Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsRed Head and green eyes, bound to be trouble
Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2020
Lady Eleanor is drawn to trouble like a moth to a flame. She does not believe she is as good as any man she knows darn well she is head and above, especially the local police. Perhaps not the best attitude for a young lady in the 1920s specially one who leaps first without thinking of the consequences.
Luckily for her in comes Clifford her uncle’s butler and long-suffering sidekick who does his best to restrain her worst flights of fancy and plays Watson to her Sherlock Holmes. How they come to bridge the class barrier and depend on and trust each other absolutely is one of the things which humanizes this book so much and lifts it from being just another crime book however good they are. The story is full of such instances - people before titles.
As to the murders, well I hate to give plots away but I can mention that all is not what it seems. Did the victim disturb a burglar at the safe, was the burglary really a burglary or was the victim the target all along? This all happens right at the beginning and the main suspect is a young man for whom Lady Eleanor is developing feelings.
Add beautiful country houses, fabulous interiors lovingly described, mad bright young things (with their own secrets) including a foreign prince (who turns out not to be what Lady Eleanor expects),
louche night clubs, and cocktail shakers hurtling from one car to another during one of their treasure hunts and the pace certainly hots up.
And the food. Lady Eleanor adores her food and so much research must have gone into such a simple thing. Crumpets with eggs and ham or homemade jam, mouth-watering little sandwiches on silver platters, sherbet drops and pheasant pie (yes, well not together) and always lurking nearby is Gladstone the bulldog waiting to hoover up any stray crumbs and a joy in himself. All in all great fun and well worth five stars. I am really looking forward to getting the third book. I do love series where you end up feeling you really know the people and there has been time for the Authors to really develop the characters.
