Murder at the Fair by Verity Bright
Summer flowers, warm sunshine, a maypole dance and… is that another murder? A tricky case is afoot for Lady Swift!
Summer, 1921. Lady Eleanor Swift, the best amateur sleuth in the country, is delighted to be in charge of the prize-giving at her village summer fair. But the traditional homemade raft race takes a tragic turn when the local undertaker, Solemn Jon, turns up dead amongst the ducks. Jon was the life of any party and loved by the entire village. Surely this was simply an awful accident?
But when a spiteful obituary is printed in the local paper, Eleanor realises there may be more to Jon’s death than first thought. Despite handsome Detective Seldon giving her strict instructions not to interfere, Eleanor owes it to Jon’s good name to root out the truth. So with her partner in crime, Gladstone the bulldog, Eleanor starts digging for clues…
When another local dies in a riding accident, the police refuse to believe he was murdered. But a second vindictive death notice convinces Eleanor of foul play. Solemn Jon’s assistant, a bullish banker and a majestic marquess make her suspect list, but it isn’t until she finds a dusty old photograph that she knows the true culprit behind both crimes. Then another obituary appears – her own! Can Eleanor nail the killer before she too turns up dead among the ducks?
About the author.
Verity Bright is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing partnership that has spanned a quarter of a century. Starting out writing high-end travel articles and books, they published everything from self-improvement to humour, before embarking on their first historical mystery. They are the authors of the fabulous Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery series, set in the 1920s.
Review
Once again it’s time to enter the world of Lady Swift and her faithful butler Clifford. This is a series I am sure you know I adore and this book was no different. It was as fun as usual, the pacing was terrific, and it was a great read!
Lady Swift is tasked with judging the raft river race of part of the village’s local May Fair celebrations. Local teams compete by building elaborate rafts in order to reach the finish line first. However, as they are waiting for the last raft to appear Eleanor gets a sinking feeling that something is wrong and organises a search party. Unfortunately, they find the body of Solemn Joe, the local undertaker, in the rushes further up the river. It seems like an accident until there is an obituary in the paper that hints that Solemn Jon had secrets and it was actually murder! His widow tasks Eleanor to find out what happened. However, she also has had strict instructions not look into things by DI Seldon. She is torn but she owes to his wife to find out the truth! With Clifford and Gladstone the bulldog at her side.
First of all I spent the whole of the book reading the words Solemn Jon as Solomon Joe! Do you ever get word blindness like that?!
Once again this is a great outing for this series - lots of nods to classic crime fiction of the time (local fair, big house mysteries and a loyal servant) which I loved! The scenes I enjoy the most are when Clifford and Eleanor are sitting together to try and work out who committed the deeds. I also really enjoyed how much Eleanor’s character is starting to develop and mature slightly. Especially, when it comes to affairs of the heart and understanding how life really is for the people who live round her. There are a few nods to modernity as well what with Victor!
If you are a fan of this series you are not going to be disappointed. If you aren’t - what’s wrong with you?!!
