Murder in Season

Countess Amelia Amesbury returns in the limp third Lady of Letters mystery from Winters (after Murder in Masquerade). In 1860 London, Amelia writes advice columns under the alias Lady Agony Her younger sister, Margaret, travels to London for a visit after she sends Charles Atkinson, one of her costars in a play, to the hospital for making unwelcome advances. Margaret arrives in the middle of London’s debutante season and exchanges tense words with baronet Arthur Radcliffe, an acquaintance of Charles’s, just before a society dinner. When Arthur dies by poisoning at the same event, Margaret becomes the obvious suspect. Then jewelry belonging to London’s upper crust begins to go missing, bringing her twice as much scrutiny. Using her gifts of deduction, Amelia sets out to solve the crimes and clear her sister’s name. Unfortunately, Winters fails to make Amelia’s supposed talents convincing, sharing only banal excerpts from her columns and barely touching on her detective work. Readers intrigued by the premise will have better luck with Anastasia Hastings’s Dear Miss Hermione series. Agent: Amanda Jain, BookEnds Literary. (Dec.)