Behind the Shattered Glass

August 26, 2013
In Alexander’s entertaining eighth Victorian mystery (after 2012’s Death in the Floating City), the recent birth of twin sons keeps amateur sleuth Lady Emily and her husband, intelligence agent Colin Hargreaves, at Anglemore, the Hargreaves Peak District estate, where the dramatic appearance of the mortally wounded Lord Montagu, their nearest neighbor, soon leads to a murder investigation. One suspect is the victim’s cousin Matilda, who loves Montagu Manor fiercely and hopes to inherit it, but the many women the peer has seduced or compromised have reason to wish him dead as well. Emily’s narrative alternates with a chronicle of life below stairs at Anglemore, where the servants hold valuable clues. Though some elements of a romance between a titled guest and housemaid feel implausible for the era, readers will relish Alexander’s lyrical evocation of British landscapes and her gift for crafting engaging characters. Boisterous adventurer Rodney Scolfield and Emily’s hidebound mother, Lady Bromley, are especially amusing. Agent: Anne Hawkins, John Hawkins & Associates.

September 15, 2013
Nothing lowers the atmosphere of a country estate more than a corpse on the library floor. Fortunately, no one can solve the murder more graciously and expeditiously than Lady Emily Hargreaves in this frothy Victorian whodunit. When Archibald Scolfield, the Marquess of Montagu, staggers into the Hargreaves' ancestral home and falls dead on the Axminster carpet, Lady Emily is reluctant to consider the most obvious suspect: his cousin and her neighbor, Matilda. Archibald's death means that Matilda will become a marchioness in her own right--until a long-lost heir conveniently arrives to claim the title. In the course of their decorous probing, Lady Emily and her husband, Colin, discover that Archie was not quite as noble as his lineage would suggest, and the list of suspects grows accordingly. A subplot about illegitimacy and downstairs intrigues involving the housemaid, Lily; a vindictive kitchen maid; and Simon, Earl Flyte, further confounds the Hargreaves, who have to contend with a gaggle of suspects until they realize where they should have been looking all along. The cigar-smoking, Homer-quoting Lady Emily, who's meant to be a liberal-minded renegade in a Worth gown, is jarringly misplaced in her century, and it's especially disappointing that she uses her wealth and influence to steer events toward not one but two improbable outcomes. Alexander brings back her husband-and-wife detective team (Death in the Floating City, 2012, etc.) in a tale most likely to appeal to readers who like a little naughty homicide blended into their cozy period romance.

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October 1, 2013

Lady Emily Hargreave, recently home from solving Venetian crimes in last year's Death in the Floating City, finds scandal on her own doorstep when a neighboring lord staggers into her dinner party and dies. As she and her husband, Lord Colin, investigate, both their neighbors and their servants fall suspect. Looking into the victim's past, Lady Emily discovers that the Marquess of Montagu had a long history of trifling with the ladies, many of whom had motive to kill. Visiting Lord Flyte adds further complication when he falls in love and announces his intentions to court a local servant. The drama intensifies as Lady Emily uncovers secrets that affect the fortunes, careers, and reputations of members of Lord Montagu's household and her own. VERDICT Fans will enjoy the series return to Anglemore Park and its cast of characters. Newcomers will relish the upstairs-downstairs plotlines and Lady Emily's particular talent at interrogation.--Catherine Lantz, Morton Coll. Lib., Cicero, IL

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2013
Lady Emily Hargreave's latest case presents itself, literally, on her doorstep with the abrupt collapse of handsome Archibald Scolfield, her newest neighbor and latest in a line of victims who have no sense of decorum at all. Scolfield arrived to claim his inheritance as the new marquess of Montagu, and his demise in this isolated location is extremely awkward. Lady Emily, whose intrepid personality rivals Elizabeth Peters' fearless Amelia Peabody, chooses at once to investigate Scolfield's new household and, surprisingly, when clues lead her there, to grill her own house staff. In the meantime, she ingeniously solves multiple difficulties for her mother (in residence), her maid (in love), and her friend Matilda (possibly in a great deal of trouble) while maintaining familial equilibrium and marital congeniality with Colin, her admittedly crotchety mate and lord of the manor. This delightful addition to Alexander's Victorian series, with its requisite cast of aristocrats, locals, and disgruntled staff, is an eminently readable romantic puzzler reminiscent of Deanna Raybourn's Lady Julia Grey novels and the mysteries of Georgette Heyer.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)