Following
the events covered in the last title (Murder
At Cleeve Abbey), Flora Harrington is in London staying
with her father. The first night she arrives she sees a man
and woman arguing, and later the woman’s body is found.
Flora is determined to discover who she was and is soon embroiled
in a mystery involving suffragettes and the assassination
of a Baltic king.
This is one series where reading the books in order is particularly
important. If you have not read the earlier two books, do
so before reading this one. Apart from the murder, some of
the book deals with Flora’s uneasy relationship with
her father, who is a busy man mostly missing during her stay.
Perhaps it is not surprising that she turns sleuth again and,
together with her maid, starts trying to discover the identity
of the dead woman. There are some enjoyable descriptions of
life in London of 1903 as Flora attends the theater, shops
and attends suffragette meetings. This was the time when the
more peaceful movement was about to turn militant under Mrs
Pankhurst and we get a look at how the earlier group was viewed.
As usual, Ms Davison writes an entertaining tale with plenty
of investigating and red herrings aplenty that keeps the pages
turning. This series is certainly not about to be mired in
one setting, as Flora so far has investigated on board ship,
in the house where she grew up and now in London. Varied settings
and a changing cast of characters keep the stories interesting
and there are still things about Flora’s background
we don’t know. This is shaping up to be a series to
look forward to as each new title comes out.
Murder on the Minneapolis (Book I) has been reissued
by Head of Zeus under the new title Flora’s Secret.
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