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It’s the morning of the annual summer ball at the Iyntwood estate. Last-minute preparations have the household of Lord and Lady Montfort bustling about. But there is no preparing for what unfolds once the party has ended.
One of the guests, Lord Montfort’s nephew, Teddy Mallory, has been found gruesomely murdered down the lane in Crow Wood. Colonel Valentine, the chief constable for the county town of Market Wingley and its surrounding towns and villages, arrives and quickly begins his inquiries into what has occurred.
It will not be an easy crime to solve. Teddy Mallory was most unscrupulous and dishonorable. A thief, a blackmailer, a bully … and disliked by all. Well, except for Mr. Oscar, one of the family’s friends since childhood, who might have held him in a bit too high regard. Many of the guests at Lady Montfort’s ball had much they were hiding, but who was desperate enough to kill? Are the unexplained disappearances of a young woman of privilege and a serving girl connected to the crime? And who was the stranger seen lurking in the village?
Written atop an undercurrent of social change in British life, this novel centers around a man’s death, but it is essentially about two women, Clementine Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Montfort, and her reliable housekeeper, Mrs. Jackson. Despite their difference in class, these women join forces to solve a crime that traditional detective work won’t be able to accomplish.
This first novel by Tessa Arlen was a thoroughly enjoyable read full of interesting characters and mysterious shifts.
Rated: Mild. There was a brief, disconcerting description of the murdered body, and the inclusion of rape (undetailed) as a motive.
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