A Daughter’s Guide to Mothers and Murder (A Countess of Harleigh Mystery)
Paris, 1900. In the latest Countess of Harleigh novel, Frances and George Hazelton agree to assist their friend, Alicia Stokes-Whitney, in determining if her daughter Harriet’s new love interest, Carlson Deaver, is an upstanding man. Their innocent queries, however, lead them deeply into Parisian matters of the heart, theater, extortion, and murder. When Frances discovers that Isabelle, Carlson Deaver’s wife, has vanished, and the Surêté is investigating her disappearance as a murder, the scope encompasses moneyed British ex-patriots from the Parisian social scene. A light investigation intensifies as Sarah Bernhardt, the famous actress, receives a note stating, “I know what you did,” accompanied by Isabelle Deaver’s earring. While Frances and Detective Cadieux unravel Bernhardt’s relative guilt or innocence, Bernhardt’s fellow actor and stand-in, Berthe Pepin, is found murdered, raising the stakes for the famous actress, the Deaver family, and those who knew Isabelle.
Author Freeman delivers a labyrinthine investigation with careful panache. Her twists continue throughout the novel until the last page as Frances and the inspector conduct the painstaking investigation that winds through the circuitous Parisian streets and encompasses all considerations of guilt or innocence. Few characters escape scrutiny as the investigation probes extortion and murder, where at times the likelihood of one character’s guilt vanishes as more clues discount their involvement. A Dramatis Personae list would be helpful since many characters require rereading for identification. That said, the author’s clever red herrings and perilous character associations keep the reader turning pages until the last.
