Published
by Mirror Books,
15 March 2018. ISBN 978-1-907324-82-6 (PB)
15 March 2018. ISBN 978-1-907324-82-6 (PB)
This
the first in a series entitled A Mayfair 100 Mystery. The setting is
London in 1915 so the Great War is an important aspect of the story.
Because of the demand for fighting men the police force is very short of
personnel so a special detective group is set up which includes two men
invalided out of the army, one retired policeman brought back into the force
and two civilians, one a doctor and the other with legal training, Since
the civilians were female they would be disapproved if by most of the police so
their involvement is kept secret. They are also upper class and the use
of the London home of one of them as a base explains the use of Mayfair 100
since that is the phone number of that house. The continued existence of
the Mayfair 100 group depends on its success in its first case.
We begin with a badly injured woman
accused of murdering her husband and move on from there. The story
rapidly becomes highly sensational as drugs and prostitution are revealed.
The background is no less sensational as Zeppelins bomb London.
The period detail here is excellent - I particularly enjoyed the fleeting appearance
of Margaret Damer Dawson, founder of the fledgling Women’s Police Service and a
frightening figure with her cropped hair and monocle!
This is an enjoyable read. I
notice that the second book of the series, A
Death in Chelsea, has also
been published. I look forward to reading it.
------
Reviewer: Jennifer S. Palmer
Lynn
Brittney has fifty-two
plays, books (fiction and non-fiction), and foreign translations of her books
registered for PLR. She began novel-writing in 2005 and the first book in her
Nathan Fox Elizabethan spy trilogy was nominated for the Waterstones and
Brandford Boase Prize. In 2016 she created the Mayfair 100 series, set in WW1.
The first two books – Murder in Belgravia
and A Death in Chelsea have been
published in the UK by Mirror Books.
Jennifer Palmer Throughout my reading life crime
fiction has been a constant interest; I really enjoyed my 15 years as an
expatriate in the Far East, the Netherlands
& the USA
but occasionally the solace of closing my door to the outside world and sitting
reading was highly therapeutic. I now lecture to adults on historical topics
including Famous Historical Mysteries.
:) I enjoyed this one and Death in Chelsea. I do think the characters are a bit goody, goody, but the plots and historical details are great. And I love that the team is made of largely of women.
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