Death comes to dine…When an elegant dinner party with friends ends in the sudden death of a beautiful young socialite, Alice Beckingham finds herself a witness to murder. Intrigued by a cryptic note in which the victim predicts her own demise, Alice enlists the aid of the cunning but slippery Sherborne Sharp to investigate.Alice has more than one killer to contend with, however, as her family … to contend with, however, as her family continues to be plagued by unanswered questions surrounding an older unsolved mystery.
Working together, the lady detective and her jewel thief partner set out to trap a killer. But will the looming shadows of the past leave Alice blind to the dangers of the present?
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Poison for dinner
4 stars
Suitable for teen – adult
Light reading
No sex
No harsh language
Action violence without gory details
Main character, Alice is probably about 20 years old
Plot no spoilers:
Alice is invited by an old friend, Violet, to join her and two other old friends for dinner at a nice restaurant. Alice is delighted since she hasn’t seen any of them for quite some time.
Things go badly when one of them is poisoned. How could this happen in such a crowded setting, and why?
Alice determines to follow in her cousin Rose’s footsteps and discover the murderer. Of course this is ridiculously dangerous, but readers of this kind of mystery novel would expect no less.
The book is a sequel to the Rose Beckingham series. My main criticism is that it gives away key elements of one of the Rose stories by naming the murderer, his victim, and the motive. I wish authors wouldn’t do that.
Fast paced, easy reading. Good diversion from everyday life.
Well written, Chinook to read.
Lead character shares random thought process and jumps to conclusions, pursuing dangerous characters without much forethought. concluded well.
A pleasant read!
I could identify with the main character-rushing headlong without thinking. I liked the choice of her sidekick. Overall an enjoyable book
This would be mindless, OK reading for airplane or train travel. Set in London in the 1920’s, a shallow, wealthy young woman witnesses the death of a friend of hers in a restaurant. It appears to be murder by poison. Alice longs to be a crime solver like her cousin Rose (who apparently stars in another series by this author). Naturally, she withholds information from the police, as all the wealthy meddlers do in these novels. And just as predictably, she finds herself attracted to a man below her caste who looks out for her as she tries to solve the murder on her own. This is the second in the Alice series and allusions were made to the plot of the first (which I have not read), but you really don’t need that background to understand this story). Mediocre, but it will do as a British murder mystery.
Dinner and a murder!
I love the time period and I think the author has captured that well. Alice is witness to her friends murder in a busy restaurant. When Alice arrives back home, she finds a note in her bag from the victim. Can Alice solve the crime with the help from her jewel thief friend Sherborne? Plenty going on to keep my interest until the very end. Can’t wait for the next one!
I received an ARC. This is my honest review.
A party is no place for a murder, though it seems to be becoming more common for her family.
A jewel thief is no fit aid for a Lady in distress – or is he?
Modern twists on classic parlor murder mysteries – Agatha Christie would sit up and pay attention if she or her characters were invited to dine!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.