Tessa ArlenCritiques

Poppy Redfern's writing has gotten noticed, and she's been made a scriptwriter for the London Crown Film Unit to help showcase British civilians who are heroes in some way to the war effort. Through this job she meets women pilots from the Air Transport Auxiliary, whose job it is to fly new and repaired planes to military airfields throughout the country. While working on the script for the film about these ladies, one of them dies in a spectacular crash that is attributed to pilot error. But Poppy is not so sure it was an accident and starts asking questions that don't exactly relate to the script she's writing.

I really liked this book, though not quite as much as the first one in the series. The world-building and atmosphere were just as good, but the characters were just a little weaker. And the mystery plot was mostly done well, but I was left scratching my head a little at the end. There was a clue given near the beginning of the story that was never actually used in any way, unless I simply missed it. Still, the story played out well.

I love the history that this series brings to life, and learning about the ATA and Attagirls was the best part of the book. The American fighter pilot Poppy grows close to in the previous book, Griff, is in this one as well. Readers hoping to see their relationship ramp up may be disappointed, but I personally don't mind the struggles they're going through, only partly related to the differences between their cultures. Poppy comes to realize during this book that she may be offering Griff more than just "British reserve" due to her own past, but Griff shows that he can handle it. I wonder if we're seeing shades of the author's relationship with her husband, she being British and he being American. Either way, it's a much more realistic-feeling "romance" than most you find in books, and I like it.

Poppy's continued inner voice of the main character of the novels she's still writing is a quirk that doesn't detract from the novel at all, in my opinion. Like the previous book, I enjoyed the experience this book provided and would recommend you give it a try if either of the genres interest you. I may have to wait half a year for the next book to come out, but I'll definitely be watching for it.

Newly trained Air Raid Warden Poppy Redfern takes up her post in the small English village of Little Buffenden, where an American Air Force airfield is about to open. The airfield could make this otherwise quiet hamlet a target for an air raid, but the Germans aren't the only danger to Little Buffenden; trouble is much closer to home when two women are murdered only days apart. When suspicion is cast upon the Americans at the airfield, distrust for the "friendly invaders" surges in Little Buffenden. Poppy begins to investigate while continuing her duties as warden and trying not to end up as the next victim.

This book was all sorts of great! The descriptions made the story come to life, and though there were quite a few characters from the village and neighboring airfield involved, the author did a great job of helping me keep them all straight as I got used to them. Poppy had a wonderful mixture of spunk, loyalty, compassion, and intelligence, with a little quirk thrown in (it's not that strange to have the main character of the novel you're writing pop into your head with observations or admonitions now and then...or so I've heard).

I really liked the feel of this small town in 1942 England, where they've been at war for much longer than their American allies, not to mention more directly affected. The things the Air Force men take for granted, like having sugar and beef readily available, were luxuries to the locals. The attempts made by Poppy and her grandparents to help their fellow villagers see the Americans in a different light showed the great wisdom of this family. And though there are some bumps along the way that were a little frustrating, the American pilot that works with Poppy, Griff, was one of my favorite characters. Also, I'm not a dog person and don't normally care much about dogs in fiction, but Bess was pretty great.

I would classify this as a cozy mystery--it has all of the earmarks. I had guessed who the murderer was much earlier than I normally do, but I wasn't quite certain, and the reveal was still done really well. However, the book does probably have a little more description of violence and disturbing images than you'd normally find in a classic cozy mystery. That's not to say that it's very much--it didn't bother me at all, and I don't have a very high tolerance for some of that kind of thing--but enough that I thought it was worth mentioning if I'm classifying it as "cozy." All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience this book provided and would recommend you give it a try if either of the genres interest you. There's a second book in the series so far, which I'm looking forward to reading.

This fictionalized biography of the innovative London dress designer Lucy Duff Gordon, who also survived the sinking of the Titanic, reaches the midlevels of okayness. Which is fine as it starts out horribly, subjecting us as well as the protagonist to the shrill affectations of an unrealistic and difficult mother. While the colors of the gowns are lovingly described, the people have all been washed of color and we get only 3rd hand common gossip about the society and nothing that feels meaty about the principals.

This one checked all the boxes for me – historical fiction, strong female protagonist, fashion, creativity, survival, and success.

Lucy Wallace, who later becomes Lady Duff Gordon, is deserted by her brutish first husband in 1893 and turns to designing and sewing women’s fashions to provide for herself, her young daughter, and elderly mother. I enjoyed reading how Lucy uses her remarkable talent and skill to create a successful haute couture business which rivals the top fashion designers of the day including Doucet, Lanvin, Pacquin, Poiret, and Worth. The beautiful gowns, colorful and gorgeous fabrics, detailed stitching and embellishments are all lushly described.

I found this book highly entertaining and difficult to put down. The writing is expressive and engaging, the characters and their relationships vividly described, and the lifestyles of both the wealthy and the lower classes are realistically portrayed.

Author Tessa Arlen skillfully incorporated many actual historical figures into the narrative, as well as weaving the politics, economics, and social conventions of the period into the story. I felt like I was experiencing life alongside Lucy. I especially enjoyed learning how she revolutionized that time period’s fashion and how her designs were sought after by the royals, aristocrats, and celebrities of the day.

In addition to being a story of success, Lucy’s story is one of survival. First, she survives - as well as thrives - as an independent businesswomen and then as a survivor of the Titanic. The disaster occurs in the last quarter of the novel, and the horrific experience and loss is vividly told. I may be one of the only people who hasn’t seen the 1997 Hollywood movie nor read any other account of this tragedy, so I found it fresh and dramatic.

This is a fascinating portrait of a legend, an epic story of a self-made woman. I highly recommend this always-hopeful novel of a strong trailblazer and fashion icon.

A DRESS OF VIOLET TAFFETA by Tessa Arlen
This book would have made a great trilogy. As it was, it was by far too long with too many plots and subplots. The author should have stopped volume one at Cosmos's loan, volume too at their marriage, and then a final volume.. I can even see an accompanying separate story with Celia as heroine. Perhaps another with Elinor and her books.
The dress details were lovely, the characters were interesting, although Esme was given short shrift, and the plot was interesting (at first).

Lucy Duff Gordon is a rather fascinating woman. She was a businesswoman when females were supposed to be quiet and be appendages to their husbands. Should they be widowed they were to either quietly fade away or if still young, find themselves another husband.
She did excel at finding husbands but she was not very good at fading away.

What she did was find a way to support herself and her daughter and she did it with style – in both meanings of the word. Lucy had a talent for color and for style and so she founded a fashion house. She dressed many a rich woman and her clothes were, at one time quite the thing.

But she is perhaps known more for surviving the sinking of the Titanic. What a life, eh? This is not the first novel I have read coving this fascinating woman and I suspect that as time goes by there will be more.

As to A Dress of Violet Taffeta – I found it to be quite enjoyable. I read it mostly in a day. Just a slight overhang for a couple of chapters into the next day. It is well written and chugs along at a good pace.

The characters are well defined and the settings described so I felt I was there with the hoi polloi on the Titanic myself. And I felt the horror of its fate. But I suspected it would be a good read as I had the pleasure of reading another of Ms. Arlen’s books.

After divorcing her husband, Lucy Sutherland needs a way to support herself and her young daughter, causing her to turn to fashion design. Under the name of Lucile, she designed popular gowns for the British upper class and even led a new trend in underwear. Lucy also attracted the attentions of Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon, who became her second husband. As a couple, they sailed on the ill-fated Titanic, which left them both with a legacy beyond fashion. This novel made for a compelling and interesting read, especially the scenes toward the end, on Titanic's lifeboats. Still, I appreciated that this novel was about more than just the Titanic, giving me a fuller sense of the life of Lucy, Lady Duff Gordon.

As a big fan of historical mystery books have I been curious about the Lady Montfort Mystery series. So, when I got the chance to read the third book in the series, A DEATH BY ANY OTHER NAME, was I thrilled to finally see if this series would appeal to me. What intrigued me about this book was the idea of a lady and a housekeeper investigating murders. In the beginning of the 20th-century is the idea of two so different women working together in that way remarkable since they come from different social classes. But, it works very well I think, mostly because Lady Montfort feels like a well- grounded person and not a snob.

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!

Dresses, dresses, dresses...who can pass up a book about a famous dress designer.

Lucy married a drinker and a philanderer. To her surprise and relief he left her.

Divorce isn't something women did in the 1800’s, but it happened.

Her mother was horrified because she said Lucy would be ostracized.

That didn't stop Lucy....she started her own dressmaking business and created gowns for famous Americans and Europeans.

A DRESS OF VIOLET TAFFETA is about a real person Lucy, Lady Duff Gordon.

She is famous not only for her designs, but that she was a survivor of the Titanic.

Facts about investigations into the wealthy who survived was something I didn’t know.

We get to join the workers in the designing houses and learn how they works and also how some design houses would steal designs by only changing a very tiny detail and call it their own.

I do have to say it did drag on a bit, but I enjoyed it.

Fashion fans and fans of this era will love this book. 4/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

Women's lives have not been easy. They have long been at the mercy of men's ideas and are the ones to suffer approbation when their lives veer from accepted paths. But women have always done what they need to do to survive, even if they have to buck societal norms. They are creative and determined and with a little luck, they will more than survive; they will thrive. One woman who overcame so much, none of it of her own making, was Lucy, Lady Duff Gordon. Tessa Arlen has written a captivating fictionalized version of Lucy's life, her rise to prominence, and the slander that damaged her reputation and marriage and haunted her for the rest of her life in this new novel, A Dress of Violet Taffeta.




Opening with Lucy Wallace telling her mother that not only has her alcoholic, philandering husband abandoned her and their young daughter Esmé for a pantomime dancer, but he has squandered all of their money, she's had to let all the servants but the scullery maid go, and she is suing James for divorce. The latter bit of information is, of course, the most scandalous of all in the Belle Époque, where gently bred ladies did not divorce their husbands no matter what the circumstances. Lucy has a plan to survive though. She will design and create the sort of ball gown, a dress of violet taffeta, that others in high society will want too. Using her wealthy younger sister, the future romance author, Elinor Glyn's contacts, Lucy will discreetly start her own couture house to support herself and Esmé.




Arlen captures the stress and worry of starting the fashion house Lucile, the learning curve of the financial side of a business, and the innovation and risks that Lucy took to get to the top of her trade. Lucy's personal life is also woven into the story, the story of her becoming self-sufficient, her second marriage, the social snubs she suffered, and the privilege of designing for the Prince of Wales' favorites as well as noted actresses of the day and the wealthy Americans who found their way across the ocean to London. Arlen has imagined a close friendship with Lucy's former scullery maid, Celia Franklin, who rises to become Lucile's manager. The narration follows both Lucy and Celia independently, giving the reader a full vision of both the artistic side of the business as well as the financial side. Lucy finds inspiration in everything she admires and the descriptions of how she created her dresses and the tactile way in which the fabric and trimmings are described really bring the feminine and romantic designs to life. Coming up with the idea of a fashion show and of selling wispy under garments that allowed her to design her dresses differently, Lucy was truly a cutting edge and visionary fashion designer and this tale of her life, both as a couturière and as a first class survivor of the Titanic, is fascinating. The time period is richly evoked and the characters are engaging. This is a wonderful story for historical fiction readers, especially those who have an interest in tenacious women and the fashion industry.½

This novel is about the Belle Epoque icon Lucy, Lady Duff Gordon who was a talented clothing designer in late 1800s England. Forced to find a way to take care of her daughter and her mother after she divorces her husband who was a ne'er do well. Unfaithful and an alcoholic. Married life with him was not what she hoped it would be. Divorce was frowned upon back then but it didn't matter to her.

She loved making dresses for her dolls as a child and thought to pursue that talent that she had. She became well known for her designs, particularly her tea gowns, and evening wear, and went on to design lingerie which was considered to be risque for some. She also was credited for training her professional models and having the 'catwalk'. Her clients were among the wealthiest in England and America. She also dressed actresses and dancers including Ziegfield Follies. Her company, Lucile Ltd, was one of the elite fashion houses and flourished from the turn of the century to the 1920s.

She was the sister of Elinor Glyn who was a novelist and scriptwriter, very famous in her own right. Lucy married Sir Cosmos Duff-Gordon. They traveled quite a bit and were passengers on the fateful day the Titanic sunk. They survived but later were questioned in the inquiry in Britain. He was accused of paying bribes to get on a lifeboat which was not true as he wanted to help out the seven crew members that shared the lifeboat with him and his wife. He gave them each some money so they could replace what they lost. He was eventually exonerated but was depressed for the rest of his life because of it.

I really enjoyed this book, I love stories about strong women, especially women from this time period. Written with superb research, I think that the author definitely did Lucy justice.

I received a cop of the book for review purposes only.

After Lucy's husband wastes their fortune on drinking and runs off with a showgirl, Lucy does the unthinkable to keep herself and her daughter Esme safe, she divorces from her husband. This is unheard of in polite society during Victorian Era London. Lucy has a plan to make money. She has always loved fashion and begins to design dresses. With the help of her one remaining staff, Celia, Lucy designs and makes a dress that is the envy of everyone. From there, Lucy begins taking orders. With Lucy's eye for color and cut on specific women and Celia's management skills, business takes off. Lucy meets Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon and finds love as well as a business party. Lucile Ltd is now successful and thriving with clients around the world and a second shop in New York. Lucy, Cosmo and Celia make their way to New York with new dresses on the Titanic. When the unthinkable happens, all three manage to escape with their lives. However, the aftermath of the escape and the trauma will affect them forever.

Lady Lucy Duff Gordon is known not only for her elegant fashion design, but for creating fashion shows and modernizing women's underwear. Despite this, most of what I knew about Lady Lucy was from the movie Titanic. While A Dress of Violet Taffeta is a fictional version of Lady Lucy's life, the author has done a lot of research and used Lady Lucy's memoir as well as her design books and a viewing of her fashion collection. I was in love with Lucy's character and temperament from the start as she decides that she will support herself and Esme after her husband leaves. Lucy's determination to fulfill her dream now that she is divorced is even more significant in Victorian society. There are absolutely wonderful descriptions of color and the process of how Lucy made her gowns and built her business from nothing. Her ideas for women's fashion were able to move women forward in society. As Lucy said, " I truly believe that what women choose to wear will dictate the sort of lives we lead in the decades to come." In addition to Lucy, the other female characters were also amazingly written. I was intrigued the most by Celia who began as an unpaid helper and rose to managing Lucile Ltd. I think it's a shame that we don't know more about the real Celia, although I would have loved more chapters from her point of view. Lucy's sister, Elinor Glyn is also a force in her own right and became a well-known romance author. The Duff-Gordon's experience on the Titanic seems to have been twisted and they were made to look like villains for not going back to rescue more people in their lifeboat. The survivor's guilt seems to have affected Lucy and Cosmo as well as their relationship. Overall, A Dress of Violet Taffeta is an amazing story of a self-made woman of history.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

The only problem with Arlen’s mysteries is that there are sometimes too many characters. Manageable, but sometimes frustrating; good story nonetheless.

Light, reading, a good sense of place and time. So far the only problem with Arlen’s books for me is there are so many characters that seem minor who become major and vice versa. Maybe that’s why she puts the lists of characters in the front of the book!

Well done classic English mystery with a hefty dose of history- suffragettes, the rise of the middle class, and the like. A bit rough beginning as there were a lot of characters at the house party, but the writing is excellent and the character development for both the lady of the house and the housekeeper was quite well done,

It's 1913, and Lady Montfort is staying in their London house, when she is happy to attend a dinner party hosted by the close friend of her mother, Hermione Kingsley. Unfortunately the party does not go as expected when one of the guests is found day. With the help of her housekeeper Mrs Jackson they try and find the murderer.
An interesting mystery with some good descriptions of how the rich live, though the book should be described as a Post-Edwardian mystery.

A true delight of a book. Very much reminded me of Nancy Drew. I adored Poppy and her dog and all the people from the village. Can't wait for more about Poppy.
#action-packed
#easy-to-read
#great world building
#page-turner
#wonderful characters
#unpredictable

It is the late autumn of 1942. Our indomitable heroine Poppy Redfern is thoroughly immersed in her new job as a scriptwriter at the London Crown Film Unit, which produces short films featuring British civilians who perform acts of valor and heroism in wartime. After weeks of typing copy and sharpening pencils, Poppy is thrilled to receive her first solo script project: a fifteen-minute film about the Air Transport Auxiliary, known as Attagirls, a group of female civilians who have been trained to pilot planes from factories to military airfields all over Britain.

Poppy could not be more excited to spend time with these amazing ladies, but she never expects to see one of the best pilots die in what is being labeled an accident. When another Attagirl meets a similar fate, Poppy and her American fighter-pilot boyfriend, Griff, believe foul play may be at work. They soon realize that a murderer with a desire for revenge is dead set on grounding the Attagirls for good. . . .

I loved book 1 in the Poppy Redfern series so was very excited to read book 2 and it did not disappoint. I am thoroughly hooked on Poppy, Griff and Bess as favorite characters and can't wait to learn more about their adventures.
As they try to navigate their developing relationship and solve the mystery of two accidents, I was kept on the edge of my seat and quickly turning page after page.
Highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a great escape mystery and definitely if one grew up loving the Nancy Drew mystery books or current fans of the Maisie Dobbs, Lady Sherlock or Royal Spyness series.

I enjoyed this as much as the first. Poppy is so independent and has found what is practically her dream job while helping the war effort as well. The Crown Film Unit is sending her to the Didcote Airfleld to help make a film about the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), female pilots who ferry fighter planes to various air fields for the RAF, etc. There she meets some of the original women to start up the unit, all with big personalities to go with their fearless love of flying. A crash becomes suspect almost right away and with a little help from American pilot Griff, Poppy tries to figure it all out.

England, 1940s, pilots, World War-2, women, murder, murder-investigation, historical-novel, historical-places-events, historical-figures, historical-research, historical-setting*****

Was it really pilot error that killed the skilled woman performing aerials for the camera? Poppy, the script writer and more, really doubts it. Surprisingly, her American airman friend (and more) isn't too sure either. These women pilots are part of an elite squadron who ferry planes from one location to another and are highly skilled. Poppy has spent days getting to know them and more. I know it's repetitious, but want to avoid details and possible spoilers. The sleuthing begins and so do the red herrings and misdirections, but it is all very well done in this historical cosy. These events are fiction, but the service was real and meticulously researched to show readers that not all women stayed in place.
Madeleine Leslay has a remarkable talent for mimicry and delineates the characters very well.
I requested and received a free audio copy from Dreamscape Media/Berkley via NetGalley. Thank you!

Hurray for Tessa Arlen! Not only has she created a series with interesting setting and a variety of characters, but she has also highlighted the contribution women made to the war effort. In the second book of the series, she takes Poppy to the “Attagirls” at an RAF airfield. Poppy is a scriptwriter for the London Crown Film Unit assigned to profile the women who ferried planes from factories to airfields during World War II. Luckily, her American fighter pilot boyfriend, Griff, is on a R and R and accompanies her to Didcote Airfield and adds a little romance to the story. Two crashes and deaths of the female pilots sets Poppy on a mission to find out who murdered them. The mystery is interesting but Poppy’s interviewing the women for the film brings the women to life by showcasing their bravery is what I found most fascinating. Madeleine Leslay’s narration is excellent. She can create individual voices for all the characters, making dialogue easy to follow.

Having really enjoyed the first book in this series, Poppy Redfern and the Midnight Murders, I couldn't wait to read this one. I wasn't disappointed. Author Tessa Arlen put me right in the middle of not only a film crew but also an amazing group of women who flew for the Air Transport Auxiliary. I've read about them, and I am so pleased that a great deal of World War II women's history is finally coming to light. These women flew planes in all sorts of conditions-- new, repaired, damaged-- in all sorts of weather to all parts of Britain as well as France and Belgium. The planes they flew had no weapons so they couldn't defend themselves, and they were not allowed to use the radios. (Heaven forbid. They're women and might start chattering away. The Royal Air Force was really a dinosaur in its attitudes.) Many of these women had far broader flying experience than their male counterparts in the RAF, but when they landed their planes at RAF fields most of the time they were allotted no sleeping, bathing, or toilet facilities. However, they weren't in it for the perks; they loved what they did. (Read Arlen's notes at the back of the book.)

Poppy's job as scriptwriter gives her carte blanche to interview the Attagirls multiple times which really helps in her investigation. My liking for Poppy continues to grow. She's brave, intelligent, and resourceful, and her behavior around her American fighter pilot boyfriend can make me smile.

The mystery is a good one, too. In fact, I am happy to report that I was only partially correct about the solution, and-- due to the number of mysteries I read-- I always like when that happens. Anyone who is even remotely familiar with Agatha Christie's work will do a double-take just like I did when they come across a certain sentence. (Don't worry, I'm going to let you find it for yourselves.)

Poppy's job in the Crown Film Unit has the potential to take her to all sorts of places, and I certainly look forward to joining her in all of her adventures. Now comes the wait for book number three.

(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley)

This series is a delightful find! I have read other books by Tessa Arlen, but I missed out on the first of the Poppy Redfern books – and I’m so sorry about that! The writing is excellent, the mystery is well-formed and well-executed so you don’t guess who the villain is until the very end. There are lots of red herrings to keep you guessing. This book was so entertaining that I’ll now have to go back and read the first book in the series. Speaking of it being a series, this book can totally be read as a standalone – but I can promise you, you’ll want to go back and read the first book.

I listened to an ARC of the audiobook and I enjoyed the listen. The narrator, Madeleine Leslay, performed the narration with a tempo and voice that made me feel as if Poppy is a happy person who enjoys her life. She sounded very upbeat. I didn’t totally lose myself in the story because I did have a hard time differentiating among the speakers. They all sounded pretty much the same – every once in a while, the Scot would sound like a Scot, but the American never, ever, sounded like an American. So, I had to really concentrate to determine who was speaking. I’ll also mention that the American, who is also the masculine lead, was performed so that he sounded so prissy that I would have thought the part was female had the word ‘he’ not been used to describe him.

In late autumn of 1942, Poppy Redfern is settling into her new job as a scriptwriter at the London Crown Film Unit, which produces short films about valorous deeds performed by ordinary British citizens in wartime. She’s really excited to receive her first assignment, writing the script for a fifteen-minute film on a group of female pilots known as the Attagirls. These intrepid ladies fly every sort of aircraft to bases all over England. These ladies would much rather actually fly as part of the Royal Air Force, but England doesn’t allow female combat pilots – they barely allow these ladies to fly the planes around England. They perform a vital service – getting new planes from the manufacturer to the bases who need them as well as ferrying newly repaired planes back to their bases. Poppy cannot wait to meet these ladies.

Poppy’s gentleman friend, Griff, has seven days of leave and decides to go along with Poppy for a few days. Both Griff and Poppy quickly come to like and admire these brave ladies who fly in all sorts of adverse conditions without any of the basic safety devices regular combat pilots have. Their bravery and patriotism come through loud and clear. The six ladies they meet were the first recruited by the Air Transport Auxiliary and all of them are highly skilled and rated for most types of aircraft.

Poppy, Huntley (the producer), Keith (the cameraman), and Griff, all head for the ferry depot from which the Attagirls work. Poppy and Griff arrive first and Poppy sets about getting to know the ladies in order to begin the scriptwriting. She likes them very much and is excited to tell their tales. That excitement turns to horror when, one of the best pilots crashes and dies during a filming session. Everyone is immediately saying it was an accident and/or pilot error. Griff, who is a pilot, and Poppy don’t believe it to be an accident. They investigate more and more – they become more and more sure it wasn’t an accident. Without any proof, they cannot say anything – and when a second crash and death occur, they are sure both are related. When the powers-that-be decide that the crashes are ‘accidents’, and the filming session is drawing to a close, they know they have to quickly get some answers.

I absolutely adored Poppy and Griff – not to mention Bess, Poppy’s sweet little Corgi. Since I didn’t read the first book, I have no idea where Poppy and Griff left their relationship in that book. However, in this book, it is quite evident they care for each other. I’ll be so very happy to read the next book in order to see what mystery they get to solve and to see where their relationship goes next.

I voluntarily listened to and reviewed an Advance Audio Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is the first book in a cozy mystery series set in Britain during World War II and featuring an intrepid air raid warden, Poppy Redfern as the detective. Poppy is the air raid warden of her family's home village, Little Buffenden, and like most of these seemingly bucolic English towns, the place seems to be crawling with murderers.

When Poppy arrives to take up her duties she finds that tensions in the village are running high due to the new American airfield that has just been opened outside the town. And when two young women who have been known to be seeing American airmen turn up murdered, the situation becomes explosive, and Poppy knows she must find the real killer.

The plot is rather obvious, but the atmospherics are good. A fun, breezy read.

Completely underwhelming. I love mysteries. I love stories about the gentry. This author could not bring them together. The book starts off okay, but then gets progressively worse. It seems to focus more on the society aspects than the mystery. Good for a generic book about the upper class - better for one not "first in a new series. Definitely fails on the mystery front. Most of the time, it didn't feel like I was reading a mystery. Too few clues, and then sudden explanations for character disappearances.

Overall, I would recommend that you avoid this book. I consider it a waste of time and shelf space.