The Gilded Shroud

Ottilia Draycott has just accepted a position as companion to the Dowager Lady Polbrook, expecting nothing more adventurous than a change of scenery after her former position as governess to her two young nephews. But on her very first day at her new post, the current Lady Polbrook (the dowager's daughter-in-law) is found dead in her room, having been strangled sometime during the night. The household immediately falls into a panic, especially when it becomes evident that the master of the house has disappeared. Ottilia knows that suspicion is bound to fall on Randal Polbrook; no one knows where he has gone or why, and it's common knowledge that he and his wife were estranged. But Ottilia, after examining the scene of the crime, show more believes the late Lady Polbrook was entertaining a lover on the night she died. She shares her suspicions with the dowager and with Lord Francis Fanshawe, the younger brother of the absent marquis. Together, they try to discover the lover's identity and clear Randal's name, while minimizing the scandal as much as possible. Meanwhile, the pragmatic, clear-headed Ottilia finds her objectivity compromised as she grows closer to Lord Francis.

I love a good historical mystery, and this book is a very solid member of the genre. Ottilia (despite her ridiculous name) is a very likable heroine, with a keen intelligence and a mischievous sense of humor. The other major players are also interesting, from the sharp-tongued but kindly dowager to the handsome Lord Francis. At times I felt that the characters were essentially copied from Georgette Heyer, but since I'm a big Heyer fan, I didn't mind too much! And one big difference between this book and Heyer's novels is that here, the servants aren't just window dressing; they actually have some relevance to the plot. The mystery is well done, although I was able to guess the culprit before the solution was revealed in the book. I also liked the writing style, which seemed appropriate to the time period but was still fairly easy to understand. Oddly enough, my least favorite part of this book was the romance, which just seemed a bit stilted. Overall, I liked this book and will certainly read the sequel at some point, but I didn't *love* it in the same way I love Kate Ross's books, for example. show less

Series: A Lady Fan Mystery #1
Publication Date: September 6th, 2011 by Berkley Trade (first published January 10th, 1992)
Number of Pages: 368
2.5 Stars rounded up to 3

I loved the synopsis of this book when I read it and immediately purchased it. I loved the mystery itself, but the rest seemed more like a script for an over-the-top stage play with cardboard characters than it did anything representing real life. The relationships and conversations between servants and upper classes were so far off base that it was more fantasy than reality. Then – the view of the Bow Street Runners – absolutely ridiculous. In that period Bow Street couldn’t touch the peerage in any way, shape or form – they couldn’t even enter through the front show more door of the home, they had to go to the servants entrance and if the peerage didn’t want to allow them in or to talk to them, they didn’t have to. Members of the peerage would be tried before the House of Lords and they almost never, ever convicted each other of anything. So, a peer could, literally, get away with murder – especially against someone who ‘belonged’ to him – such as a wife.

According to Goodreads, this book was first published in 1992, so I’m hoping that it was a ‘learner’ novel for this author and the subsequent books (written over twenty years later) will be much better.

The book opens with the discovery of the murdered body of Lady Emily Fanshawe, Marchioness of Polbrook. Her husband is nowhere to be found and the only family member in residence is his brother Francis. Therefore, it is up to Francis to take charge and one of the most onerous things he has to do is to tell his mother that Emily has been murdered and Randal is missing.

When Francis arrives at his mother’s townhouse to tell her the news, he finds her having breakfast with her new (temporary) companion (Mrs. Ottilia Draycott) that she has only met late the night before. Ottilia offers to withdraw, but Francis invites her to stay since it will soon be all over town anyway. As Francis is telling his mother this distressing news, Ottilia is constantly interrupting with questions that are clearly none of her business. Instead of rebuking her, both the Dowager Marchioness and Francis let her continue, tell her how clever she is, and then she goes with them to the crime scene and she actually examines the scene and the body, etc. in the most intimate way.

Francis immediately gives Ottilia carte blanche to conduct the investigation because she is so smart, intuitive, and clever and he and his mother are just so dumb. Then she does really clever things like determining that someone could have entered the house through one of the doors – duh! She is so clever because – wait for it – she raised her brother’s two sons. Given that criteria, I should be a genius!

Ottilia rocks along with her investigation and ropes Francis into helping with parts of it until the mystery is solved and the murderer is revealed. In the meantime, everyone is constantly telling Ottilia how very clever she is and allowing her to ask the most intimate questions. The servants have the most casual of interchanges and relationships with the Dowager, Francis and everybody else. It is all just so very period inappropriate.

Then, there is the relationship that develops with Francis and Ottilia. I just didn’t see or feel it. They were like two cardboard characters and I couldn’t see where an attraction would be. There just didn’t seem to be any real passion.

There is also Ottilia’s propensity for giggling and making inappropriate jokes and comments during very serious, emotional, trying times. There were times when I was thinking that someone ought to give her a slap to show her that things were serious.

It is my intention to read another book in this series because the later ones have been released in the last few years and the author has had some time to grow in her craft. I’d like to see a more likable and relatable Ottilia. If Ottilia does have that growth, I’ll look forward to more books in the series.

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This book made me do a happy dance! I was caught within the first few pages. The characters are fleshed out well enough that you know them as people and not characters. And the vocabulary is delicious! I love to read a book that has me looking up words. 😍

The Gilded Shroud - Bailey
Audio performance by Esther Wane

This is the first book in Regency murder mystery series. The amateur detective is the widowed Otillia Draycott. She is a relatively young and (naturally) pretty young widow. She has taken a temporary job as companion to the elderly Lady Polbrook. To our shock and astonishment,(!) on her very first day on the job, Lady Polbrook’s much despised daughter-in-law is found strangled in her bed.

I enjoyed this. It was exactly the kind of easy listening that I needed. Otillia is a wonderful protagonist; intelligent,compassionate and witty. I liked her. I liked the remaining members of the bereaved family. The mystery was uncomplicated. The romance was predictably sweet and very low show more temperature. The atmosphere of the story reminded me of Georgette Heyer.

I will continue the series when I need easy listening or an relaxing read. show less

Enjoyable Georgian mystery with romance overtones, the start of a series. The milieu will be familiar to readers of Regency romances, although this is set a little earlier (during the early days of the French Revolution, before the Reign of Terror really got underway). A noblewoman is murdered in her bed; her husband left town shortly before the body was discovered, leaving him under suspicion. His brother and his mother's new companion must work together to solve the crime.

I did supect the murderer fairly early on, which usually is a black mark for me, but it was a satisfying mystery anyway.

OK. OK. I did know the perpetrator almost from the beginning, which is not such a good thing in a mystery book, now is it? Also, the names (Ottillia? Candia?) were clearly an attempt to recall the historical period of the book, but they were a tad annoying. That said and nonetheless, I will read the next one in the series because I love mysteries and I love the Regency time period. Only for the most dedicated.

This one disappointed me, I'll admit. I'm still trying to figure out why. The dialogue used seemed wrong somehow. And everyone fawning over Ottilia started to get on my nerves. "Look a woman with an analytical mind -- how utterly amazing!!!" I thought I'd be able to get all the way through it regardless but about 100 pages from the end I gave up and skipped to the end. When I found out who had done it I wasn't the least surprised. And the romance struck me as forced -- I had no idea why these two people would come to care about one another. Overall, very disappointed in a book I thought I would enjoy.

If you like historical mysteries with romance, I highly recommend the 'Gilded Age Mystery' series by P.B. Ryan instead.