Mary Winters

Murder in Masquerade is the second book in the A Lady Of Letters Mystery series by Mary Winters.

Widowed two years ago, Lady Amelia pens an advice column as Lady Agony in a penny weekly. Also living in Lady Amelia’s home is her Aunt Tabitha and Lady Amelia’s late husband’s niece, 11-year-old Winifred.

Amelia and her handsome neighbor, Lord Simon Bainbridge, will attend the opera. Simon is attending the opera to keep an eye on his sister, Marielle, who has been stepping out with George Davies. Davies is a former horse trainer for the Bainbridge family. Simon has recently learned that Davies wants Marielle to run off to Gretna Green and get married. Simon considers Davies a no-good gambler and social climber. When the opera ends, Simon notices that Davies has left and Marielle is still in Lord Burton’s box. He and Amelia collect Marielle and head for the carriage to return home. As they near the carriage, they see a disturbance in a nearby narrow alley. As they enter the alley, they find that Davies has been stabbed in the chest and is dead. They do find a large amount of cash on Davies. The question in their minds is whether it was a robbery gone wrong or a case of outright murder.

This book is an excellent start to an enjoyable new series. I particularly liked the letters to Lady Agony and also her replies. The story was well-written and plotted. I enjoyed the characters and thought they were well-developed and very believable.

I’m looking forward to the next book for more letters to Lady Agony and seeing if there will be a romantic connection between Amelia and Simon.… (more)

This is the second book in the Lady of Letters cozy mystery series. It takes place in London in 1860. Amelia Amesbury is the widowed Countess of a man who died two years earlier of a degenerative disease. She filled the boring time of her mourning by writing an advice column in a penny paper. Each chapter begins with one of the letters and her answer.

The problem in this episode concerns the younger sister of her friend Simon Bainbridge who is being courted by an unsuitable man. Her brother wants to break up the relationship before George Davies, a social-climbing stable master, convinces his sister Marielle to flee to Gretna Green with him.

However, before he can convince her, someone solves the problem by stabbing Davies to death with a distinctive knife. Simon and Amelia are on the case to discover who killed Davies even though Simon thinks the death was helpful to him.

As the two track down various clues, Amelia begins to see Simon as something more than just a man who was a friend to her when her husband died. And he seems to return her regard.

This was just an okay historical mystery/romance for me. I didn't get any sense of the time period except for throwing in a few clothing descriptions. I had trouble believing that Amelia who is the daughter of rural innkeepers would ever have been allowed to marry a peer of the realm. And, having married him, I can't see her being accepted into high society as she seems to have done. I thought she seemed too modern in her outlook and actions for the time period. Many of the other characters were also unrealistic including an opera performer who is also a Lady and a street flower vender who is able to plan high class social events. It seems the author paid little attention to the rigid class system of the day.

The mystery was entertaining and the motive for the crime believable if one allows for a villain who is obsessed.… (more)

Thank you Penguin Random House for the ARC in exchange for review consideration.

Second in the cute "Lady of Letters" mystery series set in Victorian London, MURDER IN MASQUERADE by Mary Winters features bold, funny Agony Aunt letters and a diverting romance with a devastatingly handsome Marquis. The witty dialogue is half the entertainment. The main character, Amelia, challenges Victorian conventions about women just enough to not strain credibility (and makes the reader cheer, and imagine Amelia's fictional progressive newspaper readership cheer as well). After all, Amelia is anonymous and sometimes she does get angry letters.

Recommended for fun light reading if you love Georgette Heyer or the earlier work of M. C. Beaton (writing as Marian Chesney).… (more)