Murder on a Midnight Clear (High Society Lady Detective)
When she inadvertently crashes a holiday house party, Olive Belgrave stumbles across more secrets than just what her sweetheart, Jasper Rimington, has been up to. Multiple guests are lying about their circumstances, and the butler, who turns up murdered, has his hand in both treason and blackmail plots. Calm, collected, and classy as ever, Olive agrees to take the case with Jasper assisting, but they have quite a tangled web to unravel.
As with earlier books in this series, the house itself is a vivid character, gorgeously described. The plot is full of reveals and red herrings, and the characters are equally quirky: there’s the lawn tennis duo, Madge and Tommy; the slick Theo Culwell; Ambrose Eggers, snowflake photographer; and a shadowy network of anti-government actors who work in codes and ciphers. Light period language and detail place the book on the cusp of 1924 in England, but little slows down Rosett’s honed, supple prose. Clever, quick-witted, and always appropriately dressed, Olive is a fun heroine to keep up with, and Jasper’s emerging depths are a continuing delight. New readers will want to start at the beginning to appreciate Olive’s adventures in full.
