Review: Of Manners and Murder by Anastasia Hastings

Synopsis

1885: London, England. When Violet’s Aunt Adelia decides to abscond with her newest paramour, she leaves behind her role as the most popular Agony Aunt in London, “Miss Hermione,” in Violet’s hands.

And of course, the first letter Violet receives is full, not of prissy pondering, but of portent. Ivy Armstrong is in need of help and fears for her life. But when Violet visits the village where the letters were posted, she finds that Ivy is already dead.

She’ll quickly discover that when you represent the best-loved Agony Aunt in Britain, both marauding husbands and murder are par for the course.

What I thought

Thank you, Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for giving me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All thoughts and feelings expressed are my own.

This is the first book in a Victorian era cozy mystery series.  Violet learns that her aunt has been secretly running an advice column, and now she has to take over it while her aunt takes a trip to the continent.  This story is told from both Violet and Sephora’s POVs, this made for an interesting story since even though these two are half sisters they have vastly different personalities.  Violet is more like a bluestocking, where Sephora is your typical Victorian debutant.  

Even though I was easily able to guess who committed the murder early on, I still had fun reading the story. For me, there were no real surprises, but I enjoyed seeing these sisters grow a little and lean to trust each other’s strengths. There were some things that did not quite fit well with this time period, however sometimes you just have to let that go to enjoy the story. For example, Violet somehow running around without a lady’s maid. Due to the household they came from, she should have had one trailing after her as she gallivants around London and beyond. The same goes for Sephora, but then she would get so deep in trouble if there was one. So I get it.

I hope that the love interest that is teased for Violet makes an appearance in future books because I really like him for her.  

If you are in the mood for a fun Victorian era cozy mystery, you should give this one a try.

My Rating: /5

Have you read this book? If so what did you think? Tell me in the comments below.