T;LDR: A light cozy mystery set in Edwardian England, Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman is a flawed yet engaging read, but it tackles too many threads to do any of them justice.
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
After Lady Montfort’s annual costume ball, the body of her nephew is found hanging from a tree. When it appears her family may be involved, she enlists the aid of her housekeeper, Mrs. Jackson, and together they attempt to determine who killed Teddy.
I loved the setting and the mystery was well done. There were a few issues with it that distracted from my full enjoyment and engagement, which is why I gave it 3.5 stars.
The Plot
Lady Montfort had been planning her annual summer costume ball for months, along with the able assistance of her staff, especially her housekeeper, Mrs. Jackson. On the eve of the ball, her houseguests arrive, including her son, Harry, her nephew, Teddy, and some of their friends from school. It looks to be a marvelous affair.
Until the body of her nephew is found hanging in a tree.
When Lady Montfort learns her own family may be at risk, along with the family’s reputation, she decides to figure out who the murder is with the help of her housekeeper. As the investigation moves forward, her houseguests are trapped and the secrets begin to spill out.
Can Lady Montfort and Mrs. Jackson solve the murder in time? Will the secrets bring scandal to her closest friends? And will they all survive being trapped in the house for far longer than they expected?
What I liked & liked less
I am a sucker for English manor mysteries, so of course I picked up the book for that reason alone. And it didn’t disappoint. Not only is is an English manor home, but it is on the brink of a multitude of changes – the suffragette movement, a potential war with Germany, and the end to the traditional way of life for many titled families in England.
And the author addresses those changes and the attitudes that come with them brilliantly in the book. We see how the different couples handle the change and where husband and wife are aligned or in conflict. From the point of view of Lord Montfort, for example, you see his dismay at the degradation of the way of life he’d come to expect. And I liked those nuances in a fairly straightforward country manor mystery.
However, the author may have packed a bit too much into the book. With the houseguests, the different challenges and obstacles they each faced, plus all of the changes, and the other crimes mentioned, it felt a bit chaotic to me. It would’ve been better if she’d picked one or two strands and kept it at that.
I liked the characters, both the main point of view ones – Lord Montfort, Lady Montfort, and Mrs. Jackson – and the secondary crew. I found the point of view characters interesting, varied, and different enough to warrant their own point of view. They each brought a perspective the other couldn’t, which was well done. The other people in the book also showed different slices of life in England, which created a broader depth of characters overall.
However, when they are first introduced, it’s so convoluted and packed into tight paragraphs as to who is who and where they are sitting that I got completely confused and never understood the differences, even at the end of the book.
There is also unfortunately quite a bit of head hopping in this book not happening at the chapter level, which was hard to follow and threw me off whenever it occurred. I’ve got no issues with multiple POVs but switching from one to the other mid-scene doesn’t flow as well as keeping them separate and consistent.
Also, the author introduces an inspector from CID midway through the book, but you see very little of him after the first scene. It was a bit frustrating. I wanted to see him interact with more of the houseguests, especially Lady Montfort, if only because he had his own issues that the author hinted at when we first meet him. All we get is one sentence by both Lady Montfort and Mrs. Jackson as to how their interviews with him went and I wanted more.
The author could’ve easily cut some of the more descriptive elements – do I need to know exactly how they got on their horses, which way they rode and the beautiful countryside for three pages with little dialogue or narrative? No. Give me the moments with the inspector instead!
It felt like the balance on the setting and the issues of the day were crammed into too many other threads, which meant we lost the opportunity to enjoy more of the character back and forth that makes the story more enjoyable (at least to me). I thought the murder was well-done and didn’t guess what it was about until it was revealed. The motive made sense and the explanation for how it was achieved was not something I ever could have guessed.
With all that I found problematic, I do recommend it because I did read it and found it enjoyable. It just wasn’t quite as good as I hoped when I picked it up. I may or may not read the next book in the series.
To Sum Up (Too Late!)
A light English Manor mystery with an intriguing mystery, an entertaining cast of characters, and a fascinating setting, Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman is an engaging read. I only wished there were less threads woven into the plot so that there was room for a deeper dive instead of the shallow confusing one we got. For that, and for a few of the other issues already mentioned, I rated it 3.5 stars.
About the Author
Tessa Arlen, the daughter of a British Foreign Office official, was brought-up and educated in the beautiful Chiltern Hills of England, when she was not visiting her parents oversees in Asia, India and Europe. Her books are set in the pastoral beauty of her native Buckinghamshire among its flint-stone villages, softly rolling hills, and airy beech woods.
Tessa welcomes reviews, opinions and comments on her books–if they are neither spiteful nor destructive. Readers need to remember that the words they use say a great deal more about them than the book they have just reviewed.
For more information about Tessa and her books please visit her website. http://www.tessaarlen.com/.
If you wish to purchase this book, pick your vendor of choice here, or just cave to the man and get it from Amazon here.
Originally published on Feedium.