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Edwardian Murder Mysteries #2
Hasty Death
Eager to join the working classes, Lady Rose Summer has abandoned the comforts of her parents' home to become self-supporting. But life as a working woman isn't quite what Rose had imagined---long hours as a typist and nights spent in a dreary women's hostel are not very empowering when you're poor, cold, and tired. Luckily for Rose, her drudgery comes to a merciful end when she learns of the untimely death of an acquaintance.
Freddy Pomfret, a silly and vacuous young man, was almost certainly up to no good before he was shot dead in his London flat. When Rose discovers incriminating evidence pointing to several members of her class, she returns to London high society in order to investigate properly. With the help of Captain Harry Cathcart and Superintendent Kerridge of Scotland Yard, Rose prepares to do the social rounds---uncovering a devious blackmail plot and an unexpected killer.
Freddy Pomfret, a silly and vacuous young man, was almost certainly up to no good before he was shot dead in his London flat. When Rose discovers incriminating evidence pointing to several members of her class, she returns to London high society in order to investigate properly. With the help of Captain Harry Cathcart and Superintendent Kerridge of Scotland Yard, Rose prepares to do the social rounds---uncovering a devious blackmail plot and an unexpected killer.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2004
178 people are currently reading
1131 people want to read
About the author
Marion Chesney
139 books750 followersMarion Chesney Gibbons
aka: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Charlotte Ward, M.C. Beaton, Sarah Chester.
Marion Chesney was born on 1936 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, and started her first job as a bookseller in charge of the fiction department in John Smith & Sons Ltd. While bookselling, by chance, she got an offer from the Scottish Daily Mail to review variety shows and quickly rose to be their theatre critic. She left Smith’s to join Scottish Field magazine as a secretary in the advertising department, without any shorthand or typing, but quickly got the job of fashion editor instead. She then moved to the Scottish Daily Express where she reported mostly on crime. This was followed by a move to Fleet Street to the Daily Express where she became chief woman reporter. After marrying Harry Scott Gibbons and having a son, Charles, Marion went to the United States where Harry had been offered the job of editor of the Oyster Bay Guardian. When that didn’t work out, they went to Virginia and Marion worked as a waitress in a greasy spoon on the Jefferson Davies in Alexandria while Harry washed the dishes. Both then got jobs on Rupert Murdoch’s new tabloid, The Star, and moved to New York.
Anxious to spend more time at home with her small son, Marion, urged by her husband, started to write historical romances in 1977. After she had written over 100 of them under her maiden name, Marion Chesney, and under the pseudonyms: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Charlotte Ward, and Sarah Chester, she getting fed up with 1714 to 1910, she began to write detectives stories in 1985 under the pseudonym of M. C. Beaton. On a trip from the States to Sutherland on holiday, a course at a fishing school inspired the first Constable Hamish Macbeth story. They returned to Britain and bought a croft house and croft in Sutherland where Harry reared a flock of black sheep. But Charles was at school, in London so when he finished and both tired of the long commute to the north of Scotland, they moved to the Cotswolds where Agatha Raisin was created.
aka: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Charlotte Ward, M.C. Beaton, Sarah Chester.
Marion Chesney was born on 1936 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, and started her first job as a bookseller in charge of the fiction department in John Smith & Sons Ltd. While bookselling, by chance, she got an offer from the Scottish Daily Mail to review variety shows and quickly rose to be their theatre critic. She left Smith’s to join Scottish Field magazine as a secretary in the advertising department, without any shorthand or typing, but quickly got the job of fashion editor instead. She then moved to the Scottish Daily Express where she reported mostly on crime. This was followed by a move to Fleet Street to the Daily Express where she became chief woman reporter. After marrying Harry Scott Gibbons and having a son, Charles, Marion went to the United States where Harry had been offered the job of editor of the Oyster Bay Guardian. When that didn’t work out, they went to Virginia and Marion worked as a waitress in a greasy spoon on the Jefferson Davies in Alexandria while Harry washed the dishes. Both then got jobs on Rupert Murdoch’s new tabloid, The Star, and moved to New York.
Anxious to spend more time at home with her small son, Marion, urged by her husband, started to write historical romances in 1977. After she had written over 100 of them under her maiden name, Marion Chesney, and under the pseudonyms: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Charlotte Ward, and Sarah Chester, she getting fed up with 1714 to 1910, she began to write detectives stories in 1985 under the pseudonym of M. C. Beaton. On a trip from the States to Sutherland on holiday, a course at a fishing school inspired the first Constable Hamish Macbeth story. They returned to Britain and bought a croft house and croft in Sutherland where Harry reared a flock of black sheep. But Charles was at school, in London so when he finished and both tired of the long commute to the north of Scotland, they moved to the Cotswolds where Agatha Raisin was created.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 306 reviews
August 1, 2019
I must say I that the whole Lady Rose, Captain Harry Cathcart, Inspector Carriage, MISS Levine, etc., are an entirely entertaining group. I am waiting for the next book in the series to come back to the library, and I'll continue reading. What a fun series, and to think I just decided to try it because I was feeling a bit out of sorts after reading a book that had a story I didn't like. Marion Chesney is a predictably likeable author, for readers like myself, it's not a deep book, but it is a thoroughly enjoyable one. A fun mystery! Can't wait to read the next installment, and now I'm hooked back onto Victorian/Edwardian/Regency murder mysteries!
February 19, 2019
This is a fun and fluffy souffle of a book, populated by caricatures who’d make the most melodramatic of early silent films seem like a kitchen-sink drama.
Pistol-wielding villains pop out from the bushes. Troublesome spinsters are locked up in an asylum, or even, shackled to each other. And as for the effete young nobleman in the fancy kimono….
I’m not awarding stars for literary merit – it’s not that kind of book. But I did enjoy it more than the more ‘literary’ books I’ve read recently.
I still don’t know why it’s called ‘A Hasty Death’, though!
Pistol-wielding villains pop out from the bushes. Troublesome spinsters are locked up in an asylum, or even, shackled to each other. And as for the effete young nobleman in the fancy kimono….
I’m not awarding stars for literary merit – it’s not that kind of book. But I did enjoy it more than the more ‘literary’ books I’ve read recently.
I still don’t know why it’s called ‘A Hasty Death’, though!
June 11, 2015
Davina Porter
6 hours 35 mins
Lady Rose Summer refuses to abide by her parents' insistence that she marry. Even more distressing, she wants to become self-supporting by moving out with her maid Daisy and going to work in trade. On advice from Captain Harry Cathcart-a noble-born private investigator who knows the independent-minded Rose all too well-the Earl and Countess of Hadshire agree to let Lady Rose work as a typist and live in a women's hostel.
Eager to join the working classes, Lady Rose abandoned the comforts of her parents' home. But life as a working woman isn't quite what Rose had imagined---long hours as a typist and nights spent in a dreary women's hostel are not very empowering when you're poor, cold, and tired. Luckily for Rose, her drudgery comes to a merciful end when she learns of the untimely death of an acquaintance.
Freddy Pomfret, a silly and vacuous young man, was almost certainly up to no good before he was shot dead in his London flat. When she inadvertently discovers that recently-murdered playboy Freddy Pomfret was a blackmailer, and she also discovers incriminating evidence pointing to several members of her class, she returns to London high society in order to investigate properly. With the help of Captain Harry Cathcart and Superintendent Kerridge of Scotland Yard, Rose prepares to do the social rounds---uncovering a devious blackmail plot and an unexpected killer.
3* Snobbery with Violence
3* Hasty Death
January 24, 2021
The second of her Edwardian mysteries about Lady Rose, Captain Cathcart, and their devoted servants. Trying for independence, Lady Rose gets kidnapped, is committed to an asylum, and once again becomes embroiled in murder, while the dashing captain finds himself finding lost dogs, solving murders, and becoming the object of his spinster secretary's affections!
April 3, 2012
Okay, I don't have to read any more of these. They are starting to annoy me in the same way that the Agatha Raisin ones did. Rose and Harry are still talking at cross purposes, mostly because they aren't in touch with their feelings or are manipulative arseholes. One or the other.
Anyway, Harry takes the law into his own hands to protect Rose's reputation after her parents send her off to what they believed was the equivalent of a "rest home" which was actually a prison where an evil doctor kept heiresses and charged their families for their "treatment" indefinitely. First he sends Daisy in to help her escape and then has to shoot the doctor and hide the body to keep the story from coming out.
Rose's reputation remains in an imminent state of implosion at all times, only to be rescued by fortuitous heart attacks, etc. This is going to get old.
The hook in these books is the on-going sexual tension between two (hopefully) likeable people, but I'm having trouble liking Rose the same way I had trouble with Agatha. She is pretty spunky in some ways: she can load and fire a shotgun and when someone has a gun on her, she tries to think of something to do - such as pull on the bellrope and summon a servant.
Harry would be a good character (he has his war wound which hurts him when he needs sympathy from the reader and he is a younger son of a Baron who has been forced to go into a "trade" in order to live in the fashion to which he is accustomed) but he can't keep his mouth shut any better than Daisy, which I find totally out of character.
This so-called "hook" plays itself out over a long, long series of books, which must be nice for the author and publisher. The only time this has worked for me was in the Hamish Macbeth series. Happy relationships are death to many stories but Hamish's varying success with women seems realistic and endearing. He isn't desperate and neither are his girlfriends. "Everything" doesn't hinge on whether he gets together permanently with anyone. He is content puttering around as a "polis"man in his village and solving little mysteries.
Rose is not content. She is caught between eras: the Edwardian Age and Modern. Her dabbling in the Suffragette movement has shown her the future, but she is in no position to do anything about it. Her wealthy, titled parents can have her sent to India (or to a mental institution) if she doesn't behave and settle down with some suitable man (young or otherwise). The breaking down of barriers in society and her mind are things that normally play out through the course of a novel (or a lifetime) but instead are going to be dragged out interminably while the reader wants to kick her.
Redeeming factors: people actually have to pee in this story and there is a whole "charming" farting scene (as if nut cutlets digest that quickly).
Anyway, Harry takes the law into his own hands to protect Rose's reputation after her parents send her off to what they believed was the equivalent of a "rest home" which was actually a prison where an evil doctor kept heiresses and charged their families for their "treatment" indefinitely. First he sends Daisy in to help her escape and then has to shoot the doctor and hide the body to keep the story from coming out.
Rose's reputation remains in an imminent state of implosion at all times, only to be rescued by fortuitous heart attacks, etc. This is going to get old.
The hook in these books is the on-going sexual tension between two (hopefully) likeable people, but I'm having trouble liking Rose the same way I had trouble with Agatha. She is pretty spunky in some ways: she can load and fire a shotgun and when someone has a gun on her, she tries to think of something to do - such as pull on the bellrope and summon a servant.
Harry would be a good character (he has his war wound which hurts him when he needs sympathy from the reader and he is a younger son of a Baron who has been forced to go into a "trade" in order to live in the fashion to which he is accustomed) but he can't keep his mouth shut any better than Daisy, which I find totally out of character.
This so-called "hook" plays itself out over a long, long series of books, which must be nice for the author and publisher. The only time this has worked for me was in the Hamish Macbeth series. Happy relationships are death to many stories but Hamish's varying success with women seems realistic and endearing. He isn't desperate and neither are his girlfriends. "Everything" doesn't hinge on whether he gets together permanently with anyone. He is content puttering around as a "polis"man in his village and solving little mysteries.
Rose is not content. She is caught between eras: the Edwardian Age and Modern. Her dabbling in the Suffragette movement has shown her the future, but she is in no position to do anything about it. Her wealthy, titled parents can have her sent to India (or to a mental institution) if she doesn't behave and settle down with some suitable man (young or otherwise). The breaking down of barriers in society and her mind are things that normally play out through the course of a novel (or a lifetime) but instead are going to be dragged out interminably while the reader wants to kick her.
Redeeming factors: people actually have to pee in this story and there is a whole "charming" farting scene (as if nut cutlets digest that quickly).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 2, 2011
I have come to the conclusion that anyone who reads these books looking for a satisfying mystery is going to be heartily disappointed. The books are relatively short and, of the two books I've read in the series, the mystery portion doesn't really get going until into the second half of the book. In fact, I get the strong feeling reading this book that the mystery isn't really the raison d'etre.
No in this one it felt more like a "let's hang out with Harry and Rose some more and see what happens next and oh, by the way, let's solve a murder" book.
As I was just pleased to listen to the prose and spend more time with Harry and Rose the wafer thin mystery plot wasn't really bothersome.
I do have to say that I liked the structure of the book a bit more than I thought I would. It meandered quite a bit.
The book starts out with Rose wanting to be an "Independent Girl" and actually do that horrid middle class thing known as 'working'. Humoring her, her parents with the collusion of Harry find a suitable job for her as a bank typist. Rose correctly and quickly realizes this is nothing but make work to appeaser her. Both her parents and Harry realize that as soon as the pampered, aristocratic Rose actually gets to experience what a real lower-to-middle class working girl must experience that she'll hot-foot it back home right away.
Rose is a lot spoiled and a lot naive and instead of making Rose some intrepid heroine who cheerfully makes do with her little hostel room and manages to live on her meager income, the author doesn't sugar coat Rose's faults. Rose is horrified by the poverty of the hostel and the small amount of food her little money buys. She is disdainful and a little snotty. And as predicted she latches onto the first excuse to go back to her comfortable upper class existence.
From there it meanders into a strange subplot with her parents allowing themselves to be bamboozled into having Rose committed to an Asylum.
And finally we get to the mystery element which is about the murder of a young man who is a suspected blackmailer.
All the while Harry and Rose fight their obvious attraction to each other while their faithful servants, Daisy and Beckett are trying to throw them together.
And in the meantime, woven throughout the whole story there are a bunch of side characters of various interest: Harry's secretary, her mother, the psychotic Dr. of the asylum, a sympathetic baker, a pair of larcenous servants, etc. Chesney employs the narrative device of letting us know, as asides throughout the book, how each of these people's interactions with Rose and Harry affects their lives -- either good, bad or, in one case, shocking. We get to follow each of them to their eventual fate which is told in a sometimes conversational, sometimes prophetic tone.
I am really enjoying these books even if they aren't quite what i expected in a mystery.
No in this one it felt more like a "let's hang out with Harry and Rose some more and see what happens next and oh, by the way, let's solve a murder" book.
As I was just pleased to listen to the prose and spend more time with Harry and Rose the wafer thin mystery plot wasn't really bothersome.
I do have to say that I liked the structure of the book a bit more than I thought I would. It meandered quite a bit.
The book starts out with Rose wanting to be an "Independent Girl" and actually do that horrid middle class thing known as 'working'. Humoring her, her parents with the collusion of Harry find a suitable job for her as a bank typist. Rose correctly and quickly realizes this is nothing but make work to appeaser her. Both her parents and Harry realize that as soon as the pampered, aristocratic Rose actually gets to experience what a real lower-to-middle class working girl must experience that she'll hot-foot it back home right away.
Rose is a lot spoiled and a lot naive and instead of making Rose some intrepid heroine who cheerfully makes do with her little hostel room and manages to live on her meager income, the author doesn't sugar coat Rose's faults. Rose is horrified by the poverty of the hostel and the small amount of food her little money buys. She is disdainful and a little snotty. And as predicted she latches onto the first excuse to go back to her comfortable upper class existence.
From there it meanders into a strange subplot with her parents allowing themselves to be bamboozled into having Rose committed to an Asylum.
And finally we get to the mystery element which is about the murder of a young man who is a suspected blackmailer.
All the while Harry and Rose fight their obvious attraction to each other while their faithful servants, Daisy and Beckett are trying to throw them together.
And in the meantime, woven throughout the whole story there are a bunch of side characters of various interest: Harry's secretary, her mother, the psychotic Dr. of the asylum, a sympathetic baker, a pair of larcenous servants, etc. Chesney employs the narrative device of letting us know, as asides throughout the book, how each of these people's interactions with Rose and Harry affects their lives -- either good, bad or, in one case, shocking. We get to follow each of them to their eventual fate which is told in a sometimes conversational, sometimes prophetic tone.
I am really enjoying these books even if they aren't quite what i expected in a mystery.
April 8, 2012
Where to begin? 'Edwardian murder mystery' had great potential, but this book was a huge flop. I can't recall the last time I read something this disjointed, and the way the plot was hurried along with zero details felt amateurish and as if the author wasn't even interested in the story very much. I know I wasn't.
I'm crossing this blah series off my list.
I'm crossing this blah series off my list.
November 12, 2021
Summer in Peril
Review of the Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook edition (October 2008) of the original Minotaur hardcover (June 2004)
I've just about completed my pandemic reading splurge of cozy mysteries by M.C. Beaton, the penname used by Marion Chesney (1936-2019) for her popular Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin series. Chesney first became a writer with various historical romances from 1977 onwards, before branching out into the crime genre with her first Hamish Macbeth in 1985 and first Agatha Raisin in 1992. Romances are not my genre, but Chesney's mini-series of 4 Edwardian Murder Mysteries sounded like a possible crossover between her historical fiction and her cozy mysteries.
Hasty Death continues with the story of Lady Rose Summer and Captain Harry Cathcart. I'm actually finding the social commentary aspect of these Edwardian era mysteries to be the more interesting element. The side plot here of Rose Summer being locked up by her parents as a hysteric in the women's asylum of an unscrupulous 'doctor' was much more dramatic and suspenseful than the supposed main mystery plot. The earlier subplot of Rose Summer and her companion Daisy Levine attempting to make a living as typists and living in a working women's hostel was also another insight into the working conditions of that era. In the end, Cathcart comes up with a temporary solution to prevent Summer's parents from shipping her off to India, the apparent destination of those debutantes who failed at their season's coming out events.
The narration by veteran Davina Porter (approx. 230 book narrations to her credit) was excellent throughout. Porter is especially good with her range of voices that is able to effectively mimic male as well as female tones.
All of the Edwardian Murder Mysteries series are available free to Audible Plus members.
Review of the Blackstone Audio Inc. audiobook edition (October 2008) of the original Minotaur hardcover (June 2004)
I've just about completed my pandemic reading splurge of cozy mysteries by M.C. Beaton, the penname used by Marion Chesney (1936-2019) for her popular Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin series. Chesney first became a writer with various historical romances from 1977 onwards, before branching out into the crime genre with her first Hamish Macbeth in 1985 and first Agatha Raisin in 1992. Romances are not my genre, but Chesney's mini-series of 4 Edwardian Murder Mysteries sounded like a possible crossover between her historical fiction and her cozy mysteries.
Hasty Death continues with the story of Lady Rose Summer and Captain Harry Cathcart. I'm actually finding the social commentary aspect of these Edwardian era mysteries to be the more interesting element. The side plot here of Rose Summer being locked up by her parents as a hysteric in the women's asylum of an unscrupulous 'doctor' was much more dramatic and suspenseful than the supposed main mystery plot. The earlier subplot of Rose Summer and her companion Daisy Levine attempting to make a living as typists and living in a working women's hostel was also another insight into the working conditions of that era. In the end, Cathcart comes up with a temporary solution to prevent Summer's parents from shipping her off to India, the apparent destination of those debutantes who failed at their season's coming out events.
The narration by veteran Davina Porter (approx. 230 book narrations to her credit) was excellent throughout. Porter is especially good with her range of voices that is able to effectively mimic male as well as female tones.
All of the Edwardian Murder Mysteries series are available free to Audible Plus members.
July 25, 2016
Hasty Death is very much like the first book in tone, style and mystery. A series of coincidences seems to be all that keeps the characters from disaster — one particular chain of lucky coincidences involving a corpse who becomes unidentifiable before being found constitutes a whole side plot which just doesn’t feel satisfying, because it relies so much on sheer luck. Likewise, the detective skills of Harry Cathcart and Lady Rose are about on that level: it’s a wonder they manage to get anything done, but fortunately they’re a bit more intelligent than the police superintendent, Kerridge, so they do propel the plot along somewhat.
Despite that negativity, it is quite fun to read. I knew it was paper-thin the whole time, of course, and even the will-they-won’t-they of the love story is conducted with the same chain of coincidences (this time involving misinterpretation and misunderstanding, of course). And yet. It’s light enough fun.
Originally posted here.
Despite that negativity, it is quite fun to read. I knew it was paper-thin the whole time, of course, and even the will-they-won’t-they of the love story is conducted with the same chain of coincidences (this time involving misinterpretation and misunderstanding, of course). And yet. It’s light enough fun.
Originally posted here.
December 31, 2008
Once again, Lady Rose Summer's thoughtless behavior nearly leads to disastrous scandal at every turn. Captain Harry Cathcart saves her from physical and/or social peril at least eight times.
It's surprising that he managed, because this book makes the unwelcome revelation that Captain Cathcart is an inept bumbler prone to gossiping about sensitive information and leaving obvious clues. He is only able to conceal his activities because the police superintendent is equally ineffective. Even then Harry wouldn't have had a chance if it weren't for a series of lucky breaks (described in tiresome detail) that make me wonder why the author wasted time with all that side crap in the first place instead of deepening the main mystery.
I may not have been crazy about the first book, but this follow-up was seriously disappointing. I've already requested the third novel from the library, but if it's as random as this one I doubt I'll bother reading further.
It's surprising that he managed, because this book makes the unwelcome revelation that Captain Cathcart is an inept bumbler prone to gossiping about sensitive information and leaving obvious clues. He is only able to conceal his activities because the police superintendent is equally ineffective. Even then Harry wouldn't have had a chance if it weren't for a series of lucky breaks (described in tiresome detail) that make me wonder why the author wasted time with all that side crap in the first place instead of deepening the main mystery.
I may not have been crazy about the first book, but this follow-up was seriously disappointing. I've already requested the third novel from the library, but if it's as random as this one I doubt I'll bother reading further.
March 12, 2009
I did read the next book in the Edwardian Mystery series by Marion Chesney, A Hasty Death. It feels like reading a story outline. Chesney doesn't bother to elaborate on ANY plot points. She just zips from one place to the next. It's really, really weird. One minute Rose and Harry, our protagonists, are breaking out of an insane asylum. The next they are at a country house party. Ten pages later they are confronting a crazed murderer. Because of this ADD-style, the characterization suffers. This is a shame, because the characters were the best part of the first entry in the series, Snobbery With Violence. Now I'm not sure what to expect from the next installment. These books are short (~200 pages), so I don't mind giving another a try. I just hope Chesney will slow down and take a breath in the next one.
December 18, 2020
I just enjoy this series. Davina Porter is a joy to listen too. The plot and romance are entertaining. I will continue with the series and look forward to the next book.
June 20, 2022
J’ai préféré ce 2e tome au 1er !
Que de péripéties dans ce récit, parfois sans queue ni tête certes. Mais vous savez quoi ? Je m’en fou. L’intrigue n’est pas trépidante, on passe d’un événement à un autre sans vraiment s’attarder sur les détails, les personnages ne sont pas d’une profondeur incroyable et pourtant j’ai passé un super moment. C’était très léger et cosy, ça coulait tout seul. Je l’ai lu en moins de 24h un dimanche aprem et je suis persuadée que les cosy mystery ont été inventés pour ça.
Lady Rose continue ses rêves d’indépendance en voulant travailler, le comble pour une aristocrate à l’époque edwardienne. C’est un personnage assez ambivalent, elle veut absolument vivre comme le petit peuple mais continue avec ses normes et caprices de bourgeoise. Pour les idées révolutionnaires on y est presque mais il faudrait penser à les appliquer jusqu’au bout. Elle ne baisse pourtant pas les bras et continue d’apprendre de jour en jour. Harry quant à lui est un détective chanceux qui découvre beaucoup de choses en un coup d’œil mais encore une fois, hihi, je m’en foutais. Leur duo est assez drôle.
J’étais plus intéressée par le côté fiction historique et tout les détails de la vie d’époque que par l’enquête elle même, mais ça rajoutait un petit plus ! Et la petite touche de romance promet de se développer par la suite puisqu’on part sur un fake dating 👀
Au final c’est un livre assez caricatural. C’est rocambolesque, marrant, parfait à lire d’un coup !
Que de péripéties dans ce récit, parfois sans queue ni tête certes. Mais vous savez quoi ? Je m’en fou. L’intrigue n’est pas trépidante, on passe d’un événement à un autre sans vraiment s’attarder sur les détails, les personnages ne sont pas d’une profondeur incroyable et pourtant j’ai passé un super moment. C’était très léger et cosy, ça coulait tout seul. Je l’ai lu en moins de 24h un dimanche aprem et je suis persuadée que les cosy mystery ont été inventés pour ça.
Lady Rose continue ses rêves d’indépendance en voulant travailler, le comble pour une aristocrate à l’époque edwardienne. C’est un personnage assez ambivalent, elle veut absolument vivre comme le petit peuple mais continue avec ses normes et caprices de bourgeoise. Pour les idées révolutionnaires on y est presque mais il faudrait penser à les appliquer jusqu’au bout. Elle ne baisse pourtant pas les bras et continue d’apprendre de jour en jour. Harry quant à lui est un détective chanceux qui découvre beaucoup de choses en un coup d’œil mais encore une fois, hihi, je m’en foutais. Leur duo est assez drôle.
J’étais plus intéressée par le côté fiction historique et tout les détails de la vie d’époque que par l’enquête elle même, mais ça rajoutait un petit plus ! Et la petite touche de romance promet de se développer par la suite puisqu’on part sur un fake dating 👀
Au final c’est un livre assez caricatural. C’est rocambolesque, marrant, parfait à lire d’un coup !
October 20, 2018
I really like Lady Rose. She is so unlikable! She joins the suffragettes...and then quits. She tries to be a working woman...gives up. Claims she'll never marry and then realizes that marriage might be the way to achieve independence.
She's contrary, cross, and holds ideals she rarely lives up to. It makes her a delightful heroine. She feels real.
Unfortunately, the same thing cannot be said for the rest of the characters. I find Captain Harry Cathcart especially dull. His only fault is his irrational prejudice towards Lady Rose. And as I am quite fond of her, I do not find that fault particularly redeemable.
The other characters fill rather one dimensional roles. I will say this for the plot, though...it embraces random tangents and odd side characters of no particular relevance. It gets you thinking one thing and then turns it into something absurd and amusing.
Unfortunately, the plot relies too heavily on these weird side tangents. It keeps the story from going anywhere and means the actual plot never seems to fit together right. The beginning, middle, and end of this book are all entirely different stories, loosely held together by Lady Rose and Captain Harry's mutual irritation with one another.
I think of all the 'Marion Chesney' heroines I've encountered, Lady Rose remains easily my favorite. But the rest of her book is so below average that I'm not sure it is even worth reading the third one.
She's contrary, cross, and holds ideals she rarely lives up to. It makes her a delightful heroine. She feels real.
Unfortunately, the same thing cannot be said for the rest of the characters. I find Captain Harry Cathcart especially dull. His only fault is his irrational prejudice towards Lady Rose. And as I am quite fond of her, I do not find that fault particularly redeemable.
The other characters fill rather one dimensional roles. I will say this for the plot, though...it embraces random tangents and odd side characters of no particular relevance. It gets you thinking one thing and then turns it into something absurd and amusing.
Unfortunately, the plot relies too heavily on these weird side tangents. It keeps the story from going anywhere and means the actual plot never seems to fit together right. The beginning, middle, and end of this book are all entirely different stories, loosely held together by Lady Rose and Captain Harry's mutual irritation with one another.
I think of all the 'Marion Chesney' heroines I've encountered, Lady Rose remains easily my favorite. But the rest of her book is so below average that I'm not sure it is even worth reading the third one.
August 16, 2016
Well, I'm at a loss as to how to describe this story. I have the same sentiments about Lady Rose as I have about the Maisie Dobbs character. Here's what I said about Maisie "This was laborious reading ((eye roll)). I just could not finish this tale. I didn't even get halfway through it. Maisie Dobbs is about as exciting as watching paint dry. Perhaps others will enjoy this character." I just couldn't connect with Lady Rose nor the other characters in this story. In fact, as I was reading this fiasco, I recall thinking about a T-shirt slogan I recently read - "I read because punching people is frowned upon." I started to rethink that slogan because I was reading, and yet I still wanted to punch the characters! The writing is so very boring. I felt as if I were reading something from a YA author. My time wasn't well spent. But, it was like the proverbial train wreck - I couldn't turn away! I honestly thought it would get better as the story dragged along but alas, it did not. Thankfully it wasn't a long story.
May 25, 2022
2,75/5
Une aventure de Lady Rose un peu trop rocambolesque pour moi. Je continuerai sûrement cette série néanmoins.
Une aventure de Lady Rose un peu trop rocambolesque pour moi. Je continuerai sûrement cette série néanmoins.
March 13, 2014
Lady Rose und Captain Harry
Lady Rose hat sich in den Kopf gesetzt, dass sie für ihren Lebensunterhalt arbeiten möchte. Für eine Tochter aus gutem Haus nicht gerade ein angebrachter Gedanke, das ist jedenfalls der Standpunkt ihrer Eltern. Da sie in ihrer Tochter aber eher ein heiratsfähiges Ausstellungsstück sehen, dass wegen der Nähe zur Bewegung der Suffragetten bereits einen zweifelhaften Ruf hat, lassen sie der Tochter ihrer Willen und fahren nach Nizza, um der Kälte Londons zu entfliehen. Damit Rose das Arbeiten auch richtig lernt, wird das Stadthaus der Eltern geschlossen und Rose und ihre Daisy, die Bedienstete, die fast schon ihre Freundin ist, müssen in einer Herberge für werktätige Frauen unterkommen. Außerdem hat Captain Harry den beiden Stellen in einer Bank gesucht, wo sie völlig unnütze Tätigkeiten ausführen. Langeweile, einfache Wohnung, wenig Nahrung, Umstände, die sehr überzeugen, dass das Leben einer Lady aus gutem Haus wohl doch angenehmer ist. Wäre da nicht ein Mord an einem der Kunden der Bank.
Lady Rose, Captain Harry und Daisy sind sympathische Charaktere mit Stärken und Schwächen. Manchmal scheint es als sei Rose die Einzige, die den Überblick behält und doch den Wald vor lauter Bäumen nicht sieht. So muss Harry häufiger zu ihrer Rettung eilen. Daisy, die aus einfachen Verhältnissen kommt, kann ihr Glück in Roses Haushalt aufgenommen zu sein, kaum fassen. Doch hin und wieder sehnt sie sich nach ihrer Welt. Die Eltern der jungen Lady wirken ausgesprochen gefühlskalt, oberflächlich und nur auf den Ruf der Tochter bedacht.
Bei den Büchern um Lady Rose und Captain Harry handelt es sich um eine Reihe, von romantisch angehauchten Kriminalromanen, die Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts spielen. So ist in diesem Fall etwas Kritik gegen die Stellung der Frau in der damaligen Gesellschaft verpackt. Rose lehnt sich gegen die Zwänge auf, denen sie eigentlich unterliegt. Allerdings kehrt sie auch immer wieder gerne in ihre gesicherte Umgebung zurück, wenn ihre Ausflüge unangenehm zu werden drohen. Und Harry, den sie natürlich unbewusst lieber mag als sie zugeben möchte, steht immer zu ihrer Rettung bereit. Allerdings stellt er sich manchmal etwas dämlich an, wodurch Rose überhaupt erst auf die Idee kommt, sie müsse die Dinge selbst in die Hand nehmen. Damit der Leser diese Dinge auch bestimmt merkt, sind Situationen häufiger sehr überzeichnet und damit nicht mehr glaubwürdig. Das Buch wartet mit einigen netten Ideen auf, der Fall ist weitestgehend schlüssig, doch sind einige Nebenschauplätze eher eine Ablenkung, deren Sinn sich nicht immer erkennbar ist. Und durch die übertriebene Ausbreitung einiger Charakterzüge, durch die Stereotypie mancher Situationen, wirkt der Roman eben gerade nicht so witzig und romantisch, sondern in Zügen eher nervig. Sicher sehen andere Leser das weniger kritisch, denn gute und leichte Unterhaltung wird sicher geboten. Allerdings werde ich die Reihe nicht zwingend weiter verfolgen.
Lady Rose hat sich in den Kopf gesetzt, dass sie für ihren Lebensunterhalt arbeiten möchte. Für eine Tochter aus gutem Haus nicht gerade ein angebrachter Gedanke, das ist jedenfalls der Standpunkt ihrer Eltern. Da sie in ihrer Tochter aber eher ein heiratsfähiges Ausstellungsstück sehen, dass wegen der Nähe zur Bewegung der Suffragetten bereits einen zweifelhaften Ruf hat, lassen sie der Tochter ihrer Willen und fahren nach Nizza, um der Kälte Londons zu entfliehen. Damit Rose das Arbeiten auch richtig lernt, wird das Stadthaus der Eltern geschlossen und Rose und ihre Daisy, die Bedienstete, die fast schon ihre Freundin ist, müssen in einer Herberge für werktätige Frauen unterkommen. Außerdem hat Captain Harry den beiden Stellen in einer Bank gesucht, wo sie völlig unnütze Tätigkeiten ausführen. Langeweile, einfache Wohnung, wenig Nahrung, Umstände, die sehr überzeugen, dass das Leben einer Lady aus gutem Haus wohl doch angenehmer ist. Wäre da nicht ein Mord an einem der Kunden der Bank.
Lady Rose, Captain Harry und Daisy sind sympathische Charaktere mit Stärken und Schwächen. Manchmal scheint es als sei Rose die Einzige, die den Überblick behält und doch den Wald vor lauter Bäumen nicht sieht. So muss Harry häufiger zu ihrer Rettung eilen. Daisy, die aus einfachen Verhältnissen kommt, kann ihr Glück in Roses Haushalt aufgenommen zu sein, kaum fassen. Doch hin und wieder sehnt sie sich nach ihrer Welt. Die Eltern der jungen Lady wirken ausgesprochen gefühlskalt, oberflächlich und nur auf den Ruf der Tochter bedacht.
Bei den Büchern um Lady Rose und Captain Harry handelt es sich um eine Reihe, von romantisch angehauchten Kriminalromanen, die Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts spielen. So ist in diesem Fall etwas Kritik gegen die Stellung der Frau in der damaligen Gesellschaft verpackt. Rose lehnt sich gegen die Zwänge auf, denen sie eigentlich unterliegt. Allerdings kehrt sie auch immer wieder gerne in ihre gesicherte Umgebung zurück, wenn ihre Ausflüge unangenehm zu werden drohen. Und Harry, den sie natürlich unbewusst lieber mag als sie zugeben möchte, steht immer zu ihrer Rettung bereit. Allerdings stellt er sich manchmal etwas dämlich an, wodurch Rose überhaupt erst auf die Idee kommt, sie müsse die Dinge selbst in die Hand nehmen. Damit der Leser diese Dinge auch bestimmt merkt, sind Situationen häufiger sehr überzeichnet und damit nicht mehr glaubwürdig. Das Buch wartet mit einigen netten Ideen auf, der Fall ist weitestgehend schlüssig, doch sind einige Nebenschauplätze eher eine Ablenkung, deren Sinn sich nicht immer erkennbar ist. Und durch die übertriebene Ausbreitung einiger Charakterzüge, durch die Stereotypie mancher Situationen, wirkt der Roman eben gerade nicht so witzig und romantisch, sondern in Zügen eher nervig. Sicher sehen andere Leser das weniger kritisch, denn gute und leichte Unterhaltung wird sicher geboten. Allerdings werde ich die Reihe nicht zwingend weiter verfolgen.
May 31, 2024
"I don't believe you. I don't believe either of your statements. But two murders have been solved, which is good."
Loose quote from the always suspicious Inspector Kerridge, which TOTALLY sums up this delightfully silly mystery series.
Some reviews criticize the over abundance of "save the day" coincidences but I find them fun simply because they're usually clever and occasionally ironic. I certainly didn't choose to read these for serious reasons.
Sad to say I'm half-way thru the series but always a fun read!!
(Reviewed 6/2/17)
Loose quote from the always suspicious Inspector Kerridge, which TOTALLY sums up this delightfully silly mystery series.
Some reviews criticize the over abundance of "save the day" coincidences but I find them fun simply because they're usually clever and occasionally ironic. I certainly didn't choose to read these for serious reasons.
Sad to say I'm half-way thru the series but always a fun read!!
(Reviewed 6/2/17)
September 9, 2009
Again, enjoyable, although Rose's behavior is getting a little irritating. Some fun stuff, not a crazy complex mystery but good light fun. Very sparse writing style.
June 4, 2020
It gets a 4 for keeping the gay character out of jail
August 2, 2021
Mlle Alice, pouvez-vous nous raconter votre rencontre avec Soupçons et Préjugés ?
"J'ai eu la chance de recevoir les deux premiers tomes, dès leur sortie, de la part des éditions Albin Michel. Et comme ma découverte de cette nouvelle série fut très agréable, je ne me suis pas fait prier pour attaquer celui-ci."
Dites-nous en un peu plus sur son histoire...
"Une nouvelle fois, Lady Rose ne peut s'empêcher de dire ce qu'elle pense haut et fort et de s'attirer des ennuis. Heureusement, le Capitaine Cathcart, maintenant officiellement détective, n'est jamais trop loin ou trop occupé pour la secourir..."
Mais que s'est-il exactement passé entre vous ?
"J'ai retrouvé avec plaisir les quatre personnages principaux de cette série : Lady Rose, Harry et leurs domestiques. Dans le préc��dent, la femme de chambre et la majordome étaient de loin les plus interessants mais dans celui-ci, les deux aristocrates prennent un peu d'épaisseur, essentiellement grâce à leur antagonisme. J'ai particulièrement apprécié que le Capitaine n'hésite pas à dire le fond de sa pensée à Rose lorsque celle-ci fait fausse route, ce qui lui arrive régulièrement, et elle-même gagne en humanité à travers ses erreurs. Pour le reste, on ne peut nier que les situations ridicules et/ou périlleuses sont nombreuses, peut-être un peu trop, et que la trame ressemble énormément au tome précédent mais honnêtement il est très facile de se prendre au jeu."
Et comment cela s'est-il fini ?
"Je maintiens mon verdict : je préfère les séries Hamish Macbeth et Agatha Raisin à celle-ci. Ici, pour moi, le style et l'époque donnent un mélange étrange qui ne prend pas tout à fait. Pour autant, cela reste extrêmement divertissant et la fin est à la hauteur de ce à quoi M.C. Beaton nous a habitué, on a instantanément envie de se jeter sur la suite ! Il va pourtant falloir patienter jusqu'au mois de novembre pour avoir le fin mot de l'histoire."
http://booksaremywonderland.hautetfor...
"J'ai eu la chance de recevoir les deux premiers tomes, dès leur sortie, de la part des éditions Albin Michel. Et comme ma découverte de cette nouvelle série fut très agréable, je ne me suis pas fait prier pour attaquer celui-ci."
Dites-nous en un peu plus sur son histoire...
"Une nouvelle fois, Lady Rose ne peut s'empêcher de dire ce qu'elle pense haut et fort et de s'attirer des ennuis. Heureusement, le Capitaine Cathcart, maintenant officiellement détective, n'est jamais trop loin ou trop occupé pour la secourir..."
Mais que s'est-il exactement passé entre vous ?
"J'ai retrouvé avec plaisir les quatre personnages principaux de cette série : Lady Rose, Harry et leurs domestiques. Dans le préc��dent, la femme de chambre et la majordome étaient de loin les plus interessants mais dans celui-ci, les deux aristocrates prennent un peu d'épaisseur, essentiellement grâce à leur antagonisme. J'ai particulièrement apprécié que le Capitaine n'hésite pas à dire le fond de sa pensée à Rose lorsque celle-ci fait fausse route, ce qui lui arrive régulièrement, et elle-même gagne en humanité à travers ses erreurs. Pour le reste, on ne peut nier que les situations ridicules et/ou périlleuses sont nombreuses, peut-être un peu trop, et que la trame ressemble énormément au tome précédent mais honnêtement il est très facile de se prendre au jeu."
Et comment cela s'est-il fini ?
"Je maintiens mon verdict : je préfère les séries Hamish Macbeth et Agatha Raisin à celle-ci. Ici, pour moi, le style et l'époque donnent un mélange étrange qui ne prend pas tout à fait. Pour autant, cela reste extrêmement divertissant et la fin est à la hauteur de ce à quoi M.C. Beaton nous a habitué, on a instantanément envie de se jeter sur la suite ! Il va pourtant falloir patienter jusqu'au mois de novembre pour avoir le fin mot de l'histoire."
http://booksaremywonderland.hautetfor...
August 7, 2021
J'aime beaucoup cette série pour sa fraîcheur et sa simplicité. Ce deuxième tome est d'ailleurs aussi plaisant à écouter que Meurtre et séduction.
Lady Rose est une jeune héritière qui ne supporte plus les conventions de son rang (elle veut être indépendante et courir après les criminels pour résoudre de bons petits meurtres). Ses parents sont ulcérés par son attitude et veulent l'obliger à se marier (en usant parfois de méthodes douteuses). Oui, ils choisissent de l'interner dans un asile ! Gosh.
Heureusement le Capitaine Cathcart n'est jamais loin pour lui prêter secours. Certes, il la trouve toujours capricieuse et elle juge qu'il est affreusement condescendant. Mais le duo marche du feu de dieu ! J'ai évidemment tapé des deux mains face à l'issue de l'histoire. Ça promet d'être croustillant pour la suite.
Lady Rose est une jeune héritière qui ne supporte plus les conventions de son rang (elle veut être indépendante et courir après les criminels pour résoudre de bons petits meurtres). Ses parents sont ulcérés par son attitude et veulent l'obliger à se marier (en usant parfois de méthodes douteuses). Oui, ils choisissent de l'interner dans un asile ! Gosh.
Heureusement le Capitaine Cathcart n'est jamais loin pour lui prêter secours. Certes, il la trouve toujours capricieuse et elle juge qu'il est affreusement condescendant. Mais le duo marche du feu de dieu ! J'ai évidemment tapé des deux mains face à l'issue de l'histoire. Ça promet d'être croustillant pour la suite.
July 7, 2021
Second in the series of Edwardian mysteries by the popular Ms. Chesney. Still harbouring her anti-establishment suffragette leanings, Lady Rose runs off (dragging along her poor maid / companion Daisy) to become a working girl, a typewriter for a Bank. But the difficulties of being poor are especially poignant for one who has always lived with unthinking wealth, and while she endures to spite her parents, she’s not very happy about it. Nor, for that matter, is Daisy.
Of course, murder is committed, Rose and Captain Cathcart loudly hate each other, the upper classes harrumph, and the police grumble. At least one dead body goes the Weekend at Bernie’s route, and finally everything is restored to its normal unsettled state.
Ms. Chesney touches on the class inequities and the subjugation of women which were prevalent in the years leading up to the Great War, and adds rather more insight than was expressed in Downton Abbey. So it’s not just fun, it’s educational.
Of course, murder is committed, Rose and Captain Cathcart loudly hate each other, the upper classes harrumph, and the police grumble. At least one dead body goes the Weekend at Bernie’s route, and finally everything is restored to its normal unsettled state.
Ms. Chesney touches on the class inequities and the subjugation of women which were prevalent in the years leading up to the Great War, and adds rather more insight than was expressed in Downton Abbey. So it’s not just fun, it’s educational.
September 27, 2023
So good! This one has a lot of action. You may be wondering just what kind of action could possible occur in a Regency mystery/romance. How about murder, suicide, attempted rape, blackmail, and disposal of a corpse? This was all quite unexpected but I do love the Agatha Raisin series so I should have anticipated a fun story, but this exceeded my expectations! I listened to the audiobook and the narrator is incredible. I would swear there were multiple voices involved but apparently they all belong to one woman! Even the bits of Daisy singing were great. I can't wait to read the next one in the series!
May 4, 2020
good mystery!
rose gets saved at the last minute a lot. of course, she does solve a lot of mysteries herself. indicative of the times that the truth rarely comes out since it would negatively impact her. meh.
rose gets saved at the last minute a lot. of course, she does solve a lot of mysteries herself. indicative of the times that the truth rarely comes out since it would negatively impact her. meh.
February 19, 2021
Another fun sill audible book. I try to make my audible books a bit different than the current book I'm reading. This fits the bill, light, fun murder mystery with a hint of romance. Added bonus it's free with audible!
February 27, 2022
I'm lying. This wasn't OK. It was awful and idiotic. This should be read as satire or farce but as there is no humor, cleverness or seemingly effort to the writing that isn't possible. I've watched and enjoyed Acorn TVs Agatha Raisin series and a handful of the Hamish McBeth series. If the books they are based on are as amateurishly written as this, then real mystery is how any of them got published.
July 5, 2024
3.5 stars
This is the second book in the Edwardian mystery series, and it was exactly the breezy book I needed to counteract my malaise and ennui.
Again I combined the physical book with the audiobook, and again, Davina Porter's narration was marvellous.
This is the second book in the Edwardian mystery series, and it was exactly the breezy book I needed to counteract my malaise and ennui.
Again I combined the physical book with the audiobook, and again, Davina Porter's narration was marvellous.
October 23, 2021
Very funny with a dry wit.
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