Mostly Murders

Half of Bloomsbury had reason for wishing Betty Norris dead.

Book 1 in the 1920s Murder Mystery series. Marjorie Swallow is the newly employed secretary to Mrs Jameson, an American lady detective who has settled down in London, where she plans to open her own detective agency. When Marjorie and Mrs Jameson attend a seemingly innocent dinner party in Bloomsbury, the two of them end up entangled in a murder case involving blackmail, bohemian artists, actors, nobility and shady Soho locales.

Blackmail In Bloomsbury is set in the 1920s, but Marjorie is no carefree flapper or frivolous bright young thing, but rather a serious and hardworking young woman, who is intent on proving her worth to her employer and the world in general. Early in the novel she describes herself as the hapless Watson to Mrs Jamesons’ Holmes, but in reality Marjorie ends up being quite the sleuth herself.

I enjoyed Marjorie’s point of view throughout the novel, she is serious but not boring, proper but not prim and extremely competent and self-reliant, perhaps partially due to her background as a voluntary nurse during the First World War.

Recommended for readers who enjoy historical mysteries with a Golden Age feel, rich atmosphere, subtle humour, and a Holmesian touch with a narrator who is an assistant to an enigmatic detective.

I love stories set in the 1920s and Victorian-era novels. Do you have a favourite time period to read about?

Historical mystery – Cozy mystery