A Death by Any Other Name

January 2, 2017
Arlen recreates a richly detailed pre-WWI England, seamlessly weaving historical events and people into her well-written third Lady Montford mystery (after 2016’s Death Sits Down to Dinner). Beryl Armitage, a cook who was dismissed for accidentally fatally poisoning one of her employer’s guests at Hyde Castle, begs Clementine Talbot, Countess of Montford, to help clear her name. The countess and her redoubtable housekeeper, Edith Jackson, visit the scene of the crime, where they meet the members of the Hyde Rose Society, including Maud Haldane, the browbeaten wife of the master of Hyde Castle; the poisoning victim’s bereft widow; and a fussy Scotsman with a sixth sense. Mrs. Jackson, a talented but reluctant investigator, is uncomfortable crossing the strict class barriers of the day. But she’s fiercely loyal to Lady Montford—and enjoys sleuthing more than she will admit. Lovers of traditional English country house mysteries will enjoy this story very much. Agent: Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.

February 1, 2017
A compassionate countess and her levelheaded housekeeper brave the thorns among the roses at a horticultural house party.Edith Jackson, housekeeper for the Earl and Countess of Montfort, reluctantly gives an audience to Mrs. Armitage, a distraught cook who got the sack from nearby Hyde Castle because houseguest Rupert Bartholomew died of food poisoning after a hearty second helping of her kedgeree five months earlier. Unless Jackson and Lady Montfort can help Mrs. Armitage clear her name, she faces an impoverished old age. Despite Jackson's misgivings, Lady Montfort takes pity on Mrs. Armitage and arranges to visit Hyde Castle with Jackson masquerading as her companion and with some assistance from renowned real-life botanist Gertrude Jekyll. When Miss Jekyll offers to judge the Hyde Rose Society's individual breeds of roses, Lady Montfort and Jackson find out how competitive the rosarians are, and not just about their hybrid teas. Their host, Roger Haldane, made a fortune in tinned beef stew; on the eve of the Great War, his hopes for a government contract have been much improved by the demise of his erstwhile rival Bartholomew. Haldane is a jealous and overbearing husband as well, and Lady Montfort's first choice for the murderer of the notoriously womanizing Bartholomew. But Jackson is more objective, willing to cast a cold eye over a guest list that includes another possessive husband, his determined flirt of a wife, the dead man's widow, and an elderly hypochondriac who claims he can communicate with the dead. An orangery obligingly yields the two amateur sleuths a clue, and a list of poisonous plants conveniently falls into Jackson's hands. With the help of a landscaper for whom Jackson has tender but secret feelings, a botanical fraud and a seance rout the killer. Arlen (Death Sits down to Dinner, 2016, etc.) follows up on her two previous Downton Abbey-era tales with the requisite stately mansion and quirky dramatis personae, although this third entry feels more labored than cozy.

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February 1, 2017

On the eve of World War I in England, roses are the name of the game, rather than the rising tension in Prussia, in Arlen's third Lady Montfort outing (after Death Sits Down to Dinner). Along with her stalwart cook sidekick, Mrs. Jackson, Lady Montfort once again puts her detecting skills to use to solve the poisoning death of a member of the local amateur rose breeders society.

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