A Golden Cage

At the start of Freydont’s glittering second Newport Gilded Age mystery (after 2015’s A Gilded Grave), Deanna attends the opulent birthday fete that Maude Grantham has put on for her husband, Judge Samuel Grantham, at their “cottage” on Bellevue Avenue. The Granthams’ daughter and son-in-law have had an entire stage set built and hired an acting troupe to perform. Among the actors is Amabelle Deeks, a daughter of the privileged class who’s left home for a career. Deanna befriends Amabelle, who comes to Bonheur, the home of Gwendolyn Manon, where Deanna is living. When an actor is found dead in the Bonheur conservatory and Amabelle goes missing, Deanna and her maid, Elspeth, again play detective. Deanna chafes under the many restrictions that society imposes on her, but Freydont does a good job showing how women in the 1890s were making advances both small (less restrictive tennis outfits) and large (campaigning for the vote). Agent: Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary. (June)