Miss Atalanta Ashford stars in this unusual 1930 mystery. We meet her while teaching at a boarding school for young ladies in Switzerland, where she has come to care for her charges. But a MYSTERY IN PROVENCE will drag her into another world. Atalanta has worked and saved to repay her late father’s debts and is just now free. A lawyer arrives and tells the lady that she has inherited from her recently deceased Parisian grandfather. She is wealthy but will be expected to act as a private enquirer for those in need of help.

With thoughts of Sherlock Holmes enlivening her journey, Atalanta makes the acquaintance of her new staff in the large house and finds a case waiting. Young Eugenie Frontenac is engaged to marry a widower, but she is concerned that his first wife may not have died accidentally. The butler Renard provides some advice, but can’t accompany a lady to the rural estate. So Atalanta pretends to be Eugenie’s cousin, a piano teacher, when she visits the lavender fields surrounding a country home owned by the Comte de Surmonne.

Atalanta meets various members of the French families, and this is where her previous experience comes into play. A young member of the household, incredibly spoiled and ill-behaved, is set on causing trouble.  But that’s a far cry from murder. I like the variety of women in the story, from cooks to dowagers, given that women’s options were restricted in 1930 whether they had money or not. The estate grounds are suited for exploration, with a shell grotto hidden in the woods, the kind of extravagant folly many landowners built for interest. But as the wedding guests continue to arrive the atmosphere becomes more claustrophobic and suspicions – and tempers – rise. Clearly, a death is only a matter of time.

If you enjoy the Laurie R King books about Mary Russell, MYSTERY IN PROVENCE by Vivian Conroy would be a good next read. Vivian Conroy has previously written modern tales set amid Cornish castles and stationery shops, and some other period pieces featuring titled characters like Lady Alkmene because those were the people with mobility. While I love reading social history fiction, there is no denying that a cook didn’t do much travelling. Atalanta never gets as far as holding a party or leaving a calling card in MYSTERY IN PROVENCE, but will perhaps take her place in society as the Atalanta Ashford series progresses. She will be off to Italy next, so let’s pack for adventure.