Kathleen Marple Kalb

Nice to visit Ella Shane's world again. A lot of this book is about the shifting situations as Preston marries Mrs G, Ella and Gil get formally engaged, and Hetty finally finds a man that respects what she does after she goes to extreme lengths to prove herself. The mystery itself was really two easily predicted ones. However, as I find I'm not as interested in the mystery as I am the characters, I was really satisfied with this one. Not sure if there will be a fourth but there's a lovely denouement if not, along with somewhere to go if there is.… (meer)

I received this book from the Kensington Cozy Club. It's the third book in the series, and I haven't read the first two. It can be read as a stand-alone but there are quite a few characters whose relationship to Ella and Tom aren't fully explained in this book and there were times I was confused as to who was who.

The plot is a bit slower than I'm used to. I'm not sure if that's because of the historical setting.

This is set at a time when women had fewer rights than they do now. Service (a la Downton Abbey) still exists and most young women must worry that they'll be dismissed without a character reference and be unable to secure future reputable work.

I understand Ella's wish to continue her career--but honestly, if the only sticking point is whether she'll do 1 or 2 additional runs in New York--have they ever heard of compromise? Couldn't they agree to alternate years? One year do 2 and the next year only 1. I was a bit dismayed that it again took a "life or death" issue to get them to realize they do love each other and don't want to live without each other. It seems to be a formulaic part of plots these days and it's getting old.… (meer)