This is a fun British cozy of sorts with entwining stories and a winning set of characters. Thanks to Netgalley for the good read.

Very enjoyable! An unusual and engaging mystery, quirky and likeable characters and a roll along plot combine for a thoroughly delightful and compulsive read. This is part of a series of books and I've not had the pleasure of the preceeding entries in the series. However, I shall be rectifying this and will be seeking out more form the Ladies of the WISE. Recommended.

Princess Fuzzypants here:
At first I thought this might be a comedy/mystery set in the drawing rooms of the Upper Class but I was surprised pleasantly as the story progressed and the characters evolved.into richly nuanced creatures. Yes, there is some of the class barriers addressed in the story but more from the angle of inclusion rather than exclusion; As one of the characters self describes, some of them are as common as muck while others are in the Aristocracy. Yet, they all play nicely with others for the most part.
Rivalries do surface during the annual croquet game but is nothing to compare with the murder of a well loved local doctor. It is clear someone slipped him some strychnine but who and how. Bring in the ladies of WISE. They are unmatched in their investigative skills as well as their superior research abilities. They run rings around the local police both in Wales where the base story takes places and Ireland where the secondary story takes place. Let us say there is a ton of male chauvinism in both locations but the ladies prevail and uncover the culprit to the local mystery as well as a baffling and huge case in Ireland.
I love the way characters from different parts of the UK and different classes come together and make an awesome team. I know I would call them if I needed that kind of service.
I give them four purrs and two paws up.

Cathy Ace in the Case of the Unsuitable Suitor involves the Wise Enquiries Agency in a number of interlocking puzzling cases. Who vandalized the duke's croquet field? Who kidnapped a maker of illegal potcheen? Did the suitor of Annie murder his three previous wives? Who poisoned with strychnine the village doctor? How do the ladies in the agency with Dowager Duchess Althea's help brings the cases to a satisfying conclusion? Read and find out.

Excellent book. Brilliant story and I loved the main characters. I would highly recommend this book.

The book is set in Wales and Northern Ireland and involves the ladies of the Wise detective agency. Theres vandalism, a croquet competition, murder and for the member of the team on holiday in Ireland there's kidnap and an illicit alcohol ring. Its a fun and enjoyable read.

Carol from the WISE Agency is asked by local bar keeper Tudor to investigate the return of the prodigal son Huw Hughes. It seems Huw has his eye on Annie, and Tudor is jealous of his success. While Christine is on vacation, she encounters a dangerous moonshine smuggling business very close to home. A fun book to read.

This book is the fourth in a series, but the first one I've read. Four friends from different areas of the United Kingdom, Carol, Annie, Mavis, and Christine, run the WISE Enquiries Agency. In this book, Carol leads an investigation into the man Annie has been dating and enlists help from Mavis. In a totally separate case, Christine is visiting her family home in Ireland and has her own mystery to solve.

The main plot is entertaining and I felt I got to know Carol and Annie by the end of the book. Mavis played such as small part in the case, I didn't get to know her at all. Although I liked the character of Christine, the subplot with her in Ireland, which is totally unrelated to the main plot, was a distraction from that story and slowed the pace of the book.

I think fans of the series will enjoy the book. I like the ending and liked Annie getting some time in the spotlight to solve the case. However, as someone who didn't read the prior books in the series, I would have liked some more background information on the diverse group of characters, how they met, and formed the agency. I was able to figure some things out, but wasn't able to connect all the dots on the friendship and working relationships between the characters. With some more background, I think the series would appeal to fans of Dorothy Cannell.

I received this book from NetGalley through the courtesy of Severn House. The book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.

Another winning entry in this series. This can be read out of order but you will enjoy it so much more if you start at the beginning. The ladies of the WISE Enquiries Agency have a lot to balance in this mystery. At home, in the village of Awen-by-Wye, there is major tension between the competing croquet teams, ranging from vandalism to illness to death. That also shines light on the budding relationship between WISE member Annie and Huw Hughes. Is Huw a serial wife killer? If he is, the WISE ladies will get the answer and protect Annie. Up in Ireland, Christine tries to figure out illegal alcohol production along with kidnapping. Even though there are several threads and several locations along with many characters, all very well drawn, it's not hard to keep it all straight. Village life with added mystery and murder - this is a very satisfying series.

There's a new man in town, Huw Hughes, and he's set his eyes on Annie, the woman that Tudor loves. And Tudor is concerned. The man has had three wives. All three are now dead. With one of their crew on vacation, it's up to Carol and Mavis to figure out whether something sinister is going on.
There is a little B plot with Christine. She's on vacation but there is a theft that throws her life into chaos.
This book was the first in the series that I had read and there were a LOT of people in this story. I would definitely recommend starting with the other books first.

Three stars
This book comes out January 1
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley

An annual croquet tournament in the tiny Welsh village of Anwen-by-Wye has all the villagers excited. But the Anwen Allcomers team have recruited a talented new player. Huw Hughes had left Anwen as a teenager but now has retired from his world travels as a highly regarded motivational speaker to the green Welsh countryside. Tudor Evans, proprietor of the Lamb and Flag and captain of the Allcomers, has two reasons to resent the return of Huw. Huw is trying to lead the Allcomers team and he also seems interested in Annie Parker, the girl Tudor would court if he could just summon up the courage. Tudor decides to hire the women of the WISE Enquiries Agency to help confirm his suspicions about Huw who has had the misfortune of three dead wives. WISE computer whiz Carol Hill confirms the oddities about Huw's dead wives and raises enough red flags that her WISE colleagues Althea Twyst and Mavis MacDonald cannot ignore. Vandals strike on the pavilion grounds with an ominous message. Then a mysterious illness hits the Champs and the Allcomers teams and elderly Dr. Priddle dies. When the autopsy shows that strychnine poisoning killed Priddle, the WISE women set forth to find the killer. Meanwhile, in a subplot, fellow WISE member Christine Wilson-Smythe is home in Ireland and embroiled in her own inquiry into a missing lot of potcheen (Irish Moonshine), a missing employee and some dangerous thugs.

This is a fun village cozy with a cast of interesting characters led by the very talented WISE Enquiries Agency women.

I received an eARC via Netgalley and Severn House with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book and provided this review.

This is a nice cozy mystery with a good plot, an interesting cast of characters and a lovely settings. Unfortunately I was not able to engaged in the feeling and found hard to end it :( Not my cup of tea

Thanks Severn House and netgalley for this ARC.

I've read the WISE books from the start and this one is my favorite. Just the right combo of humor, shtick, and mystery.

This was my first Cathy Ace book and it was delightful. I was transported to a lovely place I've been blessed to visit and be exposed to absolutely charming characters, even steeped in murder and crime. There were many surprises in the expertly executed mysteries, both in Wales and Ireland. I look forward to getting the rest of the series and immersing myself!

The WISE women's detective agency has settled into their new digs in Wales, but this episode of their adventures finds them all over the place -- Carol's home with her baby, Christine is at her family's seat in Ireland, and Mavis is trying to keep everything together at the agency. As for Annie, she's being chatted up by someone who seems to be a very unsuitable suitor. With three former wives all dead under suspicious circumstances, Huw Hughes doesn't seem like the best choice for Annie.

Can her friends prove to her that Huw is a cad, and also cope with the various mysteries they're encountering in the run-up to the biggest croquet bash of the year?

This series always combines the descriptions of village and manor house with a depth of character and concern for women's rights. This book separates the women and brings in other local characters as larger than usual parts of the action, resulting in further development of the characters. The puzzles are complex, but the multiple story lines never get confusing or out of hand.

The ladies of the WISE (Wales, Ireland, Scotland, England) Enquiries Agency have returned in author Cathy Ace's The Case of the Unsuitable Suitor! This fourth and very clever installment in the series finds our team of crack female investigators looking into several mysteries at the same time.
Christine and beau Alexander are at her family ancestral home in Ireland for a vacation when they become involved with kidnapping, illegal alcohol production and a crime kingpin. Annie, Carol and Mavis, along with Dowager Duchess Althea, are at home in Anwen by Wye when they have to work together to discover who killed the village's beloved retired doctor, and also if Annie's suitor is a possible serial wife killer. This gripping cozy mystery will keep the reader on the edge of their seat, rapidly turning pages and trying to solve the mystery right alongside the women of WISE! A+++

This is the first book I have read in the WISE Enquiries Agency mystery series.
It was an easy light-hearted read, set in Wales and Northern Ireland. It features four ladies of varying ages who tackle any crimes committed in their community. In this story, we have a couple of village teams competing in a croquet competition, when the croquet lawn in the local stately home is vandalised and members of both teams become ill after a tea party there with one person dying of poisoning.
Suspicion is cast on various parties and one of the lady detectives is courted by a possible serial wife killer, so her colleagues have to uncover his motives before she becomes his next victim.
Another of the agency members is holidaying at home in Ireland when she becomes involved in local skulduggery, featuring illicit alcohol etc..
This is a series which will appeal to fans of cozy mysteries.

Another outing with the WISE ladies. This series is nicely building up :-)

A very interesting group of women have found themselves a detecting niche in a small English village. Well drawn characters and a clever who done it