Murder at Marble House

August 18, 2014
Emma Cross, a shirttail relative of the Vanderbilts, finds herself at the center of a potential scandal in this solid follow-up to Maxwell’s Murder at the Breakers. When Emma’s beautiful 18-year-old cousin, Consuelo Vanderbilt, disappears immediately after a murder at Marble House, one of the summer “cottages” of the super-rich in Newport, R.I., Consuelo’s domineering mother, Alva, presses Emma to find her before the Duke of Marlborough arrives to ask for Consuelo’s hand in marriage. Did Consuelo run off willingly? Or was she kidnapped? Either way, Emma is pledged to secrecy and has little to go on as her search for answers leads her far from the comforts of upper-class Newport into increasingly dangerous places. The arrest of a Vanderbilt servant doesn’t stop the murders in a mystery whose secrets may be too big to hide. Maxwell again deftly weaves fictional and real-life characters into her story. Agent: Evan Marshall, Evan Marshall Agency.

October 1, 2014
A society reporter in 1895 Newport, Rhode Island, tries for a news byline by investigating the death of a medium. Minutes after rejecting a proposal from handsome, wealthy Derrick Andrews for fear that his great fortune will dampen her drive to pursue a career of her own, Emmaline Cross (Murder at the Breakers, 2014) is summoned to palatial Marble House, where her cousin Consuelo is being kept a virtual prisoner by her mother. Alva Vanderbilt is beside herself because her daughter plans to throw over Charles Richard John Spencer-Churchill, ninth Duke of Marlborough, to marry Winthrop Rutherfurd, a New York gentleman of relatively modest means. To help persuade her daughter to make a better choice, Alva plans a seance with medium Eleanora Devereaux, to be attended by Alva's suffragist friends Edwina and Roberta Spooner, Hope Stanford and Lady Amelia Beaumont. But before she can summon a single spirit, Eleanora is strangled with one of Lady Amelia's scarves, and Consuelo disappears. Clara, a housemaid, is arrested for the murder, but Emma just knows she can't be guilty, so she appeals to her alternate suitor, Detective Jesse Whyte. Meanwhile, she extracts a promise from her editor at the Newport Observer that if she solves the crime, he'll make sure the print credit goes to Emma rather than her rival, Ed Billings. With the police stymied, Emma forges ahead on her own-or not quite on her own, since Derrick can't bear to see her place herself in danger yet again without the help and guidance of a proper gentleman with proper muscles. Although it packs a heavy dose of romance, Maxwell's second entry has a creditable mystery, solved by a female detective who's likable in spite of her formulaic grit and determination.

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September 1, 2014

Although Emmaline Cross is related to the wealthy Vanderbilts, she is fiercely independent and earns her keep by writing a society column for the local newspaper in Newport, RI. In Emma's second adventure (after Murder at the Breakers), she has been called to her cousin Consuelo's house where Alva has browbeaten her daughter into an engagement with the ninth Duke of Marlborough. Emma does her best to persuade Consuelo to accept the arrangement even though she secretly agrees it is not a promising match. When Madame Devereaux, a fortune teller invited to the tea party to celebrate the betrothal, has the bad taste to be murdered in the tea pavilion, Emma knows something is rotten in the Vanderbilt estate. When one of the maids is accused of the crime and Consuelo disappears, Emma must investigate before Consuelo's reputation is tarnished and the duke backs out of the marriage. Aided by her friend Jesse Whyte, now a police detective, and her pal, Derrick Andrews, Emma puts herself in danger to save those close to her. VERDICT In Maxwell's delightful sophomore effort, she offers wonderful details about the Gilded Age and the high society that inhabited the mammoth summer cottages along the Rhode Island shore. Fans of Victoria Thompson or Deanna Raybourn are sure to enjoy dipping into this historical series.

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