3.5 stars

I had the pleasure of reading the first book in the series last year and it wasn’t bad, but some of the things in the story were a little reaching.

That said the first book had a lot to recommend itself and I was open to reading the second book in the series to see how thing shaped up with a little bit of polish and experience under the author’s belt.

This series boasts likable characters with sass and sweetness and I was excited to see how Lady Cecilia Bates and her maid Jane, solve crime in this latest installment.

Summary
As the suffragette movement sweeps England in 1912, Lady Cecilia Bates wants to march but ends up trailing a killer instead in the latest entry to the Manor Cat Mysteries.

Lady Cecilia of Danby Hall feels adrift. She couldn’t be less interested in helping to plan her brother’s upcoming wedding, nor finding a husband herself. Instead, what excites her most is the Woman’s Suffrage Union meeting she has just attended.

Inspired by the famous and charismatic leader of the group, Mrs. Amelia Price, Cecilia is eager to join the Union—if she can hide it from her parents, that is. But when Mrs. Price is found dead at the foot of the stairs of her home, her Votes for Women sash torn away, Cecilia knows she must attend to a more urgent matter: finding the killer. With the help of her lady’s maid Jane and intelligent cat Jack, she hopes to play her part in earning women’s equality by stopping the Union’s dangerous foe. (summary from Goodreads)

Review
The first thing I noticed with this one, was the author seemed to take to heart some of the feedback from her first book. This one was better written and a little more developed than the first book and I appreciated that the author applied some of the constructive criticism that other reviews put forward.

I have really enjoyed Cecilia’s character overall. She is smart, if not a little bored in her conventional role as lady, and she is charming. I love that she wants more from her life beyond just the typical things of a woman from her station (marriage and a family). But at the same time I thought she dwelled on this a bit much. It wasn’t awful or terribly distracting but at the same time, I felt that it was a little much at times and would have liked for it to be something maybe explored throughout the series more rather than focusing on it so much in this particular book as much as it did. I also felt like the relationship between Jane and Cecilia was a little bit of a reach and I recalled feeling that way in the first book too. While there might be some plausibility issues between their ranks etc, overall I think their relationship was ok.

These are mostly minor things though, and overall I enjoyed Cecilia as well as Jane. This book was really about the mystery for me though and for that I was thankful the mystery was the focus. There were plenty of characters for me to be suspicious of and who had motive. I enjoyed that quite a bit and recalled that this book had more red herrings than the last. I found the mystery itself rather enjoyable and chose to focus my attention on that rather than the lives of the characters as much.

The setting and overall feel of the book and time period feel authentic and charming. This series would be a good fit for fans of Downton Abbey and other lady detective mystery series. I know the series is called the Manor Cat Mysteries but for me the cat plays a minor roll in the story with Cecilia and Jane taking center stage.

Book Info and Rating
Paperback, 320 pages
Published June 2nd 2020 by Berkley
ISBN 1984803905 (ISBN13: 9781984803900)
Free review copy provided by publisher, Berkley, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and in no way influenced.
Rating: 3.5 stars
Genre: historical fiction, historical mystery, cozy mystery

At the turn of the 20th century, many women were getting new ideas about how they wanted to live their lives. They were no longer satisfied to be what men allowed them to be. Changing this ebb and flow of life created a lot of waves, so not many women were willing to fight for their human rights. Even riding a bicycle was a daring act of courage for a woman of that era.
Although written with fictitious characters, “Lady Rights a Wrong” is about the suffrage movement and the price that was paid for women’s rights to voting. We meet a leader for this equal rights movement of the early 1900s. Amelia Price is a strong woman who challenges the system. She is admired by the few who agree with her ideas and unsupported by everyone else including most women and men, her own husband, and her daughter and son-in-law.
When Mrs. Price dies from a fall, Lady Cecelia isn’t satisfied to let it go as an accidental death. Having a dangerous encounter herself as she gets closer to the truth of the suffragette’s death, it makes her more confident that Mrs. Price was pushed down those stairs in an act of rage.
Truths are indeed revealed, and an emotional climax leads to instant, but surprising, justice for Amelia Price’s death.

Reviewed by Patricia Wilson for Suspense Magazine

Manor Cat Mystery, #2. For those who have read the first book in the series, the characters will be familiar. Lady Cecilia Bates is spending some time resting after being involved with the murder in the first book. She and her maid Jane investigate the mysterious death of a suffragette leader, Amelia Price, in England in 1912. Mrs. Price has come to their village to speak and Lady Cecilia is able to sneak out and attend the rally. Her family is very much in opposition to the suffragists. Mrs. Price, her daughter and one of the organizers have rented a house for their stay. The steps to the upstairs are very steep and Mrs. Price suffers a fall. Was it an accident or did someone help her fall down those stairs? Mrs. Price has an unhappy ex-husband, two warring daughters, and her feminist organization is wrestling with opposing schools of thoughts, over who should be the next person to run it, so plenty of people have motives for murder.

Cecilia is a lady who was recently made aware of the suffragette movement. She finds she does have choices. Does she want to be free to live a single life, with travel and salons and no obligations like her mother's friend? Or does she want traditional marriage and family?

This series provides some background in the general mood of the time. And surely Cecilia would not have brought a cat in a carrier to a funeral.

Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Jeanie

This novel is a must-read for those who enjoy historical cozy mysteries! We enjoy a period as energized in the setting of the novel, 1912 Yorkshire, England, as it was in the US regarding suffrage. Passions run high for both those and against suffrage, and we see both sides of the argument personified here. The characters are well-defined, the mystery is stimulating, and the setting sounds absolutely gorgeous.

Lady Cecilia, instrumental in finding the murderer of a man who died in their dining room earlier in the year, has felt unsettled since. She feels something is missing in her life, something that couldn’t be resolved by being in London for The Season or meeting all the men her mother wanted her to consider courting. At not quite 20, Mama wants her to marry well, and in the meantime, help with social obligations, such as the upcoming church bazaar. That is what ladies do, support their husbands in all they do, oversee the home and children, and organize social functions.

Cecilia hears that Mrs. Amelia Price, president of the Women’s Suffrage Union, will have a rally in Danby. Lady Avebury makes it clear she does not want her daughter involved with those women. Annabel, an heiress who hopes to be engaged to Cecilia’s botanist brother soon, feels that women do not need the vote, they simply need to know the right way of getting what they want from men. Jane is Annabel’s lady’s maid who also helps Cecilia. Jane and Cecilia have become good friends when not under scrutiny of the family, and great sleuthing partners. She wants to attend the rally with Cecilia, but Annabel needs her that evening.

Jesse, one of the footmen, hooks up a cart for Cecilia so she doesn’t have to walk in the dark. Her adventurous cat, Jack, insists on going with Cecilia. He is a special part of her life and makes sure she knows it!

Despite the crowd of hecklers outside before and after the rally, Cecilia is thrilled to hear Amelia Price, and meet her, her secretary, Cora, and Anne, one of her daughters. They invite her to visit them. She can’t possibly turn that down and takes Jane with her. They enjoy Amelia, Anne, and Cora; Amelia said they will extend their stay for another rally and invites Cecilia to return and she will teach her how to ride her bicycle. Before she and Jane leave, Amelia’s estranged daughter, Mary, and her husband Monty arrive at the cottage for a surprise visit.

Both Cecilia and Jane attend the second rally, accompanied by Jack. Cecilia noticed Amelia wasn’t wearing her ever-present huge ruby ring. The next morning when Jane came to Cecilia’s room with her morning tea, she brought the most terrible news. Amelia Price was found dead in their rented cottage that morning. It is thought she fell down the stairs from the sleeping rooms during the night. Anne and Cora, devastated, had slept through it.

Cecilia and Jane immediately went to help Anne and Cora. Amelia’s body hadn’t yet been moved while awaiting investigators. Cecilia noticed that the suffrage banner that Amelia still wore had been torn, with one part missing. The ruby ring was still missing from her hand, and it looked as if one of her arms had been pulled back or had broken in the fall. Cecilia and Jane wanted to support the women however they could and wanted to help find the killer. The bad guy could still be hanging around Danby, or even in London, one of many enemies of the suffrage union.

I love how well we get to know the primary characters, Cecilia and Jane, and even get to know Annabel as more than an American heiress! The characters are developed well throughout, including a potential new suitor for Cecilia. Cecilia is not the typical “Lady”; she is adventurous and not ready to settle for the traditional role of a woman.

There are plot twists that add elements of surprise throughout, as well as discomfort at the threats to the women. I am surprised that Lady Avebury didn’t restrict Cecilia to Danby Hall after hearing at the inquest exactly how she met Amelia and the other ladies. Cecilia is determined to learn the connections Amelia had to at least a couple surprising men in Danby. The drama plays through well and the story moves along quickly. The mystery is a challenge, and Cecilia and I had a couple differences of opinion of who the real bad guy (or gal) is, so there were surprises, as well as some changed relationships in the village. I highly recommend this delightful, challenging mystery!

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*

Lady Cecilia Bates of Danby Hall is a delightful heroine, level-headed, curious, persistent, and kind. Cecilia had a taste of being of service, someone of value, when she solved a murder in her own home but that was months ago.

After the excitement at Danby last spring, investigating a terrible murder in her own dining room, she had felt so—adrift. Longing for something important, interesting, to do. Choosing gowns, helping with the church fete, and listening to her mother muse about possible suitors had always held limited interest. After being a detective of sorts, it made her want to scream with boredom.

Cecilia’s mother, the Countess of Avebury, is consumed with preparations for the annual fall fete, traditionally held on the grounds of Danby Hall, and she expects Lady Cecilia to be equally absorbed. But she isn’t. Woodrow Wilson’s words come to mind: “If you want to make enemies, try to change something.” Cecilia has two allies in her quest to “be useful,” Jack, her sly, perspicacious cat, and her friend Jane Burke.

The daughter of a grocer in New Jersey, Jane had started off as a chambermaid in an American hotel, but had learned all the arts of being a lady’s maid very quickly. Not to mention sleuthing, and also being a good friend.

Jane is lady’s maid to Miss Annabel Clarke, an American heiress, “who was maybe—probably—almost engaged to Cecilia’s brother, Patrick. She was meant to save Danby from its financial problems, as well as drag the studious Patrick out of his botany laboratory and into doing his duty as Danby’s heir.” The similarity in plot to Downton Abbey, an estate that also needed an infusion of American heiress dollars to survive, is well-done.

Cecilia is excited that Mrs. Amelia Price, the “famous and charismatic leader” of the Women’s Suffrage Union is coming to her quiet hamlet. The year is 1912, King George V has been on the throne for two years, and social change is in the air. The Suffrage Movement was intensely controversial, more divisive and dangerous than its portrayal in Mary Poppins, which saw Mrs. Banks sashaying out to demonstrate, adorned with a sash and carrying a sign.

Unsurprisingly, Lady Avebury is opposed to her daughter attending a Women’s Suffrage Union meeting.

“She wants to rampage through the streets, breaking windows and chaining herself to gates.”



“Cecilia wants to do what?” he said carefully.



“Oh, really now.” Cecilia tossed aside The Lady, feeling ridiculously like a child again. “You are not me, Papa, as kind and dear as you are. I might have my own opinions on things, you know.”



“I don’t see why any lady would want to vote,” Annabel said. “It’s so—unfeminine. What do you think, Patrick?”

And so on and so forth but our intrepid heroine is determined to go. She asks her intelligent feline what he thinks of her outfit: “Do I look quite suitable for a suffrage rally?” While sneaking out of the house she runs into Jesse Fellows, one of the footmen. He kindly hitches “up the governess cart,” so she doesn’t have to walk to the village.

The village Guildhall, one of the oldest structures in the neighborhood, dignified, stolid, and square in its darkened medieval stones and cloudy stained glass windows, surely hadn’t seen such excitement in years, Cecilia thought as she left the cart at the livery stable and hurried toward the entry with Jack tucked under her arm. Lights glowed from the opened doors and through the red and blue glass, and she could hear the echo of music and laughter.

Cecilia accepts a green, purple, and gold sash from a woman at the door who introduces herself as “Cora Black, Mrs. Price’s secretary.” When Cora learns she’s speaking to Lady Cecilia Bates from Danby Hall, she becomes effusively friendly, ushering her to a seat up front. Cecilia is not insensible of the cachet an earl’s daughter would bring to the suffrage movement, but her cynicism is swept aside when Mrs. Price speaks.

“I am so pleased to see such support for our sacred cause,” she said, her voice soft and musical, yet carrying through the ancient hall. “Women’s rights are human rights, and we must spread that message far and wide. Our daughters and granddaughters shall not suffer as our mothers and grandmothers, unable to use their full intellects and talents to achieve their dreams in life.”

Cries of “hear, hear” arise from the crowd and Cecilia is lost in her thoughts, wondering what it might be like to be “free to choose,” “to follow her own dreams.” She is swept up by Mrs. Price and her entourage, warmly invited to visit Primrose Cottage and come to another event. It’s like a revival, anchored by a mesmerizing speaker and a compelling message.

Lady Cecilia, assisted by Jane, is a natural investigator. She has an innate ability to chat with a local barmaid over a ginger beer one day and draw-out confidences over a cup of tea in an elegant drawing room another.

Cecilia gathers up her courage and tells her mother about her friendship with Mrs. Price.

“Mrs. Price is going to teach me how to ride a bicycle, Mama. I promised to call at Primrose Cottage after luncheon with Grandmama.”



Lady Avebury’s lips tightened. “A bicycle, Cecilia? Are you quite sure that is wise?”

Cecilia’s tentative steps toward a more independent life end abruptly when Mrs. Price’s broken body is found at the bottom of the stairs early one morning. Cecilia and Jane leave for the village as soon as they hear and Cecilia’s detective instincts kick in. She observes the placement of Mrs. Price’s body, notices that her suffragette sash is “ripped, half of it jaggedly separated from the rest and missing.” Cecilia also has an extremely sensitive nose, which she puts to good use while standing behind Mrs. Price’s daughter Anne.

She took a surreptitious sniff of Anne’s perfume. It wasn’t her mother’s roses, nor the green-white scent of the letters, but something almost citrusy, like her own mother’s scent. It didn’t seem to be the smell left behind on the torn fragments of letters.

Lady Cecilia, assisted by Jane, is a natural investigator. She has an innate ability to chat with a local barmaid over a ginger beer one day and draw-out confidences over a cup of tea in an elegant drawing room another. One wonders how Inspector Hennesy, brought in, again, to solve a crime, feels when a young slip of a girl figures out whodunit right under his nose. Lady Rights a Wrong is Eliza Casey’s second Manor Cat Mystery; delighted readers will eagerly anticipate a third.

Murder of a Suffragette

It’s 1912 and Lady Cecilia Bates of Danby Hall is feeling restless. Her brother is courting Annabelle Clarke, an American heiress, who has the qualities Cecilia’s mother wants in a daughter. Annabelle is eager to plan church fetes and is very amenable to marriage. Celia is bored by village fetes and isn’t interested in marriage. She wants to do something useful.

Cecelia’s view of the world brightens when Mrs. Amanda Price, a suffragette leader, comes to town to give a lecture. Determined to meet her hero, Cecelia and Jane, Amanda’s lady’s maid, contrive to attend the lecture and meet Mrs. Price. She invites Cecelia to visit her at Primrose Cottage that she is renting in the area.

When Cecelia arrives, Mrs. Price is dead having fallen down the stairs. The authorities believe it was an accident, but Cecelia thinks it was something else. She’s seen the underlying tension in the group and wonders why Mrs. Price doesn’t live with her husband. Soon she, Jane, and Cecelia’s cat are deep into trying to solve the mystery.

Cecelia is a good character. She wants to do something useful with her life, not just become the wife and mother her family expects her to be. My only problem with Cecelia is that she ruminates about her life choices constantly. It got a little wearing.

The mystery is entertaining with lots of suspects. The pacing is fair. It took almost a third of the book for the murder to happen. However, it’s an enjoyable read if you like historical mysteries.

I received this book from Net Galley for this review.

3.5 stars

Lady Cecilia Bates and her maid Jane are back to help investigate the mysterious death of a suffragette in England in 1912. Did Amelia Price trip and fall accidentally to her death, or was she pushed?

There's no shortage of motives: Amelia had an unhappy ex-husband, two warring daughters, and her feminist organization is wrestling with opposing schools of thoughts.

Cecilia is a likable character, torn by the constraints on women in the era she lived in. Does she want the freedom of a single life, with travel and salons and no obligations? Or does she want marriage and family? Cecilia's brush with the suffragettes causes her to indulge in some self-reflection.

This series provides some background in the general mood of the time. Some of the historical details are a little sketchy - in particular the relationships between the gentry and their servants is presented pretty casually. And surely (minor quibble) it is totally implausible to think that anyone would have brought a cat in a carrier to a funeral.

Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

It is super exciting to find a new writer who provides an excellent story, full of suspense, as well as great characters and charming settings. Lady Cecilia is young and bored, unable to settle for the life that stretches out for her. However, an encounter with a charismatic leader of the Woman’s Suffrage Union brings sudden and dramatic changes to her life. Readers will thoroughly enjoy the development of Cecelia, her sharp young maid Jane, and the interesting cast of characters. The time period is 1912, with societal changes, particularly voting rights for women, at the forefront. Casey does a wonderful job in examining these tensions. Readers of period mysteries are in for a treat with this new series! Bravo! Absolutely charming and immensely readable. Highly recommended for mystery collections. Readers, I urge you to start on this series now!