A Moveable Feast

A Moveable Feast (2025) Jennifer Ashley (A Below Stairs Mystery #7.5)

Set in London in 1884

Mrs Bywater really is a horror.

On Saturday morning, the day before Easter, Mrs. Bywater, the mistress of the house, sailed into my kitchen in a rather somber gray frock and announced that I would be cooking Easter dinner at the home of her friend, Lady Babcock, in Portman Square.

I mean, really!

As we continued the work, I heard a familiar click of heels in the passageway, heralding the arrival of Mrs. Bywater. She gazed about the room when she arrived, focusing on the foodstuffs still waiting to be put into their crates.

“Leave nothing behind,” she admonished me. “All these vegetables, all these potatoes. They should already have been packed.”

“Not those.” I shielded a basket of leftover produce. “I purchased them for this house.”

“Did you?” Mrs. Bywater widened her eyes. “Then they come with us. Lord Rankin will reimburse you through your wages.”

“I put them on the marquess’s account, ma’am.” I bobbed a shallow curtsey as though I was in awe of saying the word marquess.

“Oh, well, in that case.” Mrs. Bywater backed away from the argument. “Be sure to pack what is ours, including what you’ve already cooked. We can dine on that for a few days. And all of the wine. Close up those crates, Tess, before someone takes anything.”

I’m not kidding.

“Is his lordship all right?” I asked Mrs. Bywater. “Considering.”

“Lord Babcock is made of stern stuff,” Mrs. Bywater said decidedly. “He still has an heir, so all is not lost.”

Jane blinked at this callous statement, but she quickly dropped her gaze and helped Tess nail the crates shut.

Mrs. Bywater winced as Tess gave her crate a hard blow with a hammer. Mrs. Bywater sniffed, looked over the kitchen once more, and thankfully took herself away.

“I was right,” Jane said once we heard Mrs. Bywater retreat and the backstairs door slam. “She is a cow.”

“Enough,” I told her, but gently.

Characters: Mrs. Kat Holloway Daniel McAdam, James McAdam, Mr. Davis, Mrs. Bywater, Mr. Thanos, Lady Cynthia Clifford, Tess, Lady Babcock, Lord Babcock, Lady Margaret, Lord Alfred Charlton, Desmond Charlton, Mary, Jane, Mrs. Morgan, Mrs. Seabrook, Armitage, Bishop Norris, Catherine and Thomas Bowler, Alice Hodgkinson, Caroline Hodgkinson, Cuthbert Hodgkinson, Miss Jordan, Inspector McGregor, Detective Sergeant Scott

Cover by Kim Killion

Rating: 8/10

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