Mostly Murders

This book is for Florence Nightingale Shore and all war nurses, then and now, around the world.

Book 1 in the Mitford Murders Series. Inspired by the real, unsolved murder of war nurse Florence Nightingale Shore and the real Mitford family, The Mitford Murders is a fictional historical mystery featuring the fictional character of Louisa Cannon who becomes a nursery maid for the Mitford family.

Louisa Cannon is eighteen years old, penniless and desperate to escape her criminal and violent uncle. Guy Sullivan is on the railway police force, suffering under the stigma of not having served in World War I, as he was rejected for military service due to poor eyesight. When the police dismiss the case of Florence Nightingale Shore as a random robbery gone wrong, Louisa and Guy end up investigating the case on their own, Louisa due to her connection with the Mitford family and Guy due to his position on the railway police force.

The Mitford Murders is an engaging, atmospheric, historical mystery, set in a country that is both struggling to escape the dark shadows of the war, and eager to jump into the bright new age of the jazzy 20s. Despite the title, this isn’t a story about the Mitford family. This is a story about Louisa Cannon, a young working class woman who becomes a part of the Mitford household and a part of a murder mystery. Nancy is an important side character, but she is not the main protagonist, and the rest of the Mitford family are only mentioned in brief.

This also isn’t the story of what happened to Florence Nightingale Shore, it is the story of what might have happened, one possible solution to a mystery that is still, to this day, unsolved, and probably always will be. It is also a story of the horrors of war, and the scars and trauma left behind by World War I, both for the people who served and those who didn’t. And it is the story of the daughter of a washerwoman working hard to make a life for herself and find happiness far away from the slums of London.

Historical mystery