Murder in Matrimony
Lady of Letters #4
By Mary Winters
ISBN 9781448315499
marywintersauthor.com
Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Jeanie
Synopsis:
Countess-turned-advice columnist Amelia Amesbury has a wedding to plan alongside a new murder in this charmingly deadly historical mystery.
Countess Amelia Amesbury has her work cut out. As well as balancing her alter ego—secret advice columnist, Lady Agony—and the blackmailer threatening to reveal her real identity, her sister has also announced she’s getting married. It’s joyous news, but places all the planning for a high society wedding firmly at Amelia’s door.
Luckily, her good friend and local vicar Mr. Cross has agreed to the expedited nuptials, so that’s one less thing to worry about. Until Cross is found dead at the church. Now in between bridal arrangements, Amelia must follow the clues Mr. Cross left behind.
Clearly, he’d made some enemies during his parishioner work, as strange mishaps begin to occur wherever Amelia goes. But when the danger becomes all too real, Amelia must rely on her friends and the handsome Simon Bainbridge to help solve the murder, save the wedding, and Amelia’s life too . . . (From Goodreads)
Review:
Murder in Matrimony is, to me, the best in this series! The setting is London in 1860. The engaging characters come alive, demonstrated rather than described. Lady Amelia is the young widow of Lord Edgar Amesbury. Amelia was now part of London society despite her prior life in the countryside. Edgar died a few short weeks after they wed. Amelia and his niece, Lady Winifred, became as close as mother and daughter through mutual grief. They, and Lady Tabitha, Edgar’s aunt, lived at the family estate. Tabitha has taken it on herself to make sure that Amelia and Winifred learn proprieties of high society.
Aunt Tabitha has not yet discovered Amelia’s alter ego, Lady Agony. She became an advice columnist after Edgar’s death, helping her to discover her own voice. She writes anonymously with few exceptions. One is Mr. Cross, her vicar and friend. The second is Kitty, her best friend, who has helped Amelia investigate crimes encountered in her role as an Agony Aunt.
Marquis Simon Bainbridge is well-known in London and was the best friend of Amelia’s late husband. Initially, they did not like each other, but they became very close friends since he began helping her solve crimes with Kitty. Amelia befriends his younger sister, Lady Marielle, through challenges of meeting young men and Simon’s overprotective manner.
Amelia’s youngest sister, Madge, has been visiting her. Madge and her young man, Captain Fitz, met while she was there. The day she went home to Somerset, they announced they were getting married! In two weeks! Madge trusted Amelia to plan the wedding and host the wedding breakfast. How can Amelia say ‘no’ to one of her favorite people?
Amelia spoke with the vicar to schedule the wedding. Despite the short notice, Mr. Cross fit it in. They discussed a reader who was trying to blackmail Amelia by threatening to reveal her identity unless she prints the name of the thief who stole – then returned – family jewelry from several people. Amelia refused, as she promised to keep the identity secret if all stolen items were returned. When out for a walk, someone in a hansom cab veered straight toward her, and she barely escaped the horses’ hooves.
Mr. Cross’s curate, Mr. Dougal, came to see Amelia. He went into the church and found Mr. Cross murdered in the vicarage. It was devastating to both of them. The police thought he interrupted a robbery in progress, as the poor box was missing. They considered it was someone associated with a poor parish in a rough part of town, where Mr. Cross helped out.
Mr. Dougal gave Amelia an envelope that Mr. Cross had asked him to give her. Inside was a newspaper clipping about a young woman, Rose, who died after falling from a ladder at her job. It was determined to be an accident. The vicar and Amelia had collaborated to improve dangerous working conditions at factories, so she assumed he wanted her to look into where Rose worked.
Mr. Cross’s kind heart had led him to help at St.-George-in-the-East, as the people were poor and he wanted better lives for them. He wanted them to their raise their families in the church, and stop drinking or working in the pubs. The father of Rose, the woman who died, owned and operated a pub to keep food on their table. Cross wanted safe places for them to work, and ways to pull them from poverty, addiction, and crime. Amelia wondered if Rose’s death was connected with Mr. Cross’s murder, and wanted to find her friend’s killer.
Kitty’s husband, Oliver, seemed to be the kind of guy we might call a nerd today. He was a brilliant writer. He excelled in research, long before Google, even before the Dewey Decimal System was used in libraries. When he learned what Kitty, Amelia, and Simon were involved with, his puzzle-loving brain transformed him into a man who wanted to join Amelia’s “merry band of misfits”!
Even when Madge returned for her wedding, the investigations continued. They had several theories, but weren’t able to pull the right thread to unravel the blanket covering the truth. I was a little sad that my “pet suspect” was not one of the bad guys! The killer’s identity, motive, and cunning were a shock, someone I had not considered. There was, however, a very wonderful surprise at the end that I didn’t anticipate. I highly recommend Matrimony is Murder, and the rest of the series, especially to those who appreciate cozy mysteries in the early Victorian era interwoven with interesting historical notes.
