Mrs Laetitia Rodd is the impoverished widow of an Archdeacon, living modestly in Hampstead with her landlady Mrs Bentley. She is also a private detective of the utmost discretion. In winter 1850, her brother Frederick, a criminal barrister, introduces her to Sir James Calderstone, a wealthy and powerful industrialist who asks Mrs Rodd to investigate the background of an ‘unsuitable’ woman his son intends to marry – a match he is determined to prevent.
In the guise of governess, she travels to the family seat, Wishtide, deep in the frozen Lincolnshire countryside, where she soon discovers that the Calderstones have more to hide than most. As their secrets unfold, the case takes an unpleasant turn when a man is found dead outside a tavern. Mrs Rodd’s keen eyes and astute wits are taxed as never before in her search for the truth – which carries her from elite drawing rooms to London’s notorious inns and its steaming laundry houses.
Dickensian in its scope and characters, The Secrets of Wishtide brings nineteenth century society vividly to life and illuminates the effect of Victorian morality on women’s lives. Introducing an irresistible new detective, the first book in the Laetitia Rodd Mystery series will enthral and delight.
complicated mystery Apparently based around a line in Dicken's David Copperfield (which I have to admit not reading) and a throw-away line about Little Em'ly, a fisherman's daughter who elopes with James Steerforth, and spends the rest of her life repenting in the Australian outback.
In this Laetitia Rodd is an impoverished widow of an Archdeacon and her brother, a lawyer, uses her to enquire into puzzles for him, in this one he wants her to investigate another widow that the son of a client wants investigated. When murder happens in the small village the son of the client is blamed and Laetitia investigates, but all is not as it seems and there are undercurrents that make the investigation muddy.
I read this before going to Spain and remember parts, but I do remember liking it and wanting more. Laetitia is interesting and determined to make her own way in a world that would prefer that she hide away and be unseen. I had a few issues with the pacing but overall it was a good read.
Reading updates
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29 October, 2017:
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29 October, 2017:
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