This is a charming mystery with appealing characters, nice integration with the historical Mitford family, and a great twist at the end. It's nicely paced and well-written.

NetGalley ARC.

Unfortunately I can’t say I enjoyed this book. While the setting and factual details were interesting, the crime and characters felt flat. Desperate Louisa is looking for a way out of her poverty stricken life in London. She is able to secure a nursery maid position with the Mitford Family. Louisa and policeman Guy work together to solve the murder of nurse Florence Shore.

Besides Louisa, who is spunky and intelligent, the rest of the characters, especially the real life Milford’s, weren’t very fleshed out. In reality the Milford’s produced multiple Nazi supporters. I had issues with portraying the family as quirky and fun. It felt overly romanticized. Will Fellows deal with Diana’s and Unity’s decent into fascism in future sequels? Somehow I doubt it.

I'm a big fan of the Mitford sisters and this was the main reason I choose this book.
Unfortunately the Mitford in the books are just a pale ghost of the real thing.
Assuming that it is just a case of homonymy the book is nice and entertaining.
But it is not what I expected to be.
Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley.

I found this book a little hard to get into in the beginning, but once it got going I enjoyed it. This story is based on a real murder and a real family, The Mitford Family. I had heard of the Mitford Family, but really didn't know much about them. The story begins with the murder of Florence Shore, a nurse, on a train. Louisa, who is trying to escape her very mean uncle, becomes involved when she rides the train. She lands a job as nursemaid in the Mitford Household. Louisa and one of the Mitford daughters, Nancy, help Guy Sullivan, a railway policeman, solve the murder. I really like stories that mix fact and fiction.

Louisa, desperate to escape her uncle, takes on a position as nursery maid in the Mitford household. When Florence Shore, a nurse, is killed, Louisa and the oldest Mitford girl, Nancy, search out clues to assist a railway policeman, Guy Sullivan, solve the mystery.

When I began reading this, I had no idea the Mitford family actually existed, so I had no expectations of how they would be portrayed. Because we follow Guy and Louisa through the story, the Mitfords are more secondary characters in my opinion.

Louisa was a relatable character, fighting to keep from the fate her uncle has in store for her. Though she is attracted to Guy, she doesn't trust him right away. Their interactions were sweet and my favorite scenes were when they were together.

The plot moved at a steady pace, though at times it seemed as though the murder was an afterthought. The language and phrasing used seemed true to the era.

Overall, it was a nice mystery and one I would recommend to readers looking for a historical mystery.

This book comes with an excellent pedigree. Jessica Fellows, daughter of Julian and Downton Abbey fame, is a writer in her own right. The Mitford Sisters who led fascinating lives and are the subjects of many books are the children of the book, while Nancy is the protagonist. The setting is Britain, the time is after WWI so all of the elements are in place. Despite this however, I found the book to be good but not extraordinary. There is a mix of romance, mystery, secrets from the war, questions of identity and yet to my disappointment, it was not a five star book. This is the start of the series; I will hope the next book is just a little bit better.

I was really looking forward to reading this novel as I love historical fiction and was especially interested when I learned that the story is based on fact. Unfortunately, I found the novel difficult to get into, and while the story was well written and enjoyable in parts, the pace was slow and the plot somewhat mundane. Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

The book's writing style does not fit with my reading preferences, so I have stopped reading after a few chapters. I am very thankful for the opportunity of reading Mitford Murders, and it's a pity I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought..

I really wanted to love this. I’ve read a lot of the books (fiction and non fiction) written by the Mitfords and many books written about them, so I was hoping that this would be right up my alley. But, for some reason it just didn’t do it for me. I found it alternately exasperating and clumsy. It’s not terrible, it just doesn’t deliver on what I was hoping it would. Never mind.

Although much of this book takes place in and around the Mitford family, it is more about the murder of the (historical) Florence Nightingale Shore. Fellowes’ characters are drawn from the history of the period, as is the storyline. She is clearly comfortable with the period, and her settings and characters are realistic. I look forward to more about Louisa and Guy!

Louisa Cannon has a chance to improve her life as a nursery maid to the Mitford family. She escapes her uncle on the train and with the help of Guy, a railroad policeman she makes it to the Mitford home and secures the position. Guy is called to a murder of a war nurse on the train. With the help of Louisa Guy works over the years from 1919 tp 1921 to find the murderer. It leads them in several directions with several suspects. Nancy Mitford who is the oldest daughter of the family is helpful too. This is the author's first novel but should not be her last.

Although I knew nothing about the Mitford Sisters or the Nightingale Shore murder before I requested the book, I must say I enjoyed reading it! The story started out slow but once the investigation caught speed, the twist and turns were enthralling and by the end I was completely captivated by the story! The book had a very classic mystery feel to it - resembling the investigations in an Agatha Christie novel.

This isn't for those who are intimately familiar with the Mitford sisters. It's a period cozy - 1919/1920- where Louisa, a nurserymaid in the Mitford household works to solve the murder of Florence Nightengale Shore. Yes the Mitfords and Shore were real people and yes there's been a lot written about them but this isn't meant as a history, it's meant as a cozy where they are a launchpad to explore attitudes of the time as well as, well, an actual murder. Nancy Mitford is a teen in this mystery. It's well written and entertaining. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. It's light, it's different, and it's worth a read. AND, it might inspire you to read more about the Mitfords.

I didn't finish this. The writing style didn't hold my attention.

1919, and Louisa Cannon by a stroke of luck is employed as a nursery maid in the Mitford household at Asthall Manor. But on the same train that Louisa had been travelling previously that day, Florence Nightingale Shore, is killed. Louisa, Nancy Mitford with Sergeant Guy Sullivan seem determined to find the murderer.
I didn't really get an connection to the characters, I didn't really find them interesting enough. I have no idea if the Mitfords have been protrayed accurately (they were not the reason for reading the book) I was more interested in reading a murder mystery story. With that in mind and that I didn't particularly like the writing style, it was an just about interesting enough to get me to the end of the book.