A Lady’s Guide to Gossip and Murder

Set in 1899 London, Freeman’s engrossing sequel to 2018’s A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder finds American-born Frances Wynn, Countess of Harleigh, settling happily into her independent life as a widow. Two relatives and a close friend are visiting from New York, and, as an added bonus, Frances’s relationship with her charming neighbor, George Hazelton, is beginning to take a distinctively romantic turn. Frances recently introduced Charles Evingdon, her genial cousin-by-marriage, to widow Mary Archer, thinking the two would make a good match, so she’s disappointed when she learns that Charles and Mary have called it quits. Her disappointment turns to alarm when Mary is murdered and Charles becomes the prime suspect. When Frances teams with George and Charles to find the real culprit, they discover that Mary was the anonymous author of a newspaper gossip column. Was she also a blackmailer who threatened to expose something worth killing for? Freeman takes a witty look at Victorian polite society. Historical mystery fans will be delighted. Agent: Melissa Edwards, Stonesong Literary. (July)