Syndetics cover image
Image from Syndetics

A pinch of poison / Alyssa Maxwell.

By: Maxwell, Alyssa [author.].
Material type: TextTextSeries: Maxwell, Alyssa. Lady and lady's maid mysteries: Publisher: New York, NY : Kensington Books, 2017Edition: First Kensington hardcover edition.Description: 310 pages ; 22 cm.Content type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9781617738340; 1617738344.Subject(s): World War (1914-1918) | 1914-1918 | Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction | Poisoning -- Fiction | Young women -- Fiction | Women household employees -- Fiction | World War, 1914-1918 -- England -- Fiction | FICTION -- Historical | FICTION -- Mystery & Detective -- Historical | FICTION -- Mystery & Detective -- Traditional | Murder -- Investigation | Poisoning | Women household employees | Young women | England -- Fiction | EnglandGenre/Form: Historical fiction. | Historical fiction. | Detective and mystery fiction. | Fiction. | Mystery fiction. | Detective and mystery fiction. | Historical fiction.Other classification: FIC022060 | FIC022030 | FIC022040 Summary: In post World War I England, Lady Phoebe Renshaw and her lady s maid, Eva Huntford, encounter an uncharitable killer at a charity luncheon sponsored by a posh school for girls ... Good deeds build good character, and good character is what the Haverleigh School for Young Ladies is all about. Lady Phoebe with the tireless assistance of Eva has organized a luncheon at the school to benefit wounded veterans of the Great War, encouraging the students to participate in the cooking and the baking. But too many cooks do more than spoil the broth they add up to a recipe for disaster when the school s headmistress, Miss Finch, is poisoned. The girls at Haverleigh all come from highly respected families, none of whom will countenance their darling daughters being harassed like common criminals by the local police. So Lady Phoebe steps in to handle the wealthy young debutantes with tact and discretion, while Eva cozies up to the staff. Did one of the girls resent the headmistress enough to do her in? Did a teacher bear a grudge? What about the school nurse, clearly shell shocked from her service in the war? No one is above suspicion, not even members of the school s governing body, some of whom objected to Miss Finch s modern methods. But Lady Phoebe and Eva will have to sleuth with great stealth or the cornered killer may try to teach someone else a lethal lesson.Summary: Post--World War I England. Lady Phoebe Renshaw and her lady's maid, Eva Huntford, have organized a luncheon at the school to benefit wounded veterans of the Great War, encouraging the students of Haverleigh School for Young Ladies to participate in the cooking and the baking. But too many cooks do more than spoil the broth-- the school's headmistress, Miss Finch, is poisoned. Did one of the girls resent the headmistress enough to do her in? Did a teacher bear a grudge? No one is above suspicion-- and the killer may try to teach someone else a lethal lesson.
Tags from this library: No tags from this library for this title. Log in to add tags.
Fiction notes: Click to open in new window
Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Shelving location Call number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Book Book Gloucester Twp. Mystery Adult m Max (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 05000009765996
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Good deeds build good character, and good character is what the Haverleigh School for Young Ladies is all about. Lady Phoebe-with the tireless assistance of Eva-has organized a luncheon at the school to benefit wounded veterans of the Great War, encouraging the students to participate in the cooking and the baking. But too many cooks do more than spoil the broth-they add up to a recipe for disaster when the school's headmistress, Miss Finch, is poisoned.

The girls at Haverleigh all come from highly respected families, none of whom will countenance their darling daughters being harassed like common criminals by the local police. So Lady Phoebe steps in to handle the wealthy young debutantes with tact and discretion, while Eva cozies up to the staff. Did one of the girls resent the headmistress enough to do her in? Did a teacher bear a grudge? What about the school nurse, clearly shell shocked from her service in the war? No one is above suspicion, not even members of the school's governing body, some of whom objected to Miss Finch's "modern" methods.

But Lady Phoebe and Eva will have to sleuth with great stealth-or the cornered killer may try to teach someone else a lethal lesson.

Praise for MURDER MOST MALICIOUS, the first Lady and Lady's Maid Mystery!

"Entertaining . . . some of the characters and scenes are highly reminiscent of TV's Downton Abbey , but Maxwell makes Phoebe and Eva distinctive personalities in their own right."- Publishers Weekly

"Maxwell provides a neat little mystery and a heavily atmospheric look at life in a great house after the trials of the war."- Kirkus Reviews

"Details of the lives of the nobility and their servants, and the aftermath of the war, are woven throughout the story, and the forward-thinking Phoebe is a charming main character."- Booklist

"The story is so good, you don't want it to end."- Suspense Magazine

" Downton Abbey fans will enjoy Maxwell's evocative descriptions of a particular society as it transitions from the Edwardian Age to modern times."- Library Journal

Sequel to: Murder most malicious.

In post World War I England, Lady Phoebe Renshaw and her lady s maid, Eva Huntford, encounter an uncharitable killer at a charity luncheon sponsored by a posh school for girls ... Good deeds build good character, and good character is what the Haverleigh School for Young Ladies is all about. Lady Phoebe with the tireless assistance of Eva has organized a luncheon at the school to benefit wounded veterans of the Great War, encouraging the students to participate in the cooking and the baking. But too many cooks do more than spoil the broth they add up to a recipe for disaster when the school s headmistress, Miss Finch, is poisoned. The girls at Haverleigh all come from highly respected families, none of whom will countenance their darling daughters being harassed like common criminals by the local police. So Lady Phoebe steps in to handle the wealthy young debutantes with tact and discretion, while Eva cozies up to the staff. Did one of the girls resent the headmistress enough to do her in? Did a teacher bear a grudge? What about the school nurse, clearly shell shocked from her service in the war? No one is above suspicion, not even members of the school s governing body, some of whom objected to Miss Finch s modern methods. But Lady Phoebe and Eva will have to sleuth with great stealth or the cornered killer may try to teach someone else a lethal lesson.

Post--World War I England. Lady Phoebe Renshaw and her lady's maid, Eva Huntford, have organized a luncheon at the school to benefit wounded veterans of the Great War, encouraging the students of Haverleigh School for Young Ladies to participate in the cooking and the baking. But too many cooks do more than spoil the broth-- the school's headmistress, Miss Finch, is poisoned. Did one of the girls resent the headmistress enough to do her in? Did a teacher bear a grudge? No one is above suspicion-- and the killer may try to teach someone else a lethal lesson.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Maxwell's middling second Lady and Lady's Maid mystery (after 2015's Murder Most Malicious) centers on Lady Phoebe Renshaw's alma mater, the Haverleigh School for Young Ladies, in the Cotswolds. In the spring of 1919, 20-year-old Phoebe organizes a luncheon at the school to benefit needy Great War veterans and their families. Tragically, the miniature cake specially made for headmistress Henrietta Finch is laced with cyanide. When Constable Miles Brannock urges Phoebe and her maid, Eva Huntsford (herself once a Haverleigh scholarship student), to interview students and staff, they find motives aplenty for Finch's murder. Her progressive philosophy has ruffled feathers, a grading scandal is brewing, and the school's nurse and handyman hide secrets. Maxwell leaves the two protagonists' budding romances intriguingly unresolved. But with a surfeit of minor characters hastily introduced at the start and a crime that has no personal stakes for the sleuths, the noticeable similarities to TV's Downton Abbey don't extend to taut or emotionally charged drama. Agent: Evan Marshall, Evan Marshall Agency. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

Phoebe Renshaw's grandmother is on the board of a school for girls in 1919 England. After the headmistress, Miss Finch, collapses at a luncheon, the students and staff are shocked to learn she was poisoned by cyanide after eating a slice of Madeira cake. Phoebe and her lady's maid, Eva, begin investigating. They learn that the assistant headmistress didn't approve of Miss Finch's progressive views on education. Then there is the mentally disabled young handyman who acts erratically and is arrested for attacking a curate. Eva begins to make sense of the handyman's ramblings and realizes he may be connected to Miss Finch. Along with a bracing mystery, Maxwell explores compelling themes concerning the effects of war, from a nurse suffering from PTSD to drug addiction. Although this is from a slightly earlier time period, it's a good match with Rhys Bowen's Her Royal Spyness series.--Alessio, Amy Copyright 2017 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

A titled lady and her maid work to solve a murder at a girls school.World War I has come to an end, but life in England continues to change in many ways. Phoebe Renshaw, granddaughter of the Earl of Wroxly, wants more than the rich husband that still seems to be the limit of her older sister Julias ambition. In collecting items useful to returned veterans and their families, Phoebes been helped by the students at the Haverleigh School for Young Ladies, where her younger sister, Lady Amelia, is a pupil. When the headmistress, Miss Finch, drops dead over her cup of tea, chaos ensues. Luckily, Phoebe and Eva Huntford, the ladys maid the three sisters share, are on hand to quell the panic until the police arrive. Constable Brannock and his remote chief inspector at first dismiss the incident as an accidental poisoning, but, later, the constable suspects cyanide. Miss Finch alone had been served a cake supposedly made especially for her by haughty Lady Zara, who looks down on many of her fellow students, especially the scholarship girls. Brannock, who recalls how well Phoebe and Eva worked together solving another mystery (Murder Most Malicious, 2015), is eager to benefit from their inside knowledge this time. Verity Sedgewick not only wanted Miss Finchs job, but is suspiciously well-dressed for an assistant headmistress; the school nurses wartime service includes a legacy of PTSD; the garden boy is hiding secrets; and Miss Finch herself had changed Lady Zaras marks to high ones even though everyone knew she did the least amount of work possible. The unlikely sleuthing duo uses information from both upstairs and downstairs to solve the case. Colorful information on the postwar period is combined with plenty of suspects, all neatly wrapped up in the style of a classic mystery. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Powered by Koha