Charming Regency whodunit!
A Reputation Dies (The Rutherford Trilogy #1)
by Alice Chetwynd Ley
I've read quite a few of Chetwynd Ley's works in the past, so when the chance came to revisit her writings, I took it and wasn't disappointed.
A spiteful ton member, Mr Marmaduke Yarnton , of the mellifluous voice (I love that!), who holds his place with gossip, innuendo and malicious hints, has, it seems has finally gone too far. He is found strangled at the fashionable Lady Windlesham's soirée. Admittedly, the Lady wanted her event to be of note, but not quite in this tenor.
The thing is just before he is found dead, the newlywed Lord Velmond had taken exception to some of Yarnton's baiting and threatened him. Ergo, Velmond is suspect no. 1.
A chance meeting with his friend Justin Rutherford has Velmond requesting his assistance to help clear his name.
The Honorable Justin is rather an interesting character. I do like his humor and his self deprecating manner. He's just so very British. As his godmother, Lady Quainton describes him, he's a scholar who "every now and then feels an urge to take himself out of his books and plunge into some adventure or other ... he acted as an intelligence officer for Wellington during the Peninsular campaign ... [and seems to suffer] from a consuming curiosity which now and then breaks out in unexpected directions."
Justin undertakes to see what he can discover for Velmond, helped of by the irrepressible niece Anthea, his godmother Lady Quainton, and as it turns out his contacts with the Bow Street Runners.
What Justin uncovers is so much more than expected, and that ripple keeps enlarging.
First published in 1984, this ebook edition brings a well loved author's works back into the spotlight. I quite enjoyed Richard Ley's Afterward where he talks about his "mum" the writer (1913-2004).
A rather elegant and clean period mystery with two delightful leading characters. There's currently no romance that I could detect but who knows what the future holds?
A Sapere Books ARC via NetGalley
****
by Alice Chetwynd Ley
A spiteful ton member, Mr Marmaduke Yarnton , of the mellifluous voice (I love that!), who holds his place with gossip, innuendo and malicious hints, has, it seems has finally gone too far. He is found strangled at the fashionable Lady Windlesham's soirée. Admittedly, the Lady wanted her event to be of note, but not quite in this tenor.
The thing is just before he is found dead, the newlywed Lord Velmond had taken exception to some of Yarnton's baiting and threatened him. Ergo, Velmond is suspect no. 1.
A chance meeting with his friend Justin Rutherford has Velmond requesting his assistance to help clear his name.
The Honorable Justin is rather an interesting character. I do like his humor and his self deprecating manner. He's just so very British. As his godmother, Lady Quainton describes him, he's a scholar who "every now and then feels an urge to take himself out of his books and plunge into some adventure or other ... he acted as an intelligence officer for Wellington during the Peninsular campaign ... [and seems to suffer] from a consuming curiosity which now and then breaks out in unexpected directions."
Justin undertakes to see what he can discover for Velmond, helped of by the irrepressible niece Anthea, his godmother Lady Quainton, and as it turns out his contacts with the Bow Street Runners.
What Justin uncovers is so much more than expected, and that ripple keeps enlarging.
First published in 1984, this ebook edition brings a well loved author's works back into the spotlight. I quite enjoyed Richard Ley's Afterward where he talks about his "mum" the writer (1913-2004).
A rather elegant and clean period mystery with two delightful leading characters. There's currently no romance that I could detect but who knows what the future holds?
A Sapere Books ARC via NetGalley
****
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