Death at the Emerald

October 1, 2017

Private enquiry agent Lady Frances Ffolkes receives a commission from the elderly mother of a beautiful actress named Helen who disappeared 30 years ago. With the assistance of her trustworthy maid, Mallow, Lady Frances plunges into the Edwardian theater world to find Helen. But someone doesn't want Helen found, as connections to a buried past begin to emerge and one of Helen's old suitors is murdered at the Emerald Theater. Lady Frances and Mallow must upstage a murderer and close the curtain on past conspiracies. Suffragette and bicycle enthusiast Lady Frances is a strong, unconventional female lead, depicted with verve and vigor, and her relationship with Mallow is distinct and remarkable for the period. Koreto also does an excellent job in capturing the mannerisms and social structure of 1906 England. VERDICT Lady Frances's engaging third case (after Death Among Rubies) is a good bet for fans of Rhys Bowen and Kate Saunders and for lovers of Downton Abbey.--ACT

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September 18, 2017
In Koreto’s unremarkable third Edwardian mystery featuring suffragist Lady Frances Ffolkes (after 2016’s Death Among Rubies), Lady Beatrice Torrence, who knew Frances’s late parents, learns that Frances has gained a reputation as a private detective and decides to ask for help locating her missing daughter, Louisa. In 1875, Louisa, then 20, fell in love with the life of the theater, which led her father to plan to ship her off to India to find a husband among the British officers stationed there. Instead, Louisa ran away from home, leaving only a note stating that she would pursue a career on the stage. More than three decades later, Lady Beatrice implores Frances to find out what happened to Louisa, and Frances, aided by her laconic maid, Mallow, tries to pick up the cold trail. Such a plot choice instantly makes the prospect of a successful resolution improbable, and Koreto fails to rise to challenge. In addition, Frances is more a type than a fully realized character. Agent: Cynthia Zigmund, Second City Publishing Services.

September 1, 2017
A noblewoman and sometime sleuth helps a distraught mother learn the truth about her beloved daughter, who vanished back in 1875.When elderly Lady Beatrice Torrence learns about "the practically notorious" Lady Frances Ffolkes, she sends the emancipated private detective (Death Among Rubies, 2016, etc.) a note and later implores Frances' help in learning the fate of her daughter, Louisa, a rising theatrical actress who disappeared without a trace 30 years ago. Genuinely intrigued, albeit surprised, by the offer, Frances sets to work almost immediately. She starts with the Green Players, the company Louisa was working with at the time of her death. Coincidentally, they are about to produce the same play, Romeo and Juliet, that was in rehearsal when Louisa disappeared. Shortly after Frances questions the Players' stage manager, Mr. Mattins, he's stabbed to death in the street. In response to further inquiries, Frances learns that Louisa had changed her name to Helen and, according to chatty Rev. Halliday, was widowed when her husband was fatally stabbed during a robbery. The killer was never found. Frances, certain that the death of Louisa/Helen's husband is no coincidence, soon finds that her conviction is leading her along a perilous path. Frances and her faithful maid, Mallow, find Helen's grave marked with a puzzling epitaph: "God Has Heard." She recommends an exhumation to Lady Torrence, who complies. The result profoundly changes the complexion of the investigation yet again.Koreto's third period mystery, beautifully appointed and written with measured authority, reads uncannily like a reprinting of an authentic novel from the early 20th century.

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