The Mitford Murders

I’m really enjoying Jessica Fellowes’ new series The Mitford Murders.

In the first novel, Louisa Cannon is barely getting by as a pickpocket since her father’s death. She looks for regular, aboveboard employment, but agrees to keep up her illegal income to support her mother. A chance encounter, and a series of chance adventures, lands her a job minding the Mitford nursery.  Nancy Mitford, the oldest daughter, is too old for the nursery but not yet out, and  Nancy and Louisa begin a friendship that’s inherently limited by Louisa’s status working for the Mitford family.

On the same train line that Louisa takes to her new post, nurse Florence Nightingale Shore is murdered. It looks like a locked-door mystery, Nurse Shore doesn’t seem to have any enemies, and the police have no suspects.  Nancy becomes very interested in solving the murder, and draws Louisa into it her investigations, even more so when a tenuous connection through Nanny’s sister’s friendship with the deceased lets Nancy investigate further… This books are about the upstairs-downstairs of daily life in the Mitford home, as well as the murder mysteries, making a suspenseful page-turn with manners novel commentary on the side. 

In the third book, The Mitford Scandal, Louisa’s new role as lady’s maid to Diana Mitford puts her in a perfect place to investigate a mysterious and tragic death of a servant girl. Diana Mitford, the third daughter, is a socialite newlywed, with many glamorous friends and tragic secrets among her stylish set. I loved the scenes of glamorous parties with hidden vices, but Louisa is not so impressed, and begins to have doubts about Diana’s character and maybe even grow to dislike her employer. I also loved seeing the rest of the Mitford nursery growing and maturing in the later books.

This is a great book, but not quite as strong as the first, because some of the themes that worked so well in one novel drag out a bit in two, er, three. (Somehow I missed Bright Young Dead, the second novel, and ended up reading the books slightly out of order. They stand alone, though.) For example, in one disappointing subplot, Guy, Louisa’s detective crush, suddenly gets a fiancé, they hang around engaged but somehow fail to get married for a few years, and then she announces she’s moving back to Ireland. Ok? This didn’t really advance Guy’s character or move the plot along, it just stuck Guy and Louisa in a dull wait to finish their romantic storyline.

There are hints in this latest book that fascism is on the rise on the continent, and Nazis are just beginning to take power. And there are sure to be more dangers close to home with Louisa and Guy investigating together.  These are the first three of a planned six-book series, and I’m excited to see what Louisa and the Mitfords encounter next.