Murder at the Elms (A Gilded Newport Mystery)
Newport, Rhode Island, 1901. When newspaper owners Emma and Derrick Andrews attend a musicale at Edward Berwind’s palatial stately home, The Elms, they are quickly pulled into another case of murder and theft. At least, that’s what it looks like on the surface. The body of Ines, a Portuguese parlour maid, is found strangled at the bottom of the coal access tunnel. A priceless necklace belonging to one of Berwind’s guests is missing, and the body of a ‘below-downstairs’ staff member, who may have been Ines’ accomplice, is found shortly afterwards. The body count increases, a rival reporter makes a nuisance of himself, the Berwind’s guests are seen roaming below stairs, and the provenance of the mysterious necklace is in question. Emma, a relation, albeit poor, of the Vanderbilt and Belmont families, can ask questions to which the police won’t receive answers. She has a nose for investigations and a keen sense of observation, judging by previous jaunts down murder-mystery lane and the confidence Detective Jesse Whyte places in her.
All this gives readers a twisty trip through a complex mystery in another featured historic home in Maxwell’s Gilded Newport mysteries, a series which sets her fictional characters neatly against historical individuals. Well-known for her skillful forays into the upstairs-downstairs world in her Lady and Lady’s Maid series, this is another excellent portrayal of the opulent, privileged world of The Four Hundred and their ‘cottages’ in which the entitled Edward Berwind fires his staff in one fell swoop because they have the audacity to ask for time off beyond necessary sustenance and sleep. Readers familiar with the series will know the amateur sleuth as Emma Cross (now Andrews), and this standalone with its idiosyncratic characters and engaging story continues to keep the series fresh and enticing.
