Mostly Murders

Ad/PR. Many thanks to Bold Strokes Books, Inc. and NetGalley for this ebook.

Some silently rejoiced that he was gone, while others weren’t exactly silent about it.

When Sir Roderick and Lady Olivia Endicott invited a group of guests to spend the weekend at their Chatterfield Park home, they didn’t expect the dinner party to end with the death of one of their guests. And Professor Liam Cuthbert, Lady Olivia’s brother, didn’t expect his new friend and lodger, the handsome young Bruce Babcock, to be the prime suspect.

A Death After Dinner is a historical mystery set in England in 1951, blending a Golden Age feel with modern sensibilities concerning gender, sexuality and class. I love Golden Age settings and classic crime novels, but I dislike the stifling constraints and prejudices that were prevalent in the past. In A Death After Dinner, you get all the fun of the Golden Age house parties turned murder mysteries, but none of the casual discrimination and judgement of foreigners, homosexuality or women’s abilities to be more than just a complement to their husbands.

And if you ever found Golden Age mysteries to be a bit too polite and polished, you will enjoy how the guests at Chatterfield tear into each other right from page 1, airing their bitter grievances and disagreements with no regard for propriety.

Professor Liam Cuthbert, the book’s protagonist, is suave, worldly and observant, making for a convincing amateur sleuth. The murder victim is utterly despicable, and it is obvious right from the beginning that pretty much everyone in the house has something to hide.

I really enjoyed the mix of old and new in this mystery, paired with the dry wit, cutthroat tension, and historical details, this made for a highly entertaining and satisfying read.

Historical mystery