The Curse of the Braddock Brides
This Gilded Age story is first in a series inspired by the stately homes of the Hudson River Valley. For this book, the inspiration is Rhinecliff’s lovely and eccentric Wilderstein. Libba Wadsworth is an American heiress being courted by Will Ransome, aka William, Lord Hardcastle, a new, impoverished English earl and experienced spy and orchid hunter. It takes a brave man for the job, as, since colonial days, the Braddock family brides have a habit of slipping over cliffs. Their suitors come to similarly mean ends. Then there’s the business of poor Libba’s being on the shelf and both a “hoyden and a bluestocking,” her father’s work in the quarryman’s trade, and her beautiful mother’s secret past.
But Will is up to the task, once he establishes his bona fides over an impostor suitor, who soon becomes a murder victim, with bodies to follow. The mysteries are two generations thick in this well-researched romp tinged by an acerbic Wildean humor. Convoluted sentence structures and abrupt viewpoint shifts sometimes get in the way of the storytelling, but our self-deprecating hero and oft-confused but always delightful heroine come to the rescue. Looking forward to more adventures set in the historic Hudson River Valley.
