Revenge at Ravenswick: A Fiona Figg Cozy Mystery

by Kelly Oliver

Downton Abbey meets Agatha Christie in this charming series opener.
NEW AND IMPROVED 2025 EDITION!!

What’s the best way to forget an unfaithful husband?

Become a spy for British Intelligence, of course.

“A clever mix of humor and espionage that will keep you turning the pages and laughing all the way!” Dianne Freeman

Desperate to get out of London and determined to help the war effort, Fiona Figg volunteers to go undercover.

It keeps her from thinking about Andrew, her philandering husband.

At Ravenswick Abbey a charming South African war correspondent has tongues wagging.

His friends say he’s a crack huntsman. The War Office is convinced he’s a traitor. Fiona thinks he’s a pompous prig.

What sort of name is Fredrick Fredricks anyway?

Too bad Fiona doesn’t own a Wolseley pith helmet.

At Ravenswick a murderer is on the prowl, and it’s not just the big-game hunter who's ready to pounce.

You'll love this witty homage to the Queen of Mystery because it is the perfect mix of humor, heart, and page-turning intrigue.

Get it now and join the fun.

Available in e-book, paperback, and audiobook

Other books in the
Pistols in Paris
Villainy in Vienna
Mystery in Manhattan
Covert in Cairo
Mayhem in the Mountains
Arsenic at Ascot
Murder in Moscow
Poison in Piccadilly

PRAISE FOR FIONA FIGG

“Perfect for fans of Downton Abbey and Maisie Dobbs.” BookTrib

“Tantalizing and riveting with a good dose of humor.” The Los Angeles Post

“Fast-paced, tongue-in-cheek spy romp. Enjoy the ride.” Frances Evesham

“A fun diversion with an entertaining female lead.” Kirkus Reviews

"Humor, action, and intrigue set the stage for this novel. I found myself thoroughly entertained." Urban Book Reviews

“A perfect blend of wit, fun, and intrigue.” Debra Goldstein

“The perfect wartime Fiona Figg. Smart, sneaky, and full of surprises… A fun whodunit that will keep you turning the pages!” Cathi Stoler

“A satisfying tale of World War I espionage, rich with historical details, and perfectly laced with humor and high jinks. Brilliant!" Margaret Mizushima

“Lushly layered in period detail, this historical mystery delivers twists and turns in a lighthearted tale of suspense and derring-do.” Muddy Rose Reviews

“A fun, mix of whodunnit and thriller set amid American high society “ T. A. Williams

“Fun, easy-to-read, witty mystery that had me happily turning the pages.” Melissa’s Bookshelf

“An engaging mystery with a vivid eye for details, a brilliant and intelligent female lead with a quick wit and perfect comedic timing, and an emotional backdrop that brings out the reality of the war.” Reader’s Favorite 5-Star Review

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Historical Fiction

304 pages, Paperback

Published February 23, 2025

About the author

Kelly Oliver is the award-winning, bestselling author of four mysteries series:
Jessica James Mysteries (contemporary suspense), Pet Detective Mysteries (middle grade), Fiona Figg Mysteries (historical cozies), and The Detection Club Mysteries (traditional).

When she’s not writing mysteries, Kelly is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University.

Kelly lives in Nashville with three very demanding felines.

To learn more about Kelly and her books, please visit her website at www.kellyoliverbooks.com.

Reviews

[Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the mystery, interesting characters, setting, and time period of Revenge at Ravenswick,. The narrator, Nikki Delgado, did a great job with the voices of the characters. I listened to the story via my Chirp copy.

[QNPoohBear · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a free PDF e-book copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not affected by the giveaway.

Fiona thinks she has a happy life with her husband Andrew and her job in the War Department office. She makes herself useful, solving a problem for the men and they're delighted with her plan. Andrew is home from the Front with an injury and Fiona dreads his return. Then she catches Andrew with his secretary in a very NON professional capacity. A few days later he moves out and files for divorce. Fiona is devastated and even more distraught when she discovers Andrew's new wife is pregnant! Feeling down and out, Fiona can barely pull herself to work in the office and at the hospital where she volunteers as a nurse (as does Andrew's new wife). Then another problem arises at work - they need to discover whether the great South African hunter and journalist, Frederick Fredericks, staying at Ravenwick Manor, is who he says he is or is he actually working for the Germans and the chap who was supposed to investigate is unavailable. Fiona, who has always been told she looks mannish, offers to go incognito and poke around. Posing as a MALE women's health doctor and specialist in poisons, Fiona sets off for the country. She soon earns the confidence of the Earl's young daughter-in-law who suspects her husband of cheating with the widow of a man who was killed when the family's munitions factory exploded. When the Earl dies unexpectedly, Fiona suspects poison but the family doctor insists it was the Earl's heart. Fiona is about to collect evidence on the cheating husband when the Countess dies unexpectedly as well! Now Fiona is certain the deaths aren't natural but are they linked to her case and how so? Can she convince her bosses that she needs to investigate or should she do it anyway? She uncovers information that MAY link one of the family or their guests to the Germans. Can she prove it was Frederick Fredericks?

This story is a hot mess. The author is very clearly American and couldn't decide if her book was to feature an American protagonist or British or if she's writing a cozy mystery, an Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot mystery or wartime spy thriller. Also which war because it sounds more like WWII from the social cues. There's also a lack of the basic understanding of British inheritance law and the genealogy of the Saxe-Cobergs. The primary motive for murder doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Other reviews say the original version of this novel IS indeed based on The Mysterious Affair at Styles. The author's note doesn't mention this at all. Wikipedia tells me Christie's characters are GENTRY and not nobility. An Earl can't change his will leaving everything to his younger son. That's not allowed. The title and presumably the estates will go to his eldest son. The title is also not Lord Elliott but firstname Elliott, Lord title Earl of ___ or Earl___. (Remember, it's ALL laid out in the first episode of Downton Abbey! Lord Robert Crawley, 7th Earl of Grantham. His wife is Cora Crawley, Lady Grantham. The daughters are Lady Mary, Lady Edith and Lady Sybil and if they had a son, he would be the Hon. ___ Crawley or even have a courtesy title of his own, Viscount Ripon or something.) Maybe if the eldest son is a murderer, the whole kit and kaboodle will pass to the younger son but I don't think it worked that way. I'm not sure. The Countess being a great-niece of Leopold I of Belgium (Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's uncle-yes they were married cousins) and thereby being loyal to Germany doesn't make a lot of sense either. There were a lot of Americanisms and American references in this novel. The dead giveaway was the incorrect word "suffragist". That's correct for America and no one gets that right so kudos to Kelly Oliver... but... this is a British novel and the women were OK with suffragette. There's no references to the WSPU or the Pankhursts. There's a couple of random references to the Roosevelts! While yes T.R. WAS Secretary of the Navy at the time, his eldest daughter Alice was grown and married at that time and the famous quote about running the country or controlling Alice was from private correspondence. There are so many random details dropped into the story gratuitously and while they're explained which is OK, they simply don't belong. Were women still catching their hair from their hair brushes and making rats in the 19teens? Fiona mentions she prefers finger waves which is shorter hair. The corset of 1914 was not the same as the constricting garment of the Victorian era and soon gave way to the brassiere or both could be worn at the same time (um yes... the girls need some support, thanks, at least Fiona doesn't have that problem).

The story also sounds like it takes place between the wars or during WWII. The hospital scene with the gassed soldiers was specific to WWI and really gruesome. That was unnecessary in a cozy mystery. The rest sounds later. Fiona's husband easily obtains a divorce. Divorce wasn't easy to get at that time and would cause a huge scandal, especially if an Earl's son is having an affair and wants to divorce his wife. That would be a no-no. The men in Fiona's department are chummy with her and kind. Not a mansplainer among them. Only one is a womanizer and flirts with Fiona. There's no real class issues going on in this book and I was very confused by the mish-mash of time periods and inheritance law and everything else that didn't make sense.

The plot was slow to start and then I couldn't put it down. I was so angry the story ends on a cliffhanger. I didn't care for the writing style or the plot enough to want to read more. IS it ever resolved? Cozy mysteries aren't supposed to end on cliffhangers.

This is Fiona's first time sleuthing so it makes sense she makes mistakes and doesn't know what she's doing yet but I didn't love her. She took Andrew's infidelity too hard and spent too much time moping around. She was an absolutely terrible liar as a male doctor. Why would a doctor be a specialist in both women's health and poisons? That's odd. Fiona gives herself away a lot whenever she's around strong, like-minded women. A male doctor like that would not be pro-women's suffrage. She's also bad at her disguise. Too much time was spent describing how her fake moustache itched.

I suspect Frederick Fredericks has a fake moustache too. Too much time was spent on his moustache as well. Is he a moustache twirling villain or Hercule Poirot in disguise? He's supposed to be South African but is seen as non-British. He reads German philosophy, speaks French and English (but no Afrikaner?) and is quite the ladies' man. He's a big game hunter and journalist. Like Fiona I don't approve of hunting and she makes her feelings clear and attributes everything this man does to Freud's Oedipal theory, just to shock people. Frederick Fredericks sure is slimy and a knowing one. He KNOWS Fiona is in disguise but doesn't say anything. His buddy, Lt. Clifford Douglas, is half in love with him and he's the big mansplainer. Yet Frederick doesn't seem to recognize Clifford. Is that because Clifford is insignificant in his life or F. isn't who he says he is? I warmed up to Clifford but he'll never do for Fiona. He's sexist, not as intelligent/observant as she is and enjoys mansplaining and big game hunting. He is unfailing kind when she needs a friend even if he comes on too strong at first.

Mary Elliott, the Earl and Countess's daughter-in-law, is a bad @$$! She does it all. She's not a spoiled Society lady. Mary pitches in and helps out on the estate because it's wartime. She cares for her husband even though he's a bore and she married him mostly to get away from her father's house. Mary seems nice and latches on to Fiona but never seems to guess Fiona is another woman. She's desperate to find out if her husband is cheating on her and takes advantage of her friendship with Fiona to find the evidence. She also complicates a murder scene- if she's not the murderer. Her husband is a bore and a lazy aristocrat. He may or may not be having an affair with Mrs. Roland, a village woman whose husband was killed in the munitions factory explosion. Ho hum. The bigger deal is whether or not she's a saboteur and/or a murderer. I DO think she's a German spy and I DO think she's the murderer. She had a lot of motives, the means and the knowledge to be sneaky about it.

Emily, the countess (NOY Lady Edith! Wife, not daughter. Doesn't this author watch Downton Abbey? Go back and look at the first episode again if you can't be bothered to look it up) , is tough. She's clearly the one who wears the pants in the family. She's hard on her sons and expects a lot from everyone. She and the Earl disagree over the factory explosion and the countess is making amends by taking in the orphans and war refugees. She seems to enjoy collecting waifs and strays. Yet Emily isn't feeling well and I suspect she's being poisoned. The family doctor doesn't really DO anything and she's stoic about her health. Then she orders a fire, claims she's freezing, when it's very hot outside. I suspect she's either dying already or she wants to burn something- or both. The earl was much older and didn't care too much about the safety of his employees or what happens to the families of the deceased. That's very typical for the wealthy, especially at that time. I don't think he deliberately caused the explosion though. The countess has an orphaned niece staying with them. Lillian works at a dispensary and she's in love with Ian, the Earl's younger son. The countess won't allow that marriage to happen. I wonder if Lillian injected poison into the cordial bottle to kill her lover's mother to remove the impediment to her gaining wealth and status?

Fiona's friend Daisy is fun and I would read a book with the two of them sleuthing. Daisy is a scientist and a lab researcher but because she's female, people underestimate her smarts. She's also lacking in some formal higher education given her lower class speech patterns. She practices as a witch or some kind of weird mystical figure. She's quick to join in the sleuthing when she can provide evidence of murder and seems like a lot of fun to hang out with. I like her more than Fiona. Archie Somersby is a new love interest for Fiona, or at least lust. She meets him while he's recovering in the hospital which is rather unethical if they want to pursue a relationship. He goes back to fight so he may not survive. Can Fiona handle another loss? He was kind and sympathetic though a bit cheeky to Fiona after meeting only once.

My review feels as convoluted as the plot of this novel. I didn't like the PDF format on the Android tablet. It looks like a paperback book and the apps wouldn't let me make the tiny font bigger or highlight any text to remind me of the characters and key plot points.

[Mostly Murders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 1 in the Fiona Figg Mysteries series.

Fiona Figg has a photographic memory. As a child, she devoured Sherlock Holmes stories and loved acting. Many years later, during World War 1, these skills come in handy as Fiona volunteers to replace an injured agent for an undercover mission for the War Office, giving her a much-needed chance to escape London and the stifling memories of her husband of four years, who divorced her when she discovered he was cheating on her with his secretary.

Fiona is sent to Ravenswick Abbey where she is meant to spy on the South African war correspondent, Fredrick Fredricks. A task that is made a lot more difficult for Fiona as her cover story necessitates her disguising herself as a male doctor. Luckily her acting experience helps, but keeping her wits about her, and her fake moustache securely in place, becomes even more challenging as murder occurs during her mission at Ravenswick.

A fun, cozy mystery with lots of comedic complications, but with a darker side as well. Fiona volunteers at a hospital, and the horrors of war make an appearance in the book between the comedic complications of Fiona's undercover mission.

Unlike many other cozy mysteries, Revenge at Ravenswick doesn't wrap up everything neatly by the end of the book. The case at Ravenswick is solved, but it is a part of a bigger story arc which continues throughout the series.

[Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a recommendation since I'm a huge fan of the Maise Dobbs series.

I enjoyed this introduction to crime solver Fiona Figg. While not as intense and emotional as the Maise Dobbs series, it's still interesting and worth a read if you enjoy the genre. Fiona is an accidental sleuth, having been assigned as an "unofficial" part of a British Intelligence team. Fiona's first case has her going undercover, and her interactions with other characters is entertaining.

I look forward to reading the rest of the books in the series and getting to know Fiona Figg as she gains experience as a disguise-wearing sleuth.

[Heather Pickett · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the tagline states, "What's the best way to forget an unfaithful husband? Become a spy for British Intelligence, of course." Fiona Figg and her photographic memory are sent to Ravenswick Manor to spy on a war correspondent, but a murderer is also lurking about!
What a fun, cozy mystery! I can't wait to read the next in the series. Plus, my obsessed-with-British-TV self thinks this would be perfect to make into a miniseries (Acorn and Britbox...are you listening?). This book had a really interesting cast of characters, plus I loved the historical aspect.
My thanks for the complimentary copy of this book. My opinion is entirely my own.

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! I actually read the Fiona and Kitty series first. While it does stand alone, I really wanted to learn more of Fiona's back story. This was everything I was hoping for! I have a while new appreciation for Fiona as a character as well as her relationships with Fredricks, Archie, Clifford, and the memory of her ex-husband. There was lots of intrigue that kept me engaged. I can't wait to follow the gang to Paris!

[Rebekah Wanke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely, fun, intriguing, sometimes heartrending, and with very Interesting characters, this book would make a fantastic TV miniseries! Rather like Agatha Christie, there’s an interesting cast of characters and you’re constantly wondering, which one of them is more suspicious! And why are they doing what they’re doing? With interesting tidbits of history, this book is not just a detective story. It is full of spies! Very exciting! I can’t wait to read the next book in the series!

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy from Goodreads and enjoyed this book. In a similar cozy historical mystery style to Rhys Bowens’ Her Royal Spyress series, this book begins the series with Miss. Fiona Figg who is looking for her next life meaning and adventure. Miss Figg helps British Intelligence by heading to the countryside, hoping to uncover a WW1 German spy, all while dressed as a poison expert and female malaises MALE doctor. What could go wrong?!? 🕵🏻 ☠️👀🏯

[Larry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed with this story. I have heard of Fiona Figg before and Frederick Frederiskson and them chasing each other over most of Britain. I am not fond of cliffhanger endings either. The characters are admittedly interesting, the plot is all over the place, and the premise is finding out how the Countess was killed and why. The answers were vague at best.

[Miranda Summerset · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 STARS! What a fun cozy mystery spy adventure! Listening to the audiobook, I loved the British narrator. It really transported you to WW1 England. Really great settings, interesting characters, & a fast moving plot. This is super entertaining and enjoyable and I am excited for the next book!

[Lonny Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an alternate title for Betrayal at Ravenswick.

[Karen Cramer · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting story

[Andrea Latham]

Chirp Digital Audiobooks:
Narrator: Nikki Delgado
Published Date: May 5, 2019
Publisher: Level Best Books

[L Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aka Betrayal at Ravenswick. (Read 2021)