A fun cozy-style mystery.
I enjoyed Lady Amy and Lord William's latest investigation. A few humorous episodes involving a dog, a parrot, and too many relatives in one house helped to keep the mood relatively light. The book is brimming with anachronisms, though, including noticeably modern language and American terminology, so be prepared to suspend your disbelief. And it's far from a challenge to solve the mystery. But if you're looking for very easy light reading, this would fit the bill.
Incidentally the cover makes me think of cotton candy, and while I'm not normally a fan of that much pink and purple, I do have to admit it's pretty cute.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this digital review copy. ( )

Looks like being married won't end the fun banter between Lord Willian and his new wife, Lady Amy (aka mystery writer E. D. Burton). The book begins with their nuptials, but the honeymoon becomes instantly delayed when Amy's cousin keels over dead during the wedding breakfast. Her twin immediately accuses the husband, Albert E. Finch and the family begins a lockdown of sorts while the local police investigate. There was more than one mystery to unravel, but Amy and William stay ahead of the police as usual. ( )

Lady Amy and Lord William are preparing for their nuptials being hosted by Amy's great-aunt, Lady Priscilla Granville. Prior to the big event, guests Alice and Albert Finch have a heated disagreement and at the wedding breakfast Alice drops dead in her breakfast. Needless to say this is not how Amy and William expected to start their married life especially when all the guests are detained (including the bride and groom) and the sleeping arrangements are not conducive to a honeymoon. Amy and William are determined to salvage some of their honeymoon trip but are instructed that they cannot live town, so when they can leave Lady Granville's manor house, they head to their own home. However, things are still not going their way because Lady Granville develops a leaky roof and all her guests are now residing with the newlyweds.

This was so fun trying to solve the murder and at the same time deal with their relatives and lack of privacy. ( )

The Wedding Day! It has finally arrived and Amy and William couldn’t be happier. After the ceremony, they’ll be off to Brighton Beach for their honeymoon. Well – that was the plan anyway. The wedding went off perfectly and the wedding breakfast was going wonderfully until Alice Finch falls face-first into her plate – dead – poisoned. When the two most bumbling detectives in Bath (maybe the only two detectives in Bath) show up, William and Amy know there won’t be a honeymoon anytime soon.

Detectives Edwin Marsh and Ralph Carson do the same thing they always do – they rush to judgment and immediately arrest the person they think is the most obvious suspect. Amy isn’t so sure though and she and William start their own ‘secret’ investigation. The detectives know what they are doing and take great delight in exerting power over them. After all, William and Amy cannot leave for their honeymoon without the detectives allowing them to leave town. Poor William is frustrated beyond belief when they are repeatedly refused permission to leave.

Things go from bad to worse for William and Amy when a solicitor arranges to have Albert Finch released into their custody. It is either that or leave the man in an unforgivably awful jail, so they give in and allow it. Little do they know Amy’s loud, argumentative, demanding family is also going to descend on them – along with a thirty-year-old, Shakespeare-quoting cockatoo named Othello. Ah! Sweet William, did you ever expect your quiet, peaceful life to be turned upside down like this? Isn’t it a good thing he loves her?

“Only a few weeks ago, he had lived in this house with just himself and a staff of five. Now he had a wife, a brother-in-law, a father-in-law, an aunt, a bird, a dog, and an ever-growing staff of temporary and permanent employees. This was certainly not what he had intended when he’d proposed to Amy.”

With almost no clues – other than the obvious suspect – Amy and William find themselves running in circles – and then there is a second body. This body is discovered in their home!

There is so very much to love in this book! The wit and humor will keep you smiling even while you are commiserating with poor William who just wants to go on his honeymoon. The crimes will puzzle you – but you might think you know who committed one of the murders – but what about the other? You’ll root for Amy’s brother to get his own HEA, and you’ll take great delight at seeing Amy’s father thwarted.

I definitely recommend this book and this series. I hope you’ll give it a read and love it as much as I did. ( )

The Mystery Of Albert E. Finch is the third book in the Victorian Book Club Mystery series by Callie Hutton.

Lady Amy Lovell and Lord William Wethington have just exchanged their wedding vows and are headed for Amy’s great-aunt Lady Priscilla’s home for their wedding breakfast. The guests are seated at the table enjoying their meals when Alice Finch falls face-first into her dish - dead. The police are called, and soon the inept duo of Detectives Marsh and Carson arrive to investigate the suspicious death of Alice Finch. They will find Finch’s champagne glass in front of Alice’s place setting, in addition to her glass. They will suspect poisoning, and when Marsh and Carson learn that the Finch’s had a heated argument during the rehearsal dinner the night before, as they are apt to do, feel they have an open and shut case and arrest Albert for murdering his wife. Not only was there a murder at their wedding breakfast, but the police have ordered that no one could leave Bath until the case is solved; therefore no honeymoon for Amy and William until the killer is caught.

Amy and William have no confidence that Marsh and Carson will look farther than Albert Finch as the killer, so they begin their own investigation. This case will prove to be the most difficult one yet, but maybe that is because they want to head off on their honeymoon. William’s solicitor is able to work out an agreement for Finch’s release from jail, with the proviso that he be confined in Amy and William’s home.
Also staying at the newlywed’s home are her Aunt Margaret, her father, brother, and Margaret’s chatty parrot. During a torrential rainstorm, a leaky roof caused significant damage to the home, causing them to move to Amy and William’s house.

I love this series. The books are well-written and plotted and appear to be historically accurate. This one had plenty of twists and turns and red herrings that kept me guessing until the end as to the killer’s identity. The characters are well-developed and believable. I particularly enjoyed Aunt Margaret’s parrot and how he would disappear and reappear.

I am looking forward to the next book in this enjoyable series. ( )