Lady Rights a Wrong (Manor Cat Mystery)
Amelia Price, president of the Women’s Suffrage Union, is found dead at the foot of the stairs in the Yorkshire cottage she rented while on a speaking tour advocating for women to gain the right to vote in 1912 England. Lady Cecilia Bates, her maid Jane Hughes, and the intrepid cat Jack find and follow clues leading to the identity of the murderer.
This is the second in the Manor Cat Mystery series, and as a reader may expect, Jack is a constant and able sleuthing assistant, identifying and capturing a key bit of evidence. His mistress Lady Cecilia and maid Jane are astute observers. Through their eyes, readers enter the standard world of the murder mystery. They also get glimpses of both upstairs and downstairs manor house life and reflections of the changing times, including not only women’s place in society and the political sphere but also the rise of spiritualism.
The overall suffrage movement is more of a backdrop than a major plotline. Supporters are considered by some to be humorless and stern. Opponents are presented in brief sketches as adamant and vociferous. As women’s right to vote in the UK and the US celebrates its 100th anniversaries, much has recently been written about the complexity of the issue, the nuances of support and opposition, the difficulty of gaining a right that today is often taken for granted. While this reader was looking for more on the suffrage front, that is not a significant drawback. This is a breezy mystery with surprises aplenty, as this reader can attest: a confident early answer to the whodunit question was proved most decidedly wrong.
