This is my first experience with the Mayfair 100, because I missed the first in the series A Death in Belgravia. However, I found this novel easily stands alone so new readers should not be deterred from giving this a try. Mayfair 100 is the number for a one of a kind, specialist crime fighting team. The all-female team of amateur detectives are working against the backdrop of WW1 where an aristocrat’s apparent suicide is being questioned by her family. The Duchess of Penhere suspects foul play was involved in the death of her daughter. The Daughter, Adeline, has a vicious gossip column, and could provide a list of enemies within the upper echelons of London society. When Dr. Caroline Allardyce performs an autopsy and confirms murder is the cause of death, the case begins. Yet with a list of possible suspects and the famously secretive British aristocracy to investigate, this could be their toughest case yet.
I liked the concept of a female crime fighting team, especially in this period of history where women were taking on men’s roles. With so many men fighting abroad, women came into the fore in a number of roles. This is a period where we start to see the results of female university education, but mainly women were moving into factory work, shop work and other lower and middle class professions. My home county of Lincolnshire saw the first female police officer, Edith Smith, awarded full powers of arrest in 1915. This book is set in July of 1915, a new world of exciting opportunities for women, with scientific as well as social breakthroughs in the background. As well as Dr Allardyce, the team includes pharmacist and photographer Mabel Summersby, Victoria Ellingham who has nursing training as well as Victoria’s mother, Lady Maud who is their foothold in the society circles they need to infiltrate in this case. The group are a strong team, but are also enjoyable in terms of their dynamics and conversations. They are lively and intelligent.
While this is an investigation into the scandalous upper classes the twists and turns take us through some murky territory. Those questioned by the team range from a QC, an MP and a con-artist, as well as Adeline’s brother desperately trying to keep his family’s good name intact. Underneath the gossip and scandal, Adeline was also running a blackmail scheme, including a baby ‘farmer’ who bought and sold illegitimate babies. While this was a legal occupation at the time, there was often neglect and even murder being committed. Detective Arthur Beech and other male officers take on the seedier parts of London, while the women are sent out to treat the more high class contacts with kid gloves.
For me, although the story was interesting, it was the historical detail I enjoyed most. This is a period of history that fascinates me and this being the second year of WW1 some of the effects are already being felt. This war was the Great Equaliser as men of all classes fought together, and the sheer loss of life created huge societal shifts. The class system as it had been known for centuries, began to collapse. Great families lost all their heirs leaving aristocratic women dependent on barely known and distant relatives. Many stately homes were hit by death duties multiple times, bankrupting estates or forcing them to diversify and let in the public. Previously supported by Male family members and focused on home, middle class women worked or had to open up family homes to lodgers. This was a scary but exciting time for women, but for men it was very different as injured soldiers started to return to jobs now out of their reach or being done by women. Many were reduced to poverty and begging on street corners. All of this detail lurks in the background to this novel. I look forward to meeting with the Mayfair 100 again where I hope to learn more about each character as they develop further in this changeable part of the 20th Century.

Lynn Brittney continues the World War I Mayfair 100 mysteries with A Death in Chelsea. The Duchess of Penhere's daughter, gossip columnist Lady Adeline is discovered hanging in her bedroom. The amateur female detectives from Mayfair are called in to help Chief Inspector Beech discreetly solve the case. Blackmail, murder, and other seamy crimes entangle a disparate group of victims. Well plotted period mystery against the background of the men away at war and women stepping up to the jobs.

I don’t know if it’s because this is the second book in the series and I haven’t read the first one,, but I really struggled to connect with the characters in this book. There were so many of them and I felt like I was missing backstory that would have been helpful. My fault for not realizing this was a series when I requested it. It was still an okay read and I’m sure I’d enjoy it more if I revisited after reading book 1.

The release in ebook format and hardback of this title by Crooked Lane is a reason to celebrate.
Having reviewed the paperback version of this title and the first in the series, Murder in Belgravia, I can only reconfirm some of what I said at that time.
That I'd enjoyed " the characters as they grew into their roles, that underlining the series are serious social issues of the time including mixed marriages, baby farming, the toll of war and how ill prepared Britain was for the devastating injuries and things like the need for artificial limbs, to the levelling of the social barriers."
Once again all kudos to Brittney for her very thoroughly researched understandings of the issues of these times.
Tying all these social problems into a murder mystery is challenging but Brittney seems to be pulling it off.

A Crooked Lane Books ARC via NetGalley

The Mayfair 100 group is called upon to help solve crimes of aristocrats with discretion.. This team is working in England in 1915. The team consists of both men and women, in the police as well as doctors and scientists. I haven’t read the first book, but I liked this group of characters so I’ll go back and read it.

A Death In Chelsea is the second book in The Mayfair 100 Mystery series.

Inspector Beech’s secret team is anxiously looking forward to their next assignment and hoping that they will be helping someone from the working class. But that will not will be the case. The Duchess of Penhere has sought out the Chief Superintendent to ask him to investigate the death of her daughter, Lady Adeline Treborne. Adeline had been found hanging from a ceiling in her flat and the Duchess doesn’t feel that it was suicide even though it looks that way.

What with the Duchess and her status, the Chief Superintendent calls on Inspector Beech and his team.
The team, who call themselves The Mayfair 100, the phone number at the house they meet at. The team consists of a doctor, Caroline, a lawyer, Victoria, and two policemen, Arthur and Billy, and the newest member, Mabel, a pharmacist.

Beech meets with his team and once they have their assignments Victoria, Mabel and Sissy, Billy’s aunt, set off for Lady Adeline’s flat to begin their investigation. Victoria. They are quickly able to determine that she didn’t commit suicide. While searching her flat they found her journal and it appears that not only does she write a “gossip” column for a newspaper, but she has also been blackmailing fellow members of society. In the journal, they find a page with initials and what appears to be monetary amounts. Victoria can suggest some possible names of the people who are being blackmailed. But, some pages are missing from the journal and they hope that with what they have, they will be led to the killer. Their searches will take them as high as Parliament.

I really enjoy this series a lot. The stories are well written and plotted. I also liked how the author weaved in new methods of police investigation procedures. Also, the book contains a cast of interesting and enjoyable characters. I particularly enjoyed Aunt Sissy. Sissy was in the first book but has a bigger role in this book. She was instrumental in proving that Lady Adeline wasn’t hanged. I would love to see her added as a member of Beech’s team.

I will be watching for the next book in this wonderful historical series.

July 1915 and the Mayfair 100 team have started to get bored with no new case for several months to investigate. Then the team are called in when Lady Adelene Treborne is found hanged in her apartment. They find to their dismay that she had many enemies with motives wanting her dead.
Can the team with their new recruits unravel the truth to find the guilty party.
Although the story can easily be read as a standalone I would recommend reading the first in the series as I did find it an delightful read.
This is another entertaining well-written story and an easy read. The main characters as expected are a likeable bunch.

3.75 stars

World War I era historical mystery series with an unusual setup: the war effort has hoovered up most young soldier-age men, so Scotland Yard reluctantly and informally sets up a special unit comprised of women (including a doctor, a lawyer, and a pharmacist) and veterans (both of the war and of law enforcement) to deal with ticklish criminal investigations. Both the first book and this, the second, feature crimes involving the aristocracy.

The other historical thread running in the background is the suffragette movement which abated a bit in Britain during the war but had already led to societal changes and upheaval. The strong cast of characters includes competent professional women and spotlights the problems they still have being taken seriously or being able to use their skills.

The unit is called in when a young disgraced aristo is found dead, hanging from a ceiling fixture in her apartment bedroom. But is this suicide or murder? Her family had long disowned her because of her disgraceful occupation -- as a venomous gossip columnist for the newspapers. The police soon discover she was also a blackmailer.

The mystery and the great supporting cast make this a fun read. Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I love good historical fiction, especially a murder mystery!

Thank you to #netgalley and #crookedlanebooks for the advanced copy for my honest review! It will be published on March 10, 2020!

Tiny Synopsis: The Mayfair 100 are a group of women investigators during WWI that solve crimes of England’s upper class - as most of the men are at war during this time. Gossip columnist Adeline Treborne has been found hanged in her flat and her family refused to accept that it was suicide . The special team is brought in to investigate the cause of death and who else could have been involved as she had many known enemies because of the countless lives she had destroyed from gossip.

My Review:⭐️⭐.5 / 5 stars

SO there was a lot going on in this book and so many facts and characters that I lost track of who was who. This is like CSI meets WWI era London. I loved that it was a murder mystery and the storyline was interesting in the begining, but then it lost me about ⅓ of the way through. Again there were too many characters that were all a bit similar. Then the story kind of bored me too - I really wanted to like this! However, it fell through of what I expected.

The Duchess of Penmere is convinced that her daughter Lady Treborne did not kill herself, despite the fact that she was found hanged. It's 1915 London and while so many of the men who would investigate a potential murder are away at war, there's a quiet team led by DCI Peter Beech that melds male police officers with female civilians who fill critical roles. Each of the women is distinct - and each of them adds something different to the mix. Lady Treborne had a number of enemies as a result of her gossip column so there's a pile of suspects to sort through. This is a delightful look at crime solving on the Homefront. This group was in at the beginning of forensics and if at times you wish they had modern technology, it's still great that they use more scientific than "gut" methods. There are no fireworks here but it's an enjoyable read. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I missed the first book in this series- it was fine as a standalone- and now I hope there's another.

The suicide of Lady Adeline Treborne in her own bedroom caused the suspicions of her mother that it wasn’t suicide at all. She called upon Chief Inspector Beech with her concerns, who immediately gathered the secret Mayfair 100 team to investigate the new case. The women detectives – amateur but intelligent and clever – joined with Beech and other police officers to find the answers. But there was much more than met the eye with this particular case, as was revealed by the autopsy, and when the well-bred of London’s elite were seen to be involved in the darker side of society, the danger was heightened.

Set in 1915 London, A Death in Chelsea is the 2nd in A Mayfair 100 Murder Mystery by Lynn Brittney and once again I loved it. The lengths that were gone to in finding a solution; the way of thinking between the amateur women detectives and the local police; their devious ways of working – it all came together perfectly. I found the characters well fleshed out, and particularly liked Aunt Sissy and Aunt Maud. Carolyn and Victoria are great characters as well… I’m loving the series and am looking forward to #3 already. Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

A Death in Chelsea

A Death in Chelsea is Lynn Brittney’s second Mayfair 100 book, following on from Murder in Belgravia. Mayfair 100 is the phone number of the team’s headquarters. The team comprises Chief Inspector Beech, Sergeant Toller, Constable Rigsby and several “amateur women detectives” as Brittney describes them on page one.

Although the book can be read on a standalone basis, I suspect anyone doing so might be a little bemused by all the characters. Whilst I’m not keen on using several pages of a novel to reiterate the background that fans know backwards, I do think a little more exposition than Brittney has here would help. Maybe a separate “The story so far…” or Dramatis Personae section prior to the main novel would help in the next book.

And I sincerely do hope there is a next book. I enjoyed Murder in Belgravia and A Death in Chelsea is even better, if anything. Adeline Treborne, a very nasty aristocratic woman, is found hanged in her bedroom. It transpires that she was also blackmailing people but the blackmail doesn’t end after Adeline’s death. And when the victims go to pay their money to the new bloodsucker… Well, I would never ever have guessed who was waiting to take the money off them and what happened next. That plot twist is sheer genius.

Brittney is adept at avoiding stereotypes. Adeline’s brother, the Duke, is introduced and we are nudged into thinking he’s a heartless, self-centred mean man. However, his first thought when learning of his sister’s blackmailing business is “How will I ever be able to pay these people back?” and he demonstrates a more nuance character than we initially expected.

I also liked the way Billy Rigsby’s mother and aunt played a large part in the novel. They bring a lot of humour and humanity to the story.

#ADeathInChelsea #NetGalley

3.5/5⭐️

The second in the Mayfair 100 mystery series, I would rate this between a so-so and a pick because while I did enjoy it a bit more than its predecessor (I rated that one a 3⭐️), it still had some issues.

PROS: Getting to know the characters a little better and an interesting plot;

CONS: The writing was still a little simplistic (as I found in the first one), and the plot, while interesting, was also a bit overly convoluted with LOTS of characters to keep track of.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #CrookedLaneBooks for providing me the ARC. The opinions are strictly my own.

The second case for the unique crime fighting crew based in Mayfair starts out with a mother's plea. She doesn't believe that her daughter committed suicide and asks a high ranking police officer to look into the case. He suggests that this would be a perfect case for the team.

The team includes three policemen, a female doctor, a female pharmacist, and a couple of society ladies. They also pull in one of the policemen's mother and aunt to fill some gaps in their knowledge base.

It quickly becomes apparent that the death was not a suicide but rather a murder and the victim's role as a hated gossip columnist who delights in exposing secrets of the people in the highest classes opens up quite a pool of potential murderers. Add in that she is supplementing her income by blackmail and the suspect pool expands even further.

The story has a great setting. With World War I raging and roles for women changing, it is a time of social readjustment. The characters are all well drawn and engaging people. I enjoyed getting to know them better in this episode and seeing how they solve a rather complex crime.

A Death in Chelsea

Imagine your favorite police procedural or at least one with which you are familiar. Now imagine those detectives set in 1915 London at the height of WWI. Socially times were changing from the strict social conventions of the Victorian age to a more modern era of women’s equality - a transition that was such a break from all that people had known that it was challenging to accept.

A Death in Chelsea is set in these turbulent times and even has women detectives, a whole team of them – gasp.

My favorite character: I loved all the women who are part of the detective team, but the one that stood out the most is Victoria Ellingham. A trained lawyer, she is the embodiment of the women’s suffrage movement. She’s so gloriously sassy, and I loved seeing her put the male detectives in their place, rattling them with her directness.

What I Liked

Every aspect felt authentically of the times, from the language to the issues. The language does take some getting used to, as it is more like you would find in a Sherlock Holmes novel. I have read many books written in that period, but it did take me a few chapters to get reacclimated to the tone and cadence of a language that feels more stiff and formal than the current day.

I loved reading about the beginning of police forensics. These women detectives are at the forefront of the science behind solving the crime, and it is exciting to see the process behind that becoming something that is taken for granted today. Imagine trying to process evidence without the technology of today. A world without computers faces many challenges I never even conceptualized. Still, these women show how amazing they are by noticing and processing evidence that may have otherwise gone unnoticed.

There are a lot of characters, but they are all so cleverly well-developed that it is never confusing. From the sassy Victoria to the empathetic Caroline and the wise Mabel – these women, as well as the other three in their group, come alive and make the story the compelling read that it is.

To Read or Not to Read

If you want to read about police work in a time where women are breaking free from the Victorian “Angel of the Hearth” mentality, then look no further. This story, though not a fast-paced, action-filled modern novel, is nonetheless a fascinating and enjoyable page-turner you won’t want to miss.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. A full review will be posted on Amazon and Goodreads

This book is the second in a wonderful series. It is the period in Britain during WWI. Wounded men are returning home but even more men are not returning and never will. A great deal of work in London has been taken over by women. Women have been inserted into positions that previously would have been completely unacceptable.

Scotland Yard’s Inspector Beech (a wounded veteran) has been given the opportunity to have his own secret team of investigators and more than half of them are women. There is a lawyer, a doctor, a pharmacist and two women who have been in service and are thrilled to be a part of the team. There are also, two policemen. One is a formerly retired policeman who has been very successful and the other is a wounded veteran who is young, enthusiastic and physically very powerful. Each member of this team contributes their expertise and intelligence. This is a formidable group.

The Chief Superintendent has asked Beech and his team to take on their second case. The daughter of a late duke has been found hanging in her apartment. The apparent suicide does not seem to fit this young woman’s personality. Her mother does not believe she took her own life. The woman has been making her living by writing a newspaper gossip column, She writes ugly things which are designed to hurt the reputations and hearts of other people who are part of the upper class. She is a much disliked person. In fact one could say she is truly hated.

Would a person like that take her own life?

This mystery is like an onion. For each layer which is peeled back, another even darker layer appears. This story shows some of the darkest and most distressing sides of humanity. Unfortunately, everything shown is possible and in fact probable.

Just as the police team is made up of capable women who are devoted to doing the right thing, there are villains who are female and just as devoted to doing as they please with no thought of consequences.

Members of the team are able to see things and use techniques which illustrate what actually happened. They can find facts which tell a story. The biggest questions remain. Finding the people who actually did what and why.

Although this is the second in a series, there is not a problem in following the action and recognizing the characters. Previous events and relationships are fully explained.

The lead characters are created as quite human. Each member of the team not only provides skills, but they also contribute their life experiences and perspectives. The fact that the class system was so entrenched, it is an advantage to have people who see the world from varied backgrounds.

This is a character driven story. Not only the people who are on the side of right, but the truly evil characters illustrate motives. The motives may be disgusting, but they are the chosen motives of the villains.

Ms Brittney has created a book which has all the atmosphere and sense of place that one would want from the early 20th century. Life was not easy for most people and the conditions endured often created a strong and resilient population. It also created people who would do almost anything to get the advantage of their fellow man.

This book has humor, love of family, admirable actions by heroic people, adventure and finally the realization that there will be a price to pay for the evil that has been done.

I liked the first book in this series. I loved this book.

I received this book from the publisher through NetGalley in the hope that I would write an honest review.

I am voluntarily writing this review and all opinions are completely my own.

A DEATH IN CHELSEA by Lynn Brittney is a historical mystery set in England in 1915 during World War I. It is the second book in the Mayfair 100 Murder Mystery series, but it worked well as a standalone novel for me.

Chief Inspector Peter Beech has a semi-secret team of amateur women detectives and professional policemen that the commissioner of Scotland Yard allowed him to create. For their second case, a duchess’ daughter has been found dead in what appears to be a suicide but her family suspects foul play. This leads the team on an investigation that is unlike most in in early 1900’s.

The characters were compelling, strong, complex and had depth. Their motivations seemed believable and distinct. There were enough internal and external conflicts to keep this reader fully engaged. The plot twists seemed believable, and while many were expected, there were a few surprises. The descriptions gave me a clear sense of time, mood and place without distracting from the story.

This is not a fast-paced novel, but it was relatively steadily paced. It also takes place during the early days of scientific police work and when women are taking on jobs that men had largely held before the war. Additional themes include corruption, murder, drug use, adoption, baby farms, gossip, and views on social order and race. There is one very controversial scene.

Overall, this was a well-written, engrossing, and thought-provoking read. I am looking forward to reading the first book in the series.

Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and Lynn Brittney for an ARC of this novel via NetGalley and the opportunity to provide an honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.

DNF at 17%

This one is a case of it's not the biik, its the reader.

I just struggled to get involved with this one, sorry

Usually I'd like crime novels from that era. But with this one I got some problems.
I can't identify with the characters and to be honest I found it quit boring, nothing for my little brain to puzzle about.

But I'd like to thank net galley for the chance to read this book, every book you read makes you a better person :)