Review: Marion Lane and the Deadly Rose by T.A. Willberg (A Marion Lane Mystery #2)

 

 It's 1959 and the associates at Miss Brickett's Investigations and Inquiries prepare to welcome three new recruits to the Agency.

Marion Lane, second year apprentice detective, receives an odd envelope slipped under the door of  her room. She finds in it that she has a new partner or "informant" and that "One of the new recruits is not to be trusted".

The timing couldn't be worse. There's a deep fog enveloping London, leading to a crime wave on the streets above (Miss Brickett's is deep underground).

A particularly heinous crime committed in Harrogate has Scotland Yard, the public, and the detectives at Miss Brickett's on high alert.  A young man was beaten, branded with an iron in the shape of a rose, and shot in the temple before being tossed in a dumpster.

The public has dubbed the killer "The Florist."  Tips and sightings of the Florist abound, as panic sets in.

The three new apprentices are Proctor, Longmore and Quinn.  Marion's assigned along with another agent to give them a tour and get settled in.  Naturally, she suspects them all, since one of them may be guilty of something.

Not only do the three not quite fit in, they soon have joined in with a long time detective to form  the Employee Rights and Protection Society.  Rumor of a body tossed into the Thames last year is what the group focuses on first, then insidiously they make accusations of missing gadgetry, irregularities in handling staff problems in the past, and there's a possibility that there are holding cells even deeper underground where people have disappeared.

As Marion and an American detective try to solve the Harrogate murder, the agency seems to be rotting from the inside.

The Agency is Marion's home and family.  There's nothing she won't do to try to solve the murder of the Deadly Rose, and to see if it is tied to the arrival of one of the recruits, who may be a murderer.

A wonderful follow up to last year's Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder, Marion Lane and the Deadly Rose takes us deeper into the workings of the 1950's secret detective agency, with it's array of useful spy gadgets, it's dedicated agents, and the labyrinth that is home to some of Britain's finest minds.

Here's what I thought of the first in the series:

https://merlynperilous.wordpress.com/2021/01/12/marion-lane-and-the-midnight-murder-by-t-a-willberg/

 

https://tawillberg.com/

The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie

 

Arthur Hastings is back providing narration.  He makes a point, however, to say there are some chapters included where he did not witness the events, but has very good information from sources involved that the tale told in those chapters is accurate.

Poirot has received an anonymous letter.

Mr. Hercule Poirot,--You fancy yourself, don't you, at solving mysteries that are too difficult for our poor thick-headed British Police?

Let us see, Mr. Clever Poirot, just how clever you can be.  Perhaps you'll find this nut too hard to crack.  Look out for Andover, on the 21st of the month.

Yours, etc.,

A  B  C

Poirot's frequent companion in crime investigation, Inspector Japp of Scotland Yard believes the letter is a hoax of the sort sent to his own offices daily.  Hastings is inclined to agree.  However, something in the letter has Poirot wary.

The 21st comes and goes, and Japp is happy to tell Poirot all is well in Andover.   Shortly thereafter, Japp calls to say a woman in Andover, last name Archer, was indeed found murdered in her small shop.  It seems her husband may have murdered her, but things don't add up.  There is also the matter of a well placed, open face down to Andover's train schedule in the ABC Railway Guide on her counter.  It is not a guide she carried in her shop.

Poirot and Hastings question potential witnesses in Andover to no avail.  

They must wait for another letter, and Poirot is certain there will be one, to try to avert another murder.  Or solve it once it tragically occurs to make sense of the murderer's plan before he kills again.

Luckily they lived in an age when "chain" or "series" murders were not a common thing.  It's fascinating as always to watch Poirot at work, connecting clues that anyone would miss, looking to the psychology of the killer as much as at his work. 

https://www.agathachristie.com/

Uneasy Lies The Crown Lady Emily Mysteries #13 by Tasha Alexander

 

 Uneasy Lies The Crown opens with Queen Victoria on her death bed.  She passes on to her loyal servant, Colin Hargreaves, a cryptic note.  In a few days she is dead and the nation mourns.

Someone, though, appears to be taking advantage of the confusion caused by her loss.  A body is found in the Tower of London, impossibly dressed like former King Henry VI, and it is trussed up with a sword through the chest, just as the king himself had died.

Colin brings his wife Lady Emily along, as they've solved many mysteries together in the past. Inspector Gale of The Yard is furious to see a Lady in these circumstances and orders her out.

Lady Emily goes outside, but begins examining the area surrounding the Tower for any way the killer could have gotten into the Tower and placed the body.

This is only the first of the scenes set by the murderer.  As Colin and Emily race to decipher which King's deaths will be emulated and where, they seem to be mired further and further into another death that took place in a Welsh mine that is somehow connected.

Colin must protect the new king at any cost, ferreting out the murderer. 

In the past, William Hargreaves places his new wife with friends as he goes to France to fight the One Hundred Years War at the side of Henry V.  It's hard to see how the past events and the future tie together till the end, when Victoria's cryptic note finds its origin in the 1400's.

This is the 13th of 15 Lady Emily novels.  It's our book group book this month, but I had already purchased the first in the series to try it out a month or so ago.

It's a wonderful historical mystery.  Rich in period details, both in 1901 and 1415, this immersive story is a pleasure. I'll be reading the rest of the series from the beginning with And Only To Deceive Book #1