Verity Kent is one of a long list of historical lady sleuths who introduce us to time periods and social circles during the course of solving a murder mystery. England, 1919, is the setting for the lively PENNY FOR YOUR SECRETS. As we begin the tale, Verity and her husband are headed off to a London party – but they are on slightly shaky grounds. During the Great War just ended, the lady was a spy, and endangered herself on the Continent, while her husband Sidney was missing and presumed dead by her and has only recently reappeared.
Hostess of the party is Ada, Lady Rockham, recently married to the Marquess of Rockham. Now, this is also a dicey marriage; Ada is not from the upper set, and the signs are that the titled gentleman has already tired of her. But during the night Ada’s butler Deacon finds her husband shot dead downstairs and wakes his mistress, before calling the police. Ada is the suspect in the killing. She asks Verity to help her.
The indomitable Verity is also called upon by the sister of a former Secret Service colleague. A burglary took place in which nothing seems to have been taken, but the home owner was killed. Could war work have been at the root of the matter? And is there a possibility that the two sudden deaths in the same circle could be linked? Verity and Sidney have to travel further than they expected to find the answers.
I particularly like the disparity of characters we meet. A jazz artist, a war-wounded batman, a woman who married a title and brought money; the rigid class structures are being broken by the chaos of war and its aftermath. While fast motor cars and even aeroplanes are the latest fads, more harmful pursuits are also involved. Anna Lee Huber has done a great deal of research in writing her series ‘Verity Kent’ and this is the third book; she has also written a series about ‘Lady Derby’ once more proving that women are so much better at resolving problems than men. Sherlock Holmes can step aside.
PENNY FOR YOUR SECRETS is an intriguing look at a changing Society – still highly snobby, entitled and secretive. But changing.
England, 1919. In Anna Lee Huber’s latest mystery, former Secret Service agent Verity Kent is finding that life after wartime offers its own share of danger . . . The Great War may be over, but for many, there are still obstacles on the home front. Reconciling with her estranged husband makes Verity sympathetic to her friend Ada’s marital difficulties. Bourgeois-bred Ada, recently married to the Marquess of Rockham, is overwhelmed trying to navigate the ways of the aristocracy. And when Lord Rockham is discovered shot through the heart with a bullet from Ada’s revolver, Verity fears her friend has made a fatal blunder.
While striving to prove Ada’s innocence, Verity is called upon for another favor. The sister of a former Secret Service colleague has been killed in what authorities believe was a home invasion gone wrong. The victim’s war work—censoring letters sent by soldiers from the front—exposed her to sensitive, disturbing material. Verity begins to suspect these two unlikely cases may be linked. But as the connections deepen, the consequences—not just for Verity, but for Britain—grow more menacing than she could have imagined.
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