Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Storm Publishing, and Nancy Warren for the advanced reader copy of the book. This review will also be posted on NetGalley. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

In the first book in the series, Murder at the Paris Fashion House, readers were introduced to Abigail Dixon, an American who moves to Paris in an attempt to escape her past. However, that past followed her to Paris. Although I don’t think it’s necessary to have read Murder at the Paris Fashion House prior to reading Death at Darrington Manor, I do think it helps for some of the background as to why Abigail has dresses designed for her by a Paris designer as well as relationships with several people who appear in this book.

Abigail works at the Paris office of a Chicago newspaper. She’s a journalist, but her editor sees her as only capable of covering women’s issues such as fashion and society. He sends her off to cover the wedding of Reginald Mitchell, the son of a wealthy American automobile manufacturer, to Cressida Wimborne, the daughter of Viscount and Viscountess Wimborne. It’s to be the wedding of the year, and Abigail is tasked with reporting on it.

Enlisting the help of her roommate and friend, Vivian, to act as her ladies maid, Abigail travels to England for the wedding. Upon arrival at Darrington Manor, she is tepidly welcomed by the Wimbornes. The economy has been hard on them, with death duties eating away at the family fortune over the years and the land becoming less and less profitable. Cressida’s marriage to a wealthy American will not solve problems for them, either.

Charles Mitchell is depicted as a typical American of the era, with a lack of decorum and determined to show off his wealth. He has commissioned Coco Chanel to design Cressida’s dress as well as importing one of his unique automobiles as a gift for the Wimbornes. Reggie takes the vehicle into town one day and crashes it into a tree, nearly killing himself. An examination of the vehicle reveals the brakes were tampered with.

Under orders from her editor, Abigail is supposed to only be reporting the positive aspects of the wedding, not the crash or the possibility that someone was trying to hurt someone. However, she is caught up in events that have taken on a life of their own, and, in the end, help figures out who among the occupants of Darrington Manor might be a killer.

I very much enjoyed Death at Darrington Manor. Billed as a “cozy mystery,” it’s just that; a book that’s enjoyable to curl up with and lose yourself in. Abigail is a compelling character as a young woman trying to make her way in a world that doesn’t yet see a woman to be as capable as a man would be. She enjoys the niceties of life a bit, thanks to the relationship she has with designer Paul Joubert, so there is a great deal of descriptions of fashion and style. The balance is great, though, between that and her trying to prove herself in a man’s world.

I was a bit disappointed at first, thinking the character of Inspector Deschamps would not appear here. He is a French detective who investigated the murder at the heart of Murder at the Paris Fashion House and seemed to be a potential love interest for Abigail down the line. However, he does show up at Darrington Manor, and there definitely seems to be more to him than meets the eye. Their relationship does advance a bit during the events in Death at Darrington Manor, although it;s still more about the potential of what’s there than anything else.

The mystery was pretty easy to figure out early on, despite the excellent red herrings the author puts in the path. I admit to having my doubts about my guess a number of times while reading it, but in the end my initial suspicions were correct.

I recommend Death at Darrington Manor as a great bit of summer reading. It’s got just about everything you could ask for with a blend of fashion, high society, intrigue, and murder. I look forward to the next book in the series as well.

Previous bookm in the series: