Violet Manville knows everything about manners—and murder.
Violet is looking forward to taking some time away from the advice column she writes under the nom de plume Miss Hermione. She canʼt wait to head off to Venice to spend some time with Eli Marsh, a mysterious, annoying, and extremely attractive American.
Little does she suspect that the specter of death will come calling at her front door in the person of Ash Kumar, a man she once knew—and loved—when she lived in India. She certainly doesnʼt expect Ash to be arrested for his wifeʼs murder on her front door step. As Violet tries to unravel the murder, she is pulled between between the two men.
As the past and present become blurred, she soon discovers that the truth can be deadly.
For Anastasia Hastings, there is nothing as intriguing as a fog-filled, gas-light street, the clip-clop of a horse pulling a hansom cab, and the possibility of murder and mystery around every corner!
She has been lucky enough to bring it all alive in the Dear Miss Hermione mystery series which follows the adventures of Violet Manville, Victorian Englandʼs most famous (and enigmatic) agony aunt. Book #1, Of Manners and Murder, was a finalist for the 2024 Mary Higgins Clark Award presented by Mystery Writers of America, and The Wall Street Journal said it “evokes the shocking revelations of Wilkie Collins, the social acuity of Jane Austen and the comic melodrama of Oscar Wilde.ˮ Book #2 of the series, Of Hoaxes and Homicide, was called “captivatingˮ by Publishers Weekly.
Under a variety of names and throughout a career than spans more than 30 years, Anastasia has published 70 novels. The Secrets of Bones, written as Kylie Logan, was recently made into a Hallmark Mystery movie.
Anastasia lives in Ohio with her husband and two dogs, an Airedale named Eliot Ness and his best friend (even if he doesnʼt know it yet), Tequila Elizabeth, a Russell Terrier. She enjoys various fiber arts including knitting and spinning, as well as exploring old cemeteries and in the summer, watching the hummingbirds while she contemplates her next murder.
My thoughts: Violet is much more independent than many Victorian women would have been, which means she can investigate crimes as well as write her advice column without the need for worrying about chaperones and she clearly isn’t too worried about what anyone else thinks of her.
At the beginning of the book she’s about to head off to Venice in pursuit of possible love interest Eli. But a blast from the past, in the form of the man she might have married had things been different, Ash Kumar. His wife has recently died and he drops by to see her.
Then he’s arrested for murder, his wife’s. Violet knows he isn’t capable of it, or of the theft of a priceless ruby due to be presented to Queen Victoria. And it turns out Eli isn’t in Venice either, he’s in London, on the case of the stolen ruby.
As Violet works to clear Ash’s name and find the real killer, she keeps coming face to face with Eli. Can she choose between her past love and a possible future with this American detective? Can she catch a killer in time to save Ash from the hangman and celebrate Christmas with her sister Sephora?
It’s a clever and twisting tale, with Violet rushing all over the place, down to Southampton and across to Windsor as the Christmas season spins around her and she struggles to juggle her feelings with her work. It even comes out in the replies she pens as Miss Hermione. With time running out, the answers might be closer to home (Ash’s home, that is) than she first thought. But what does the future hold for them, if anything?
Enjoyable, funny (Sephora is very entertaining) and with a smart and intuitive protagonist in Violet, I think I’ll have to look for the previous volumes of this series soon.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
