I've found a new "must read" mystery series in The Secrets of Wishtide - A Laetitia Rodd Mystery (#1,010). Kate Saunders has created a delightful new detective in the person of Mrs. Laetitia Rodd, recently widowed relict of a clergyman. Now in reduced circumstances, her brother, a prominent criminal attorney in Dickensian London, is able to throw some income her way by hiring her to investigate cases on his behalf.
In this first outing, the wealthy Calderstone family patriarch wishes to discretely get rid of an unsuitable bride for their handsome son. Sir James wants the background of Mrs. Helen Orme investigated and her reputation discredited. Mrs. Rodd doesn't feel entirely comfortable with the ruse of acting as governess to his two daughters at Wishtide while she makes quiet inquiries, but her brother persuades her to undertake the project. What she uncovers is a nest of secrets with a very wicked person behind a string of seemingly unrelated murders.
If you feel that you are reading a Dickens novel while you are devouring this book, it's because Kate Saunders has based some of her characters on those in David Copperfield, but it's not necessary to be familiar with that novel on order to thoroughly enjoy this one!
I liked it so well, I was only about a quarter of the way through The Secrets of Wishtide before I had to check the website Fantastic Fiction to see if there other books in this series. I was delighted to find that there are!
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