Murder in Belgravia

Set in 1915, YA author Brittney's enticing first adult novel and series launch finds London's Metropolitan Police woefully shorthanded. When Lord Murcheson, a wounded army officer recently sent home from France, is stabbed to death, his wife, Lady Harriet, who was gravely injured during the fatal attack on her husband, confesses to the crime. Chief Insp. Peter Beech, the investigating officer, enlists the aid of childhood friend Caroline Allardyce, a doctor at the Women's Hospital. Caroline, who thinks Lady Harriet's own injuries are too severe for her confession to be genuine, believes she's protecting someone. As Lady Harriet fights for her life at the Women's Hospital, Beech forms a team to look into the murder. Besides Caroline, he recruits a female attorney, a retired detective sergeant, and a former guardsman invalided out of the army. Working in secret, these compassionate, well-drawn characters uncover a thriving illegal trade in addictive drugs, prostitution, and human trafficking at the highest levels of society. This is a must for Downton Abbey fans. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

In the thick of World War I, an industrious Scotland Yard detective turns to a group of emancipated women to unravel a complex murder.London, 1915. Lady Harriet Murcheson may have confessed to the murder of her husband, but she refuses to speak about it to Chief Inspector Beech, demanding a female confessor instead. Immediately thinking of his old friend Dr. Caroline Allardyce, Beech rushes to Women's Hospital to enlist her aid. Caroline's suspicion of "sexual violence" shocks Beech. Lady Harriet is taken to Women's Hospital, and Beech suggests to his boss, Sir Edward, the formation of a special squad to deal with female crime. Once he's enlisted his old flame Victoria Ellingham and her mother, Lady Maud, along with Caroline, eager young policeman Billy Rigsby, and Scotland Yard veteran Arthur Tollman, a revolutionary new investigative team is born. The initial questioning of the fatalistic Lady Harriet and the household staff indicates that the case is indeed complex: The maid Esme bursts into tears, and the butler takes flight. Polly, another maid, who used to stand guard outside Harriet's door to protect her from Lord Murcheson, also flees the house. Beech's initial request leads to the formation of the Women's Police Service. Its gruff commander, Margaret Damer Dawson, dispatches the ladies of her squad to find Polly, whose account of the crime turns the investigation on its head.Despite her sometimes heavy-handed prose, Brittney (The Elizabethan World of Nathan Fox, 2018, etc.) plots skillfully and rolls out a terrific cast of investigators, boding well for her proposed series of historical procedurals. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.