Lose yourself in the gripping first novel in a new series of Golden Age murder mysteries set amid the lives of the glamorous Mitford sisters.
It’s 1920, and Louisa Cannon dreams of escaping her life of poverty in London, and most of all her oppressive and dangerous uncle.
Louisa’s salvation is a position within the Mitford household at Asthall Manor, in the Oxfordshire countryside. There she will become nurserymaid, chaperone and confidante to the Mitford sisters, especially sixteen-year-old Nancy – an acerbic, bright young woman in love with stories.
But then a nurse – Florence Nightingale Shore, goddaughter of her famous namesake – is killed on a train in broad daylight, and Louisa and Nancy find themselves entangled in the crimes of a murderer who will do anything to hide their secret . . .
Based on a real unsolved crime and written by Jessica Fellowes, author of the number one-bestselling Downton Abbey books, The Mitford Murders is the perfect new obsession for fans of Daisy Goodwin, Jessie Burton and Agatha Christie.
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Take a real family and a true crime and make it into…
A cold case – murder of Florence Nightingale’s goddaughter – Florence Nightingale Shore – as told through the eyes of the contemporaries.
Young people – Railway Policeman, nursery maid, eldest daughter of aristocratic family – decide to solve this murder and it looks like, at all costs.
There is love, betrayal, stolen identity, unfair dismissals, uncovered secrets and escaping evil. The Mitford Murders is a very slow but interesting read. It evolves and develops very slowly. I guess, you can drink numerous cups of tea and eat tens of scones while you get to the gist of it.
A reader is not shocked with the murder. The murder takes it’s sweet time to take place. Then, it is all very slow and careful from then onward.
The narrative is just like old steam trains (there are a lot of them in the book) picks up speed and suspense very slowly and carefully. However, the plot does get interesting about three quarters through the book. And knowing that the actual real-life murder is still unsolved, makes reader’s suspense even more tangible and tasty.
All in all, I found this book a bit too slow for me.
Read it if you like Europe of mid-twenties and want to get immersed in the post-war goings on. Author does take a few liberties with history and chronology of some events (Agatha Christie’s books, for instance), but overall the feel of Londong and surrounds seems to be very authentic and very Miss Marple and Downton Abbey.
Svetlana Tishchenko 