Recent Reads: The Angela Marchmont Mysteries (Kobo || Amazon (affiliate) || B&N)
God almighty, I haven’t done any recent reads posts in nearly a year, which is crazy because I’ve actually BEEN reading.
I’ve burned through this entire series in the past couple of weeks. Very enjoyable, if you like 1920s-era cozies. In fact, in the past year, I’ve read almost everything Clara Benson has written, and they’re all good fun. I’d recommend starting with the Angela Marchmont books, which I didn’t.
I in fact read the Freddy Pilkington-Soames Adventures (amazon affiliate link) first, and then because one of them is a crossover post-book-10 of Angela Marchmont (book 10 was at the time the last of her books) I had to re-read that one when I was reading the Marchmont books. (It was not a hardship. If I was starting fresh, in fact, I’d probably read the books in timeline-chronological order, because the Freddy books begin during the Marchmont books and it’d probably be fun to read them back-and-forth in order.)
Marchmont is a wealthy English woman with a bit of a Mysterious Past thanks to the years she spent in America. She has an eye for detail, which gets her drawn, reluctantly at first and then with greater enthusiasm as the series continues, into solving mysteries. Her supporting cast includes a very French maid/dresser, an American (mostly) driver who is prepared to get into all sorts of hijinks on Angela’s behalf (his introduction is in the short story you get if you join Benson’s newsletter), the above-mentioned Freddy, and an Inspector with Scotland Yard whom I really liked. And the romance in the series is as slow-burn as it comes, which, as some of you may have realized, is a trope I adore.
So, yeah, if you like period-piece cozies, these are probably your jam. And they’re all available on Kobo+!