Mrs. Jeffries Rights a Wrong

It doesn’t take long after the murder of Thomas Mundy at a residential hotel for the police and the household staff of Inspector Witherspoon to realize that he made his living as a confidence man; the problem is that there are so many people that he swindled in his life, most of whom just happen to be in London at the time of his death, that discovering the real killer is going to be very tough indeed…. In this installment of the long-running Mrs. Jeffries series, we find some of the household at odds: Wiggins and Phyllis are sniping at each other and the senior members of the house, housekeeper Mrs. Jeffries and cook Mrs. Goodge, are taking opposite sides in the fights. I liked this aspect of the book perhaps more than the show more investigation itself (although that was quite interesting, especially as it shows that conmen are the same no matter the era in which they operate), but I’m not quite sure I want another romance-in-the-offing for these characters, as previous ones have taken a long time to be resolved! Nevertheless, quite a fun read overall; recommended! show less

Inspector Gerald Witherspoon has gained quite a reputation for solving murders but, while he is good at his job, (unknown to him) he has been helped solve these cases by his household staff and a few friends. The staff enjoys solving murders but the killing of Thomas Mundy will be tough to solve - he was a con artist who hurt many people who are happy that he has died. Witherspoon thinks he knows who the killer is but does he have the wrong person and if he does how can Mrs. Jeffries help him arrest the right person?

“Mrs. Jeffries Rights a Wrong” is the nicely done thirty-fifth book in Emily Brightwell's Inspector and Mrs. Jeffries cozy mystery series set in Victorian England - a series that, even with so many books in the series, show more stays fresh and seems to get better with each new book in the series. By now the characters in the book - the inspector, Barnes, Mrs. Jeffries, Mrs. Goodge, Smythe, Betsy, Wiggins, Phyllis, Luty, Hatchet, and Ruth - feel like old friends yet Brightwell always seems to find a way to make them grow in each book. In this book it was Wiggins’ character who is finally developing in a way that I have been wishing for in the past several books and Brightwell does it much better than I could have imagined. The concept of his staff and friends helping Witherspoon solve mysteries continues to be a good one as all involved help solve the mystery - including Witherspoon who has learned to listen to his “inner voice”. I also love the setting of Victorian England which is well done by Brightwell. The mystery is my favorite kind of mystery with a victim who was evil, lots of suspects who had reason to want the victim dead, plenty of clues for readers to follow and try to solve the mystery alongside the characters.

“Mrs. Jeffries Rights a Wrong” is another great cozy mystery by Emily Brightwell. show less

The is the 35th book in the Mrs. Jeffries series, which is set in Victorian London. Inspector Witherspoon works for Scotland Yard and has solved more cases than the Yard's other inspectors combined, but he does not understand how. Mrs. Jeffries, his housekeeper, certainly does. A retired policeman's wife, she organizes the household staff to gather clues which she shares with Constable Barnes, Inspector Witherspoon's partner. She also manages to give Inspector Witherspoon suggestions about the solution, making him think they are his idea.

In this book, Thomas Mundy has been found murdered at the Wrexley Hotel. Inspector Witherspoon, Mrs. Jeffries, and the household staff soon find that Mundy is a confidence trickster with no lack of show more suspects for his murder. The staff must gather clues for Mrs. Jeffries so that she can make sure Inspector Witherspoon does not arrest the wrong man...or woman.

I have enjoyed many Mrs. Jeffries books over the years, and this one is no exception. The plot moves along fairly well, with not a lot of extraneous detail, and the author provides enough clues to make a good guess at the solution, along with Mrs. Jeffries. The author does not necessarily take us inside the character's minds, except on occasion doing so for Mrs. Jeffries, but I do not feel that this takes away from the story at all. This is not really the type of book that benefits from getting to know the characters deeply. There are some side stories within the overall plot that let us get to know some of the household staff better or provide a backstory for them, so we do come to care about the characters over time. I think that the books are well-written and intelligent. I have read many mystery series over the years, and have noticed that at times the plots begin to become stale after a while. This is certainly not the case with the Mrs. Jeffries series even though this is the 35th in the series.

I did feel that perhaps this book suffered a little in that the conclusion seemed a little rushed at the end, but it was still very good overall.

Now to speak about the Kindle formatting - I wanted to keep this part separate from the overall review of the book because I feel that the content of the book needs to stand along from the formatting issue. Yes, as many other reviewers have stated, there is a problem with the formatting of this book. At the end of many sentences, it appears that the last five or so characters have been cut off. For example, "But I do wish some of my sources would read a newsp" and "We've more ques" It was fairly easy to understand from the context that the first word was newspaper and the second questions. There were a few other errors, but the cut off sentences seem to form the bulk of the problem. Was it annoying? Yes, it was at first. Did it stop me from enjoying the book? No, because I am familiar enough with the quality of the Mrs. Jeffries books that I was willing to overlook a little. There was nothing missing that affected the plot in any way or my understanding of the book. I did keep a rough count of the errors, and there were around 130 instances of missing words for a 300-page book.

I would think given that this is a long-standing series published by a very reputable publisher that this problem would be fixed fairly quickly. At that time, hopefully, I will know and can revise my review.

If you enjoy cozy, historical mysteries, you would enjoy this book, errors notwithstanding. show less

Thomas Mundy seemed like an unlikely victim of murder. New in town, and presumably without the time to make enemies, yet he ends up dead. Turns out Mundy wasn't so new, or so innocent. An experienced con man trying to outrun his past, his body proves that he failed. Now it's up to Mrs. Jeffries and crew to find out which part of his past came back to kill him.

I really enjoy the Mrs. Jeffries series, and I think this is book #35 or so. I did find that there was plenty of action in the book and Mrs. Jeffries and her crew were kept exceedingly busy trying to figure this one out. For one thing there were an anwful lot of suspects who had good motives for getting rid of Thomas Mundy. And Mr. Mundy was an unlikeable person, so it's difficult for them to get a handle on his comings and goings and his personal interactions. The murder occurs in a little hotel call the Wrexley Hotel, and there aren't a lot of people, suspects or otherwise that live in London. Most are tourists, transients and people who want to remain annonymous like Mr. Mundy himself. The crime itself was pretty violent and it show more occurred in Mundy's hotel room. But Mrs. Jeffries and her assorted partners from Upper Edmonton Gardens stick to it, follow what clues there are, and persevere until the real killer is found. Lots of fun and lots of coming and going out of the back door of this little hotel. show less

Inspector Witherspoon is a good man & diligent detective who always solves his crimes, however he's not as bright as his superiors believe him to be. His housekeeper on the other hand, Hephzibah Jeffries, Nosy Parker, is.

Whenever Inspector Witherspoon has a murder to solve, Mrs Jeffries, the house-staff, neighbors, & friends of the Inspector get together without his knowledge and investigate.

Each evening, Mrs. Jeffries has a sherry before dinner with her employer gently urging him to share his thoughts & worries about the crime, which she then shares with the others...

In this book a confidence man sees specters of his dead past appear before him and it literally kills him.

As always, Inspector Witherspoon comes to the "Wrong" conclusion show more it is up to Mrs Jeffries to make it "Right"

I really liked the plot & the story. The book held my interest, I read it straight through, without interruption. The characters involved in the crime were interesting & all had solid motives.

I'm not too keen on the fact that the author always has the Inspector be the ninny and Mrs. Jeffries the bright shine that plants the correct solution into his thoughts. I'm also not keen on a good portion of the series's story lines so I generally tend to pass them over. show less

Hope she writes another one soon.