A Daughter’s Guide to Mothers and Murder

A Daughter’s Guide to Mothers and Murder (2025) Dianne Freeman (Countess of Harleigh #8)

Set in Paris in 1900

Frances and George are enjoying their honeymoon, seeing the sights in Paris, but all good things must come to an end, and soon Frances’s mother will be joining them, after touring Egypt with Frances’s father.

But before that happens, Frances and George are drawn into a mystery–a young wife has disappeared, and the case has remained unsolved, but now someone has sent Sarah Bernhardt a blackmail letter, claiming she knew what happened to Isabelle.

Unfortunately, the police are not happy about suspicion falling upon Sarah Bernhardt.

“(N)o officer is willing to take on this case. I have never seen so many men suddenly become ill…”

…

I have very specific instructions to find the culprit who wrote this note and then find Isabelle Deaver’s murderer. And that person had better not be Sarah Bernhardt.

But while George is being asked by Daniel Cadieux for assistance, Frances is being asked by Alicia Stoke-Whitney to see if the man courting her daughter killed his first wife.

One of the things I love about historicals are the bits that remind you how much the world has changed.

“I had planned to find a photographer,” I said. “But Mother told me that the entire camera is meant to be returned to the Kodak Company. They develop the film and return the photographs along with the camera loaded with a new roll of film. That could take weeks.”

Of course, some things are timeless.

“When one feels comfortable speaking one’s mind it often happens that one’s friends are equally comfortable pointing out when one is completely in error.”

This is a cute series, and I do enjoy it.

Characters: Frances Hazelton, George Hazelton, Lily, Anne, Amelia, Rose Wynn, Alicia Stoke-Whitney, Lottie, Carlson Deaver, Inspector Daniel Cadieux, Isabelle Rousseau Deaver, Sarah Bernhardt, Lissette, Christine, Madame Auclair, Jeanne, Mimi, Marc Leblanc, Maurice, Sophie Pepin, Celia

Publisher: Kensington Books

Rating: 7/10

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