The Right Sort of Man

Starred review from April 22, 2019
Set in 1946 London, Montclair’s stellar debut and series launch introduces an unlikely pair of detectives. Gwen Bainbridge, whose husband died during WWII, lives with her late husband’s parents, who managed to get legal custody of her six-year-old son, Ronnie. Gwen and Iris Sparks, a former operative for British intelligence, run the Right Sort Marriage Bureau. Their innocuous business becomes less so after client Tillie La Salle is stabbed to death shortly after her particulars were provided to Dickie Trower, a shy accountant. Dickie is charged with Tillie’s murder, his purported motive anger over the cancellation of their first date. Convinced that the wrong person is behind bars and facing intensely negative press, Gwen and Iris investigate Tillie’s death. They soon find plausible alternative motives, including fallout from the dead woman’s involvement in the black market and a former beau’s jealousy. Both leads are complex, well-developed characters, whose penchant for humorous byplay never comes at the expense of the plot, which resolves itself in a clever fair play reveal. Fans of Maisie Dobbs and Bess Crawford will be delighted.

Narrator Sarah Nichols immerses listeners in London in the year 1946, a post-WWII world of rationing that creates daily challenges faced by both ex-soldiers and civilians. Gwen Bainbridge and Iris Sparks are the owners of The Right Sort Marriage Bureau. When they learn that one of their clients, Dickie Trower, has been arrested for murdering the woman they matched him with, they decide to go undercover to prove his innocence. Nichols effortlessly shifts her accents to fit the personas adopted by the women. Listeners will enjoy the detailed depiction of a nation recovering from war. V.M.G. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine