A Death In The Family by Caroline Dunford
Sep. 7th, 2015 03:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
”I briefly considered the option of swooning in a ladylike manner, but I was denied this by virtue of position: I was a maid; and by natural inclination: I have never known how to swoon. Instead, I did what I believe most females of sensibility would have done finding themselves alone with a murdered corpse. I screamed exceedingly loudly, quite in the common manner, and pelted out of the room …
In December 1909 the Reverend Josiah Martins expires in a dish of mutton and onions leaving his family on the brink of destitution. Joshia’s daughter, Euphemia, takes it upon herself to provide for her mother and little brother by entering service. She’s young, fit, intelligent, a little naïve and assumes the life of a maid won’t be too demanding. However, on her first day at the unhappy home of Sir Stapleford she discovers a murdered body.
Euphemia’s innate sense of justice has her prying where no servant should look and uncovering some of the darker social, political and business secrets of the Stapleford family. All she has to defend herself with is her quick wits, sense of humour and the ultimate weapon of all virtuous young women – her scream.
It’s December 1909. When Euphemia’s father, the Rev. Josiah Martins dies face-first in a plate of mutton and onions her family is flung into dire financial straits. With the bishop keen to reclaim the vicarage and Euphemia’s maternal grandfather refusing to acknowledge their existence, she feels she has no choice but to find work to support her mother and younger brother. Unfortunately, the best she can do is to obtain employment as a live-in maid for the nouveau riche Stapleford family in the far north. Euphemia is confident she can handle the work, but she gets an unfriendly welcome from the vicious housekeeper Mrs Wilson and compounds her troubles by stumbling across a dead body on her first day.
The victim is Lord Stapleford’s nephew, George, and even though Euphemia’s new to the household she finds herself as the number one suspect. The only person who believes in her innocence is Bertram, Lord Stapleford’s step-son but he is determined to keep her from investigating and it seems that both he and the Stapleford family have a host of secrets that they’re anxious to keep buried ...
Caroline Dunford’s historical crime novel, the first in a series, is a well-crafted mystery with a spirited heroine who has plenty of initiative and courage but who is conscious of the need to protect her own secrets even as she seeks to uncover those belonging to other people. The Stapleford family are drawn with a fairly broad brush – Lord Stapleford is all bluff bluster and casual cruelty, Richenda is a well-meaning suffragette who doesn’t quite have the courage of her convictions, Richard is a cad and a bounder, prone to trying to have his way with the staff and Lady Stapleford a shallow woman who lets Mrs Wilson run the house for her. Only Bertram is allowed room to grow and I found him interesting in how he comes to appreciate Euphemia’s intelligence and spirit and yet is blinded by their class relationship - I’m not normally a romance fan, but theirs is one I’d be interested to see develop over the future books. I’m also interested in seeing how Euphemia handles Mrs Wilson in the later books, given some of the revelations about her here. Ultimately this is a perfectly cosy murder mystery, perfect for reading on a wet Sunday afternoon and I will definitely be checking out the rest of the series.
The Verdict:
Caroline Dunford’s historical crime novel, the first in a series, is a well-crafted mystery with a spirited heroine who has plenty of initiative and courage but who is conscious of the need to protect her own secrets even as she seeks to uncover those belonging to other people. The Stapleford family are drawn with a fairly broad brush – Lord Stapleford is all bluff bluster and casual cruelty, Richenda is a well-meaning suffragette who doesn’t quite have the courage of her convictions, Richard is a cad and a bounder, prone to trying to have his way with the staff and Lady Stapleford a shallow woman who lets Mrs Wilson run the house for her. Only Bertram is allowed room to grow and I found him interesting in how he comes to appreciate Euphemia’s intelligence and spirit and yet is blinded by their class relationship - I’m not normally a romance fan, but theirs is one I’d be interested to see develop over the future books. I’m also interested in seeing how Euphemia handles Mrs Wilson in the later books, given some of the revelations about her here. Ultimately this is a perfectly cosy murder mystery, perfect for reading on a wet Sunday afternoon and I will definitely be checking out the rest of the series.
In December 1909 the Reverend Josiah Martins expires in a dish of mutton and onions leaving his family on the brink of destitution. Joshia’s daughter, Euphemia, takes it upon herself to provide for her mother and little brother by entering service. She’s young, fit, intelligent, a little naïve and assumes the life of a maid won’t be too demanding. However, on her first day at the unhappy home of Sir Stapleford she discovers a murdered body.
Euphemia’s innate sense of justice has her prying where no servant should look and uncovering some of the darker social, political and business secrets of the Stapleford family. All she has to defend herself with is her quick wits, sense of humour and the ultimate weapon of all virtuous young women – her scream.
It’s December 1909. When Euphemia’s father, the Rev. Josiah Martins dies face-first in a plate of mutton and onions her family is flung into dire financial straits. With the bishop keen to reclaim the vicarage and Euphemia’s maternal grandfather refusing to acknowledge their existence, she feels she has no choice but to find work to support her mother and younger brother. Unfortunately, the best she can do is to obtain employment as a live-in maid for the nouveau riche Stapleford family in the far north. Euphemia is confident she can handle the work, but she gets an unfriendly welcome from the vicious housekeeper Mrs Wilson and compounds her troubles by stumbling across a dead body on her first day.
The victim is Lord Stapleford’s nephew, George, and even though Euphemia’s new to the household she finds herself as the number one suspect. The only person who believes in her innocence is Bertram, Lord Stapleford’s step-son but he is determined to keep her from investigating and it seems that both he and the Stapleford family have a host of secrets that they’re anxious to keep buried ...
Caroline Dunford’s historical crime novel, the first in a series, is a well-crafted mystery with a spirited heroine who has plenty of initiative and courage but who is conscious of the need to protect her own secrets even as she seeks to uncover those belonging to other people. The Stapleford family are drawn with a fairly broad brush – Lord Stapleford is all bluff bluster and casual cruelty, Richenda is a well-meaning suffragette who doesn’t quite have the courage of her convictions, Richard is a cad and a bounder, prone to trying to have his way with the staff and Lady Stapleford a shallow woman who lets Mrs Wilson run the house for her. Only Bertram is allowed room to grow and I found him interesting in how he comes to appreciate Euphemia’s intelligence and spirit and yet is blinded by their class relationship - I’m not normally a romance fan, but theirs is one I’d be interested to see develop over the future books. I’m also interested in seeing how Euphemia handles Mrs Wilson in the later books, given some of the revelations about her here. Ultimately this is a perfectly cosy murder mystery, perfect for reading on a wet Sunday afternoon and I will definitely be checking out the rest of the series.
The Verdict:
Caroline Dunford’s historical crime novel, the first in a series, is a well-crafted mystery with a spirited heroine who has plenty of initiative and courage but who is conscious of the need to protect her own secrets even as she seeks to uncover those belonging to other people. The Stapleford family are drawn with a fairly broad brush – Lord Stapleford is all bluff bluster and casual cruelty, Richenda is a well-meaning suffragette who doesn’t quite have the courage of her convictions, Richard is a cad and a bounder, prone to trying to have his way with the staff and Lady Stapleford a shallow woman who lets Mrs Wilson run the house for her. Only Bertram is allowed room to grow and I found him interesting in how he comes to appreciate Euphemia’s intelligence and spirit and yet is blinded by their class relationship - I’m not normally a romance fan, but theirs is one I’d be interested to see develop over the future books. I’m also interested in seeing how Euphemia handles Mrs Wilson in the later books, given some of the revelations about her here. Ultimately this is a perfectly cosy murder mystery, perfect for reading on a wet Sunday afternoon and I will definitely be checking out the rest of the series.
