Reading Room Radio: Countess of Harleigh

Curious about more cozy mysteries?  Beth shares another find in the historical cozy mystery genre.

Series: Countess of Harleigh by Dianne Freeman

Reviewed by: Beth K.

First Book in series: A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder

Created by the Podcast Team at the Harris County Public Library.
www.hcpl.net

Podcast Team Members include: Beth Krippel, John Harbaugh, Mary Mink, Dylan Smith, Sadina Shawver, Alinda Mac, John Schaffer, Jennifer Finch, Katelyn Helberg, Darcy Casavant, Darla Pruitt and Nancy Hu 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Harris County Public Library's Reading Room Radio, where your to be red pile gets a little more exciting, one micro podcast at a time. Welcome to Reading Room Radio. It's Beth again, and it's time for another historical cozy mystery. I didn't actually mention this the last time that I was able to share with you my reads, but I'm actually pretty new to the historical mystery genre. Most of my reading life has been in sci-fi and fantasy, not romantic so much, more things like Brandon Sanderson, Tad Williams. I did read a little of George R. Martin. I went to the fourth book in the series, and then I was kind of done at that point. But Big Worlds, uh, I reread The Lord of the Rings basically every year. It's gotten to be more every other year now, but I never have a problem revisiting it. So those worlds are the ones that I enjoy. I also read a lot of classics way back when. But that brings me to, I got into cozy historical mysteries. I don't like current mysteries, but the historical flavor is what I really enjoy. I like seeing kind of into the everyday life of different ages. So this one is the Countess of Harley mystery series. It is by Diane Freeman, and she is an Agatha Award and Lefty Award winner, and she was also a finalist for the Mary Higgins, Clark, and McCavity Awards. So she's been doing a lot of these uh mystery books. She's got a ninth book in the series that was just turned into the publisher. There's eight books so far, and I have read all of them. Um, these take place in the late years of Queen Victoria's reign, with the most recent being set in 1900 during the World's Fair and the Second Olympiad in Paris. Now, yes, the most recent books have been set in Paris, but the majority of these books are set in England. The interesting part of the most recent book is I I learned something. So that the games of the second Olympiad were held as part of the 1900 Exposition, uh, the World's Fair, and roughly a thousand competitors, a little over that, that took part in 19 different sports. But the problem is there were some athletes who didn't even know that they were competing in the Olympic Games. And it was also the first Olympiad in which women took part in the games. So, and these things are touched on in the book. So sometimes you'll learn something from these books as well. So it's just before the time of Downton Abbey, so fans of that show, who also like a little murder mystery, are likely to enjoy the story. Our protagonist, Frances, who is the Countess of Harley, is in a fashion kind of like Cora Crawley from Downton, though Frances married someone less stellar than Lord Grantham, and we join her in the adjusting of life after he's died in a less than ideal circumstance. This makes our protagonists also the suspect, and we get insights to customs of the time as well as how Francis works within them and also challenges them. So the first in this series is a lady's guide to etiquette and murder. The second book in the series is a lady's guide to gossip and murder. And I'm gonna just read the series titles in a row here. A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Murder, a Fiance's Guide to First Wives and Murder, a Bride's Guide to Marriage and Murder, a Newlyweds Guide to Fortune and Murder, an Art Lover's Guide to Paris and Murder, and a Daughter's Guide to Mothers and Murder. So a lot of and murder going on here. But it's very interesting. Sometimes famous people of the time will show up in her books. They're usually side characters, although in the most recent one, there's a famous person in real life who shows up in the book and has quite a bigger role in the story. So what I like the most is the characters are likable and they're interesting. Some of the characters I certainly wouldn't call likable, but they also didn't seem too out of place. Cozy Historical Mysteries probably my new favorite genre. And this book had the right recipe, just enough intrigue, just enough history, just enough wit to have me enjoy the character development as well as the major and minor plot lines. What I didn't like. Some of the usual happenstances, somebody just happens to know somebody else, to the point where in one of the books, Frances does try to acknowledge that just because she and another person come from New York doesn't mean that they know this other person. Except that she does. It's fine. It just makes things so coincidental. But I suppose that's what makes them fun and not boring as we spend chapters just trying to get to know people. Another dislike, Frances constantly telling us how much she loves her daughter and misses her, only to be away from her 90% of the time. Like, we see her daughter, we engage with her daughter, very little. And yet, pretty much three or four times in a book, she's gonna say how much she loves her daughter and misses her. Alright, well, that's good to know. Maybe go hang out with her a little bit. Also, some of the mysteries are a little too easy to figure out, though for my part, the one in the eighth book was rather good. While I did figure it out, it was also nicely planted, so it made sense when they hadn't gotten to it yet. The only reason I did was entirely separate from how they discovered it. Sometimes, if a particular character is mentioned in passing and then they don't show up where I would think they should several times, it makes me wonder. So, more I wonder if, but didn't actually figure out. If you enjoyed the 1900s, or you enjoy Downton Abbey, but also want a little murder mystery in there, check out The Countess of Harley Murder Mysteries by Diane Freeman. Tell me what you think of it.