria. The Viscountess has been out of sorts for some time, and Frances is certain someone is trying to poison the dowager. Add to that the disappearance of an important item related to a donation of Eygptian artifacts to a museum that is being investigated by George, the Countess’s spouse of two months.
The book is cleverly plotted with the usual broad array of potential suspects. As in the rest of the series, the delightfully witty relationship between Frances and George, the insight into Victorian conventions and social mores, not to mention the intrigue and mystery, enliven the series. I was interested to see just how frequently laudanum (a tincture of opium) was used to sedate and control women, particularly “inconvenient” women and how astoundingly rigid society in general was. This sixth in the series is an enjoyable romantic mystery.
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A Newlywed’s Guide to Fortune and Murder (Kensington, June 27, 2023) is available through:
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You can see my reviews of A Lady’s Guide to Gossip and Murder (#2) here and A Bride’s Guide to Marriage and Murder (#5) here.
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