Hasty Death (Edwardian Murder Series #2) by Marion Chesney

From the Publisher

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 Rose work as a typist and live in a women's hostel. It isn't long before Rose realizes that life as a working woman isn't quite what she imagined...or before she inadvertently discovers that recently-murdered playboy Freddy Pomfret was a blackmailer. In order to investigate properly, Rose must now return to London high society's glittering, treacherous rounds. And from elegant London townhouses that conceal ugly secrets to a tranquil country estate where danger lurks along every path, she and Harry will follow a trail of deception, rumors, and devious plots-even as a singularly calculating killer prepares to end the rebellious Lady Rose's sleuthing for good.

Publishers Weekly

Lady Rose Summer, the willful, spoiled and charming heroine of British veteran Chesney's light historical series that began with 2003's Snobbery with Violence, decides to break the class barriers and go out into the working world with her maid Daisy. Their adventures include a kidnapping, narrow escapes, a daring rescue and of course murder. After returning to the comforts of her London home, Lady Rose turns to dashing Captain Harry Cathcart, a Boer War veteran turned detective, for aid in solving the murder. Once again Chesney has concocted an amusing brew of mystery and romance that will keep her fans turning the pages. (July 30) FYI: Under the pen name M.C. Beaton, Chesney is the author of the Agatha Raisin and the Hamish Macbeth mystery series. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Lady Rose Summer bucks societal expectations by denying all her born-to comforts and going to work. She must reenter society, however, in order to find the murderer of an acquaintance-with a little assist from Capt. Harry Cathcart. Another cozy charmer from the author (as M.C. Beaton) of the Agatha Raisin series. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

What are Edwardian parents to do when their headstrong daughter prefers solving murders to marrying?Under the impression that they're sending Lady Rose to a rest home to reconsider her spunky ways, the earl and the countess are actually committing her to a lunatic asylum run by the dastardly Dr. McWhirter. Rose escapes, of course, through the stealth of her companion, the cockney-voweled ex-showgirl Daisy, and her allies, dashing Captain Harry Cathcart and his man Becket, who have saved them once before (Snobbery with Violence, 2003). But Lady Rose's travails continue. Her declasse career as a "typewriter" is cut short when she's kidnapped (Cathcart to the rescue again). What next? Determined to discover who shot the Honourable Freddy Pomfret, she finds herself at a country-house party that includes his blackmail victims Lord Alfred Curtis, Mrs. Angela Stockton, and Mrs. Jerry Trumpington. Dr. McWhirter, reappearing, is providently dispatched by Cathcart. But then Mrs. Trumpington is strangled, another marriage proposal is proffered, Lady Rose and Cathcart are at odds, and Det. Supt. Kerridge waits at the pub while Lady Rose confronts Pomfret's nemesis and succumbs to yet a third marriage proposal. Much absorbing description of an Edwardian lady's undergarments and chances of marriage after her season passes. But Chesney, a.k.a. M.C. Beaton, might have paid a tad more attention to plotting and, dash it all, suspense.

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