murder-investigation, England, small-town, situational-humor, verbal-humor, 1929, connections, cosy-mystery*****

American Kat Reilly and Brit Sir Harry Mortimer are settling into married life together in Mydworth in the aftermath of their dramatic entry into the village. Kat no longer works in interesting ways for the American government abroad, but Harry still works and has connections in Whitehall. This means that between them they have proved well able to do some unusual investigating, which they love. So when a government man dies at a masquerade party at aunt's house and something seems just a tad suspicious... Together the couple does an excellent job sleuthing with their trademark sense of humour. Full of twists and red herrings with characters who certainly are and well done imagery. Looking forward to listening to more of this nice, short, fun little escapist series enjoyably narrated by Nathaniel Parker! ( )

I love this series. I love Harry and Kat and how they are so proud and supportive of each other. They always build each other up rather than tearing each other down with snappy dialogue. They always share equally in the investigations – working together – each to their own strengths. I also love how they ‘read’ each other. It is definitely no wonder they are so sought after when it comes to solving mysteries because they always get their man/woman.

Lady Lavinia is giving a full-on Venetian masked ball at Mydworth Manor – a lavish affair with hundreds of guests – from local village folks to Bishops, admirals, movie stars, and government officials. The food and drink are lavish, the costumes are exotic and wonderful, and everybody is having a wonderful time. Well, almost everybody, there is the little matter of Wilfred Carmody being found face-down by the lake. Since Carmody has a bad heart, everyone assumes he expired from a heart attack – until they learn that isn’t the case.

With no physical evidence at the scene, they have to rely on their sleuthing and deducting skills to find out what happened, why it happened, and who did it. Even with hundreds of suspects at the ball, it doesn’t take them too long to narrow the list down to a handful. There is a lot of misdirection and red herrings aplenty, so you’ll have to keep your wits about you to follow all of the clues to find the murderer. Or, is there more than one? Oh! My!

These books are always quick, fun reads that put me in mind of the old black & white movies with Nick and Nora Charles, or Pam and Jerry North, maybe even a bit of Charlie Chan thrown in for good measure.

All of the recurring characters made an appearance in this book and I loved to visit with Aunt Lavinia especially. There was one new character that I wonder if he’ll be a recurring character as well. Charlie Todd is a very young man, and I liked him very much, so it will be fun to see if he pops up in future installments – maybe along with the yacht. ( )