LADY RIGHTS A WRONG

Lady Cecelia Bates investigates the death of a suffragette.

Cecelia truly loves Danby Hall and the beautiful Yorkshire countryside that surrounds it. But the intelligent and curious daughter of Lord and Lady Avebury wants more out of life than presiding over the bring-and-buy tent at the annual church bazaar. Fortunately, Annabel Clarke, the fashionable American heiress who hopes to marry Cecelia’s brother, Patrick, proves an eager and valued companion for Lady Avebury to bring along on her many social engagements. With Annabel to distract her, Lady Avebury’s efforts to get her daughter well married dwindle to occasional references to how handsome Mr. Brown, the young village vicar, looks at Sunday service. Her mother’s preoccupation with Annabel also gives Lady Cecelia time to slip away and attend a rally held by the Women’s Suffrage Union at the village guildhall, accompanied by Annabel’s maid, Jane Hughes. The union’s president, Amelia Price, an inspiring speaker as well as a canny one, immediately recognizes Lady Cecelia as someone who could be of great help to the cause. The friendship between Mrs. Price and the avid young woman is just beginning when the activist is found dead at the bottom of the staircase in her rented home. None of the suffragettes sharing her quarters, not even her daughter, can say when or how Mrs. Price died, so it’s not even clear that she’s been murdered. But the heroine of Lady Takes the Case (2019) is suspicious, and she enlists the help of quick-witted Jane and Jane’s perceptive cat, Jack to make sure justice is served.

Something for everyone: activists, romantics, mystery lovers, and feline fanciers.