A Lady's Guide to Gossip and Murder is another charming installment of the cozy mystery series featuring the widowed Lady Frances Harleigh. One of her society acquaintances has met an unfortunate end, and the police suspect Frances' well-intentioned but bumbling cousin, Charles, of having done the deed. Frances steps in to help clear his name, and soon realizes this is anything but a straightforward crime.
This book reads very much like a typical cozy, with our main character nosing about and talking to a lot of people in the hopes that she'll stumble upon the right answer. And also just like a cozy, the book spends a good amount of time having its main and supporting characters mull over the crime, think out loud of potential motives and suspects, and ponder their next moves. It builds nicely up to the ending, which is both reasonable and satisfying.
Compared to the first book in the series, I found this one to be still fun, though not quite as exciting. I think that's largely due to the first book requiring a lot of setup and backstory, which I enjoyed tremendously, whereas this one gets right to the point with the crime. That backstory of how Frances came to be so strong and resilient at a time in history when society frowns upon women's independence was fascinating, and I wish there was more in this book. In addition to that, the witty dialogue, the romantic tension with her neighbor, and the proper Victorian decorum were all pared back a little in this book, and I miss their frequent presence.
Still, this was an entertaining cozy murder mystery, and I look forward to reading more from the series. As I usually find this genre and its focal crime to be a little bit slow, it's really the side and back stories that distinguish a terrific one from an average one. So I hope for the next one, we get a little bit more of what I love, mixed in with the cozy murders.
Readaroo Rating: 3 stars
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