It is October 1936. Lord Edward Corinth is invited by his friend Joe Weaver, the press lord and close friend of the British royal family, to recover certain letters stolen from the king’s intimate friend Wallis Simpson. There is no mystery about who has taken these letters – a woman called Mrs Raymond Harkness, a former mistress of the king and a close friend of Edward’s.
When Edward goes down to Haling, the country house of conservative MP Leo Scannon where Mrs Harkness is also a house guest, he is far from easy in his mind at the task before him, but he cannot guess that retrieving stolen goods is to be complicated by murder…
When Edward goes down to Haling, the country house of conservative MP Leo Scannon where Mrs Harkness is also a house guest, he is far from easy in his mind at the task before him, but he cannot guess that retrieving stolen goods is to be complicated by murder…
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Reviews
Roberts just keeps getting better with each book in this historical series... This is first-rate fun, informed by telling period detail and an intelligent portrayal of the political issues behind the Abdication Crisis. It's highly recommended too for fans of Love in a Cold Climate and Gosford Park.
A classic murder mystery with as complex a plot as one could hope for and a most engaging pair of amateur sleuths whom I look forward to encountering again in future novels.
Roberts
This is a witty and meticulous recreation of the class-ridden middle England of the 1930s... a perfect example of golden-age mystery traditions with the cobwebs swept away, for the many readers who like their sleuthing elegant and their sex and violence concealed behind the curtains.
Roberts just keeps getting better with each book in this historical series... This is first-rate fun, informed by telling period detail and an intelligent portrayal of the political issues behind the Abdication Crisis. It's highly recommended too for fans of Love in a Cold Climate and Gosford Park
A classic murder mystery with as complex a plot as one could hope for and a most engaging pair of amateur sleuths whom I look forward to encountering again in future novels
Roberts' use of period detail... gives the tale terrific texture. Recommend this one heartily to history-mystery devotees
This is a witty and meticulous recreation of the class-ridden middle England of the 1930s... a perfect example of golden-age mystery traditions with the cobwebs swept away, for the many readers who like their sleuthing elegant and their sex and violence concealed behind the curtains
A gripping, richly satisfying whodunit with finely observed characters, sparkling with insouciance and stinging menace
Praise for David Roberts:
A really well-crafted and charming mystery story
