Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Set in 1937, Fellowes's cleverly plotted fifth mystery featuring the real-life Mitford family (after 2020's The Mitford Trial) deepens the personality of series lead Louisa Cannon. Louisa, who was once a servant in the Mitford household, has come up in the world. She's married her beau, former Scotland Yard inspector Guy Sullivan, and the couple have opened Cannon & Sullivan, a London detective agency. Business is slow, until the Mitford parents ask Louisa and Guy to help find their 19-year-old daughter, Jessica, known as Decca, who has disappeared. Decca told her parents she was traveling to Dieppe, France, to visit friends, but the older Mitfords have since learned that Decca lied about her plans. Meanwhile, Louisa and Guy get another client searching for a loved one when Julia Attwood consults them about her sister, Petunia, who hasn't been heard from for three weeks. The PIs fear foul play after learning that Petunia alleged fraud at the insurance company she worked for as a secretary. Fellowes has plausibly transformed Louisa from amateur to professional sleuth. Maisie Dobbs fans will be pleased. Agent: Caroline Michel, Peters Fraser and Dunlop (U.K.). (Jan.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
In this latest in Fellowes's series featuring the Mitford sisters, former Mitford maid Louisa Cannon has become a private investigator, working with policeman husband Guy Sullivan. A call from Nancy Mitford, concerned that Communist sister Jessica has disappeared in civil war-shattered Spain, leads Louisa to yet another case: a soldier has also disappeared. With a 50,000-copy first printing.
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A fifth dose of murder involving the Mitford family carries a maid-turned-detective from London to the Continent in the middle of the Spanish Civil War. It's 1937. Having proven her worth in solving a number of mysteries, Louisa Cannon, who once worked as a maid for the notorious Mitford family, is married to a former police detective with whom she's partnered in a detective agency. In that capacity, she receives a note from Nancy Mitford begging for help in finding her sister Jessica, aka Decca. The political leanings of the family range from fascists and Nazis to Decca, who claims to be a communist. She's supposed to be vacationing in France, but none of her friends and relatives know where she is. In addition, Louisa takes on the case of Petunia Attwood, a missing woman who was involved in a dispute at work. The police have no interest in looking for an adult woman, but Louisa fears she may be in trouble. The man Petunia crossed swords with at work is also missing, and his downtrodden wife seems glad he's gone. At length Louisa discovers that Decca has run off with her communist cousin Esmond Romilly, who's been in Spain and plans to return there. The detecting duo travel back and forth as go-betweens for the family while Louisa becomes more deeply involved in a possible murder closer to home and several missing persons whose fates also involve the war in Spain. A fascinating story based on real people and places. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
