Once Upon a Murder

Once Upon a Murder (2014) Samantha Larsen (A Lady Librarian Mystery #2)

Set in England in ~1785

Although Tiffany Woodall enjoys being the librarian for the Duchess of Beaufort, not all is good in her world, as she has barely seen Samir Lathrop since the events of the previous book, despite her feelings for him.

For many years she’d hated the very sight of it. The hope chest stood for everything that she had wanted in life but didn’t have.

And the duchess is hiring a governess to take over young Beau’s education.

For pretty good reason.

Beau gave her back her sword. “Now, we must practice our sword fighting with each other.”

“Very good,” Tiffany said, raising the weapon to her face. “En garde!”

Neither she nor Beau had any practical knowledge of fencing, so they mostly hit each other’s weapons and tried to make the other person drop their sword.

But then she discovers a new murder, and there are other events to grab her attention.

The door to the library opened, and Thomas burst into the room, out of breath. “Whatever is the matter, Mother?”

The duchess held up the baby. “Miss Woodall has acquired a baby.”

Like Mr. Ford, Thomas appeared to be so stunned that he couldn’t move.

Several things bordered the edge of ridiculous, but never went over the line, and some of the things that seemed ridiculous, were actually factual.

Daniel Pool notes that between 1750–1850, “there were some 380 of these do-it-yourself divorces effected in rural England.” Records note that the wife was led to the auction with a rope around her neck, like an animal.

That’s a hell of a thing.

It was fun, and again I very much liked the historical details (such as that bit above) woven into the story.

Characters: Miss Tiffany Woodall, Constable Samir Lathrop, Mr. Thomas Montague, Catharine Duchess of Beaufort, Beau / Lord Peregrine Francis Alfred David Erskine, Mr. Simeon Ford, Mrs. Ludmilla Phelps Coram Ford, Monsieur Bonne, Mrs. Wheatley, Miss Emily Jones, Mary, Miss Drummond, Doctor Hudson, Mrs. Balogh, Mrs. Evangeline Coram Lathrop, Mr. Bernard Coram, Mr. Zedekiah Coram, Mr. Frank Day, Mrs. Day, Jessica Day, Judge Phineas Faulkner, Sir Walter Abney, Miss Chandler, Caro Anstey, Luke Anstey, Mrs. Able, Widow Hadfield, Mr. Lawrence Hadfield, Tess the Duchess of Surrey, Miss Euphemia Drummond, Mrs. Ford, Farmer Coram, Farmer Thackeray, Mrs. Shirley, Mr. Giffin, Mr. Sanger, Nathaniel Lathrop, Priya Elizabeth Lathrop

Cover design by Sarah Horgan

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Rating: 7.5/10

• Browse the archives:
  
• « « A Novel Disguise