Nobody's Sweetheart Now

September 3, 2018
Set in England in 1924, this promising series launch from romance writer Robinson (the Ladies Unlaced series) introduces Lady Adelaide, the recent widow of Maj. Rupert Compton. Theirs “was not a happy union, and there was no one in Britain more relieved than Addie when Rupert smashed up his Hispano-Suiza on a quiet Cotswold country road with Mademoiselle Claudette Labelle in the passenger seat.” Six months after the funeral, Addie is preparing for a dinner party at her country house, Compton Chase, when Rupert’s ghost appears in her dressing room, offering unasked-for criticism about her dress: “far too flimsy and sheer and short.” It seems that Rupert must do some good deeds in order to be allowed into heaven. How he will do this is a mystery to them both. Addie joins her guests downstairs, but the dinner is interrupted when a dead—and nude—body is found in her barn. Insp. Devenand Hunter investigates, aided by Addie and the meddlesome spirit of her dead husband. Suspects abound among her guests. This paranormal cozy is light, frothy fun.

October 1, 2018
This debut cozy (first in a projected series) centers on a dinner-party murder in 1924 at a country house in the Cotswolds. The dinner is hosted by a very merry widow, Lady Adelaide Compton?merry because her late husband, Rupert, who distinguished himself at the Battle of the Somme but was a philanderer and spoiler of Adelaide's fortune, has just recently died in a car crash. Rupert reappears, just before the dinner party, as a ghost, announcing that he's been assigned three good deeds before his release. That evening, during the party, the naked body of the ex-wife of one of the dinner guests is discovered in a barn on the estate. Wonderful comedy here about Adelaide's confused mental state and her conflicted feelings over Rupert's return. The plot percolates along in steady cozy fashion, with an Anglo-Indian inspector from Scotland Yard offering his wry point of view as he interviews each of the dinner guests. What doesn't work so well is the tone, which is relentlessly and sometimes oddly blithe, making the wit often seem forced. A bit wobbly but still fun.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)