Alyssa Maxwell

Whether Alyssa Maxwell is writing an installment in her Gilded Newport Mysteries or her Lady and Lady’s Maid Mysteries, you can always depend that she is going to be true to the era, the dialogue and the moral dilemmas in which she casts her characters. She is a master of the genre and it is always a pleasure to be swept away in one of her beautifully descriptive and often hilarious murder mysteries.

I found it interesting that Maxwell took on the persona of Coco Chanel and while mildly show more tarnishing someone who deserved much harsher treatment her point came through. Revealed as a “self-absorbed shrew” who was capable of prevaricating anything and everything to achieve her purposes, she served as a competent foil for the purposes of this mystery.

It was heartening that Lady Phoebe’s maid Eva was given a louder and stronger voice in this installment. Always a steadying influence she is also shown to be a deep thinker and puzzle master. Not to minimize this well thought out and intricate murder mystery, due to Maxwell’s skillful depiction, I realized that I enjoyed the characters and their interactions as much as if not more than the plot. The Author’s Note was enlightening and while I brought substantial knowledge about Chanel the woman to this reading, I would have liked to have had the information in the Note before reading this book.

Thank you Kensington Publishing and NetGalley for this copy. show less

What a delightful start to the Newport Mystery series this book was. Although, I have to confess, it was not my first foray into this series having started with the eleventh installment. I enjoyed reading that one so much that I had to go back to the beginning of the series and try and get caught up. I certainly was not disappointed.

This first book in series introduces us to Emmaline Cross, Emma to all her friends, who is a bright and fiercely independent female news reporter. She is a poor show more cousin to THE Vanderbilts, who make their summer home at the Breakers in Newport, Rhode Island - a sumptuous summer "cottage" - (rather like a grand palace). Emma's been invited up to the Breakers for her cousin Gertrude's coming out party and to see the newly rebuilt summer "cottage". The event is in full swing and Emma steps out onto the lawn for a breath of fresh air at perhaps not the most auspicious moment. She notices movement up on a balcony and suddenly a body is hurled over the railing and lands on the lawn. She runs into the party looking for help and then runs upstairs to make sense of the event. She encounters her half-brother Brady, knocked out cold. He is taken into custody upon discovery as all circumstantial evidence points his way. Emma knows that there is no way he could be a murderer and is committed to getting to the bottom of it.

Ms. Maxwell has deftly crafted a well written and thoroughly engaging story. Her characters are well developed and the settings are spectacular and cinematic in their portrayal. The descriptions of the lavish homes make this reader long for another visit to The Breakers; to revel in the opulence of a bygone era. Emma is the personification of the modern woman. She's related to the Vanderbilts and yet is not a stranger to the working class. She manages well between both worlds and has heart for the working poor.

Publisher: Kensington Books
Publication Date: March 25, 2014
ISBN: 978-0758290823
No. of pages: 304 show less

What a delicious introduction to the Gilded Newport Mystery series. How ever did I not know about this series with all of its lavish homes along the sea?! I certainly have some catching up to do.

Emmaline Cross, Emma to all her friends, is a bright and fiercely independent female news reporter. She has just returned from her honeymoon abroad with her husband Derrick Andrews. Emma and Derrick own the Newport Messenger newspaper for which she writes. Emma's been given a tip about a kerfuffle show more below stairs at the relatively new Berwind estate. The staff (except for one) are set to strike for better working conditions. Things did not go according to plan and the staff are summarily dismissed and immediately replaced. Shortly thereafter, Emma and Derrick are invited to the Berwinds' Musicale - featuring a British chamber ensemble in celebration of the Berwinds' new fully electrified home. All is going relatively to plan until a body is discovered at the bottom of the coal delivery tunnel. Coincidentally, a lavish and priceless necklace appears to have been stolen. Could the two crimes be related? Police detective, Jesse Whyte, and longtime friend of Emma's family, asks for Emma's and Derrick's assistance as they are more likely to hear and see things within the posh crowd to which he would not be privy. And so the investigation commences.

Ms. Maxwell has deftly crafted a well written and thoroughly engaging story. Her characters are well developed and the settings are spectacular and cinematic in their description. The descriptions of the lavish homes make this reader long for another visit to The Breakers; to revel in the opulence of a bygone era. Emma is the personification of the modern woman. She's related to the Vanderbilt's and yet is not a stranger to the working class. She manages well between both worlds and has heart for the working poor. As we observe her husband comfortably working alongside her, he too is a modern man - accepting of his amazing and plucky wife and all that she is.

I am grateful to #Kensington Books for having provided a complimentary copy of this book through #NetGalley. Their generosity, however, has not influenced this review - the words of which are mine alone.

Publisher: Kensington Books
Publication Date: August 22, 2023
ISBN: 978-1496736208
No. of pages: 304 show less

Swept back in time to the the bucolic and scenic Cotswolds in May, 1921 prepare to become reacquainted with Phoebe Renshaw of Foxwood Hall and her Lady’s maid Eva Huntford. If you have not have the pleasure of reading any of the previous installments of this series “A Lady & Lady’s Maid Mystery”, no matter as #7 doesn’t require reading the previous installments (although you have missed out on a lot of fun). Phoebe, ever pushing the boundaries of defined social class constraints, show more is about to discover just how quickly good intentions can lead to inexplicable and horrible results. And we are off - Foxwoods Hall is about to be open to house tours. With the best intentions to raise much needed funds for tenant repairs and to bring a new influx of visitors to Little Barlow this seemed a meritorious compromise. The result is going to give added weight and dimension to that old adage “No good deed goes unpunished.”

The trial tour is comprised of a dozen school children with their teacher who are exempt from the tour charge and eight members of the Greater Gloucestershire Historical Society who are the paying guests, each with their own prying agenda and secrets. In the blink of an eye the children have gone hither and yon and a few are missing. Another blink or the eye and the paying guests are snooping in places that are completely off limits and a head count shows adult members are missing as well. Something has gone very wrong and the next visitor to Foxwood Hall is Chief Inspector Perkins. Now the fun really begins with so many twists and turns, red herrings, warnings and bumps in the night.

Alyssa Maxwell handles everything so well - the period, the setting, the characters, the dialogue, the internal asides, the murder, the mystery, the romances. She is a skilled writer who is a master of this genre. As long as she is writing I am reading.

So many thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for a copy. show less