Published
by Severn House,
30 January 2017.
ISBN: 978-0-7278-8685-9
30 January 2017.
ISBN: 978-0-7278-8685-9
It is 1925 and Nell Drury is
thoroughly enjoying her job as chef at Wychbourne Court, the stately home of
Lord and Lady Ansley. She feels loyalty and affection for the Ansley family and
for her fellow servants, even the difficult housekeeper, Mrs Fielding, who
feels threatened by Nell’s position and tries to undermine her.
Lord
and Lady Ansley’s son, Richard, and their daughter, Helen, are part of a fashionable
set of Bright Young things. When Richard and Helen’s friends come down from
London and descend upon Wychbourne Court for an extravagant party, Nell knows
she is destined for a busy weekend. However, she had not anticipated being
detailed to lead some of the guests in a ghost hunt, organised by Lady Clarice
Ansley, Lord Ansley’s spinster sister. Lady Clarice takes her family ghosts
very seriously. Unfortunately, her nephew, Richard and nieces Helen and Sophy
are less sincere and with the aid of a guest, Charles Parkyn-Wright, they plan
a rather more amusing ghost hunt than Lady Clarice intended. Charles
Parkyn-Wright has always been a close friend of Richard, and Helen is in love
with Charles, so neither of them are happy when he pays marked attentions to
Elise Harlington, the lady whom Richard wishes to marry, and dances with her
for much of the early part of the ball. In the meantime, Sophy, their
rebellious younger sister, has her own mischievous game to play.
Nell
knows that she will have a very busy evening, torn between supervising the food
preparation and assisting Lady Clarice with her ghost hunt, and she is further
distracted by an unexpected encounter with a former lover, Guy Ellimore, who is
the leader of the band playing at the ball.
Nell
is alert for mischief during the ghost hunt but nothing can prepare her for the
discovery of a murder victim. Lady Ansley begs Nell to try and find out who
killed the victim and how deeply her family is involved and Nell agrees to do
her best, despite the disapproval of Detective Inspector Alexander Melbray of
Scotland Yard.
Dancing with Death is the first in the
Nell Drury series. The author’s knowledge of the food of the period in masterly
and Nell is a thoroughly appealing heroine, a strong but generous woman with
her own career and confidence in her own abilities. I particularly enjoyed the
food related exclamations that Nell makes, often to herself, such as ‘But
pottering pancakes, where on earth was this leading?’ Despite the lightness
of the dialogue there is an underlying thread that reinforces the fact that,
although the First World War has been over for seven years, some scars,
physical and emotional, will never heal. Dancing
with Death is a thoroughly enjoyable read and, hopefully, will be the first
book of another great series for Amy Myers.
------
Reviewer: Carol
Westron
Amy Myers worked as a director in a London publishing firm,
before realising her dream to become a writer. Her first series featured
detective, August Didier, a half French, half English master chef in late
Victorian and Edwardian times. She writes a series with her American husband
James Myers, featuring Jack Colby, car detective, there are 5 books in the series.
Her most recent series is set post WW1 and the first book is Dancing With Death, published January 2017. Amy also writes historical novels and suspense
under the name Harriet Hudson.
Carol Westron is a successful short
story writer and a Creative Writing teacher.
She is the moderator for the cosy/historical crime panel, The Deadly
Dames. Her crime novels are set both in
contemporary and Victorian times. The
Terminal Velocity of Cats is the first in her Scene of Crimes novels, was
published July 2013. Her latest book The Fragility
of Poppies was published 10 June 2016.
Read a review of Carol’s latest
book
The Fragility of Poppies
The Fragility of Poppies
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