Murder Under A British Moon (A Mona Moon Mystery)
Kentucky tycoon Mona Moon is traveling to Britain to announce her engagement to Robert, now a duke, but instead finds herself targeted by German plots to get at her company’s copper and burdened by the task of rebuilding the ducal estate. Someone is haunting Brynelleth to scare off workers; someone is threatening Mona; and then an American agent is killed before her eyes. Sailing through glittering ballrooms or the dusty passages of the crumbling house with the same cool aplomb, Mona, as usual, handily upstages the killer and accomplices without turning a single famously pale hair.
Keam’s skill for fast, slick prose and cheery patter make the book zoom along. The
historical cameos from a lively Viscountess Furness, shifty Wallis Simpson, and feckless David, Prince of Wales, threaten to overshadow the main characters, who have less compelling business; Mona spends more time on house plans and giving orders to her Pinkertons than sleuthing, and the question of custody over little Gloria Vanderbilt is somehow more interesting than the question of who tried to shoot Mona while she was out on a picnic. If the reader doesn’t mind following a bit breathlessly behind as Mona sails along with everything well in hand, this is a delightful cozy with some thoughtful moments of political weight.
