Murder at the Tower of London

Kitty Worthington Mysteries #4

by Magda Alexander

After a royal prince is assassinated at the Tower of London, Kitty Worthington is asked to investigate. The murder seems to be the work of a madman who soon makes her his next target. Can she catch the killer before she loses her head as well?

London. 1923. Excited about her new direction in life, Kitty Worthington motors about London in her spiffy new roadster. Granted, finding purloined Poodles and lost Labradors may not be what she envisioned, but they keep her busy enough. At least, there aren’t any bodies dropping at her feet.

But then a royal dignitary loses his head at the Tower of London, and she finds herself embroiled in yet another murder investigation. The suspects are endless. Could it be the wastrel son? The betrayed wife? The devious cousin? The ghost of Anne Boleyn?

With the help of her ace team, comprised of lords and ladies, her maid and chauffeur, and her ever flatulent Basset Hound, Sir Winston, she sets out to solve the mystery. But there's a madman on the loose who seems equally at home among the glamorous world of British high society and London's dark underbelly. If she wants to catch the murderer, she needs something more, someone who knows all about the royals. And that can be only one person, heaven help her, her mother.

Genres: Mystery, Audiobook, Cozy Mystery, Historical Fiction, Historical, Historical Mystery, Fiction

263 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 25, 2022

Reviews

[Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

October 1923. London, England. Mayfair, Worthington House. Magda Alexander’s Murder at the Tower of London: A 1920s Historical Cozy Mystery (Kitty Worthington Mysteries #4) I bought because the Tower of London is a favorite place of mine. I definitely like this historical cozy. Besides getting to ‘visit’ The Tower, I met Kitty Worthington of Mayfair, London, who with her partner, Lady Emma Carlyle, own and direct the Ladies of Distinction Detective Agency. Kitty and Lady Emma have a delightful investigative team which work on cases of the LoDDA. I truly wanted to be part of this team. The major case in this story is brought to the agency by the Queen of Andover when the Andover Royal Family and staff descend Pom the BRF and England to negotiate a mining agreement. The Worthingtons are not titled but quite wealthy and respected. This quick but interesting read also provides snippets of English history such as in 1923 a woman could not have a bank account in her own name unless a man provided his signature plus a woman could not open her own account. A man had to open it for the woman. 😱 The characters are wonderfully real. The murder is quite grisly! I enjoyed it all. I would hire the Ladies of Distinction Detective Agency very definitely! 4.5 stars.

[pinelady · Rating 1 out of 5]

Frequent grammatical and writing errors mar this series. Subject-verb agreement problems, unclear pronouns, run-on sentences, sentence fragments, confusion of restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses, and unnecessary repetition are among the problems I noticed. Even more annoying - in fact, infuriating - is that the author perpetuates a common misquote from Shakespeare's Macbeth (which is not an obscure play). She frequently says to her beloved, "lead on, Macduff." The correct quotation is "lay on, Macduff," which occurs in the battle at the end between Macduff and Macbeth. It basically means something like, "go ahead, do your worst." But the main character says this repeatedly, which makes both the character and the author look ignorant.

Also, the plotting in this book and the previous one leaves much to be desired. I really enjoyed the first book, and each one after that was a little more careless. Read the first one or two and skip the rest until the author finds a well-read copy editor and a draft reader who will ensure she meets the standards of the first book.

[Nigel Callaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Curate's egg

An interesting plot, good characters, but let down by poor editing. Please get an editor who speaks British English.

Theater->theatre
A vest is a garment worn under a gentleman's shirt. The sleeveless garment between a shirt and a jacket is a waistcoat

"pants held up by suspenders" - >. Trousers held up by braces. Suspenders hold up a gentleman's long socks or, more usually, a lady's stockings.

The season between summer and winter is "autumn"

Honour has a 'u' in it

And "Andover" as the name of a central European kingdom? Oh come on! How about the Kingdom of Poughkeepsie? Please invent a plausible name. Andover is a small town in Hampshire, pop 7500 in 1920. It's like having a Queen or Duke of Stow-in-the-Wold. Stick to made-up names like Ruritania or Grand Fenwick. I nearly gave up half way through because it sounded so silly.

[Grandma Susan]

DNF

[Shana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sooooo... We're just going to NOT answer those personal questions about Robert?? 🤦🏽‍♀️ But that ending was wild! Should have saw that coming. 🙌🏽

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Please, please hire an editor.

[K Whatsherface · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't figure out the murder again. I think my brain stops looking for clues after book 2-3 of a mystery series. If I'm on book 3 or 4 that means the characters are entering enough that my brain only kind of cares about the mystery. The next book is the Christmas book. The reason I even started this series and wanted to finish the first 4. Might save it for December

[Bobbi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good cozy mystery in this series. Great characters and narration.

[Jeni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good installment of the series. Charming. Seeing as how Magda Alexander is also a romance writer, there is a bit of that in these, but not too terribly much.

[Tam Sesto · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick paced story.

Kitty Worthington, the protagonist in Magda Alexander’s Kitty Worthington Mystery series is so much fun. She’s witty, smart, charming, caring and surrounded by plenty of friends and family. Her relationship with Robert has a modern feel to it, yet maintains the 1920’s decorum. The secondary characters in the book are engaging and contribute to not only the development of Kitty, but the plot as well in a definitive way.

The plot was entertaining and involved the royal family. I enjoyed how the author not only tells a mystery, but also has several romances going at the same time with several of the secondary characters. She walks a fine line between the two so neither overwhelms the other and is quite successful at it.

My review is voluntary and all comments and opinions are my own.

[Charlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

London, October 1923. Kitty Worthington's new Ladies of Distinction Detective Agency has been listlessly working on boring, ho-hum investigations. When the Andover royal family comes to London for high-level negotiations of a trade agreement, they arrange to stay at the Queen's Apartments in the Tower of London. The Prince of Andover is found dead in the Tower, murdered in a most brutal way, and his valet is missing. The Queen of Andover hires Kitty's firm to investigate this horrific murder, but cooperation from other royal family members is not forthcoming. The murder was tricky and twisty, but I'm mostly enjoying getting to know Kitty and her family and friends, especially her fiancé, Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Robert Crawford.

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent addition to the Kitty Worthington series! I just love these characters and the warmth, humor and romance they bring to their investigations. This one featured a rather grisly murder and, as in the last book, I had no idea who the killer was. I had started with book 5 in this series and loved it so much I started at the beginning to get caught up. Well, I'm now caught up and very much looking forward to continuing on with this wonderful series! I will say that this book had more editorial mistakes than usual. There was even one spot where a passage was repeated. I adore these books so it's not a big deal, but it would benefit from some corrections. 5 stars!

[Andrea Dennis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall I like this series. However, the editor of this book should be fired! Repeated sentences throughout make the reader feel like they are reading in circles. Then the miss naming of characters does nothing but add to the confusion. ie Writing Worthington when it should be Hollingsworth. This happened in the first book of the series too but then the second and third books were better. Now we are back to amateur errors. It made the story hard to follow. Also the gruesomeness of the murder along with spending more time on the growing cast of mystery solvers rather than suspects grew tiresome. Hoping the next book finds a new editor.

[Jane Irish Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came across this due to another book with the same title. This one was quick and cozy, but not exactly believable — especially the location of the country of Andover: "west of France, north of Italy, east of Switzerland." After solving several cases successfully, Kitty and her friend, Lady Emma, set up their own detective agency, and one of the first new cases to come their way is the shocking murder of the Prince of Andover at the Tower of London. Can these two solve this convolute case, with the help of their friends?

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was flawed. Don't know if was the author's fault or the editing. Kitty said I know who killed the "prince" leading you to believe that the actual victim was the prince. However it turns out that it wasn't the prince who died at all - and no explanation for what she was saying. No explanation of who blew up her car to try and kill her. Why was the victim's head and hands cut off - no explanation once again - unless it was the prince who was actually killed - but it wasn't???? May try another one but either the author messed up or the editor did. Made for a confusing mess.

[Julie Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve realized the characters keep me coming back to this series. Kitty, Robert, Emma, Lord Marlow, Lilly, Mrs. Worthington…they’re all so well-drawn and endearing that it’s easy to get invested. In book 4, the royal family of Andora visits England, a murder follows, and Kitty and Emma’s new ladies’ detective agency is pulled into the case by the Queen of Andora herself. The mystery wasn’t quite as gripping as the earlier installments, but Murder at the Tower of London was still a charming read and the perfect companion for my morning walks.

[Marianne K. Benvenuti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a little light reading

I read the fifth book first. I liked it so much that I decided to read the first four. Thank goodness they were all Kindle Unlimited. While there are murders to solve, the repartee of cast of characters keeps the action going. It doesn't hurt that this takes place during the Roaring 20s, when social barriers are breaking down and before the big financial crash.

[Kathryn A Rodenbach · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really like this author and I did enjoy the first 3 in this series. I made it over halfway through this one and had to give up. I could not keep the characters straight. It would have been easier if I had been reading an actual copy of the book instead of reading on a kindle - then I could have flipped to the list of characters easier, but I still feel it would have been confusing. I will continue on with the series, but this one was a bit of a struggle.

[Sally Orchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

I devoured this book in a few hours.
When the Duke of wynchcombe gets invited to Buckingham Palace he takes Kitty and her mother to meet the royal family from Andover.
When there is a murder in the tower of London kitty is asked by the Queen to investigate.
I really enjoyed this book.
Was slightly amused when Mr Worthington announced he loved Sunday roast Beef with stuffing..
and the like..

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slower than Book 3.

Book 3 absolutely glided along. Book 4 had some bumps. The books have a pattern to them so I recommend reading them spaced apart. The investigative team remains a fun crowd. The royal family from Andover didn't grab me as must as other characters from past books.

[marlys norby · Rating 5 out of 5]

so smart.

These quick, deep character development plots are so sweet with family love, strong female characters and males that assess patriarchy and support women. The stories are “in the world” so there is a harsh reality but the cocoon of home and warmth leaves the reader wanting to know more.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Exciting Murder Case

This is an exceptional mystery. A conspiracy to commit murder was the truth of the matter in this tale. It was suggested that the person killed was the wrong victim.
I haven't read any books by this author before.
I borrowed this book from Kindle Unlimited. This in no way affects my opinion of this book which I read and reviewed voluntarily.

[María José Jiménez Tubío · Rating 3 out of 5]

In fact, 2.5 ⭐️
Kitty seems to me to be 1920s’ Jessica Fletcher!! Beware being her friend because you may be involved in a murder 😜😜
Just a cozy mystery novel, with too many descriptions of clothes and garments, but entertaining if you just want an easy reading. Having said that, I must admit I’m so into Kitty’s adventures that I won’t give up reading them.

[Ruthann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I see I’m going against the flow here but this really wasn’t good if you are looking for at least a shred of believability. I’m an Agatha Christie fan and hoped this might be a bit the same. Victim has head and hands cut off, really?? Nothing more to say except there’s a happy ever after for pretty much everyone.

[Terri Borkgren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murder at the Tower of London: A 1920's Historical Cozy Mystery. Book 4 The Kitty Worthing Mysterues

Kitty and her detective partner Emma are drawn into the murder of a colonel and the prince. One is decapitated and the other disappears. Will the murderer be caught or will the victims be identified?

[Val · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kitty has finally opened her ladies detective agency, catering to women of means. One of the first cases involves the murder of a member of the Royal family of a small European country. His headless, handless body was found in the tower of London. Kitty and her friends aren't like any normal investigators, which is a large part of the charm of this series.

[Lee Rozinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another twisty mystery

A foreign prince is murdered and the queen of Andover has commissioned Kitty at all to find the murderer. Despite warnings from the Home Office and threatening notes they pursue the evil doers. After an attempt on Kitty's life, she finally figures it out and the reason why. NO SPOILERS.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

good old Andover,

A favorite for the tourists to visit in the summer. With a complicated system of succession, little arable land and an abundance of minerals, little Andover is a prize to fight over, literally with one ,a killed and one disappeared. Kitty and her gang set to work and, of course, figure out who was behind it all.

[Lois cowling]

Another good mystery involving kitty and her gang witch now includes mother she digs deep and finds everything is not what it seems
She will be makeing the poor inspector grey before his time as she puts her self in danger once again but once I again she solves the mystery

[Vicki O. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murder at the Tower of London

The Kitty Worthington mysteries keep getting better. There are twists and turns and a cast of characters that are difficult to keep track of who's who. A couple of romances in the mix make an enjoyable read.