"Compelled by circumstance to accept the post of lady’s companion to a wealthy widow, Lady Caroline Morton soon finds her duties entail investigating a murder in the first installment of a brand new Regency-set series by Catherine Lloyd, author of the critically acclaimed Kurland St. Mary Mysteries.

The options for the penniless daughter of a deceased earl are few indeed in Regency England. So, following the suspicious death of her father, the Earl of Morton, and the discovery that she and her much younger sister have been left without income or home, Lady Caroline takes a post as a lady’s companion to the wealthy widow Frogerton.

Just as Caroline is getting accustomed to her new position, her aunt, Lady Eleanor Greenwood, invites her and her employer to a house party in the countryside to celebrate her youngest daughter’s birthday. Mrs. Matilda (Matty) Frogerton sees this as an opportunity to introduce her own rather wild daughter, Dorothy, to the ton, and Caroline is eager to see her sister, who as a child lives with their aunt.

But all is not well at the Greenwood estate. For one thing, Lady Caroline’s former fiancé, Lord Francis Chatham, is a guest and refuses to speak to her. Far worse, after a series of troubling harassments of the staff, an elderly family member is found stabbed by a knitting needle.

As Caroline and an unexpected ally - Mrs. Frogerton - attempt to solve the chilling crime, they discover the culprit may be leaving bizarre clues as to who will be next in the nursery. But they must make haste, for this heartless killer is engaged in anything but child’s play..."

I love mysteries and I am ALL about the Regency right now, so this is a must read!

The mystery is great, but could have been fleshed out more and the characters are infuriating. They keep flip-flopping personalities and doing stupid things. And poor Caroline's stuck in the middle of it all. I do, however, enjoy Caroline as a character and loved the growth that she underwent throughout the story.

Caroline Morton is the penniless daughter of an Earl who squandered his fortune (including his daughters' dowries) before committing suicide. Rather than depend on the mercy of her rich relatives, she takes a position as a companion and finds herself in the curious position of being part of a house party, along with her employer and her daughter, to celebrate her cousin's 18th birthday.

This odd house party includes a number of grown up "waifs and strays", charity children who filled her aunt's nursery and became friends with her daughter. When an elderly relative is found strangled and stabbed with a knitting needle, Caroline's aunt and uncle refuse to believe she has been murdered, so it is up to Caroline and the local doctor to investigate.

This is a curious book. The treatment of the charity children is a major topic and does not make for light reading, and Caroline's treatment as a servant by the other well born guests is equally uncomfortable. Anyone expecting a traditional cozy mystery will be disconcerted by many of the themes of this book, as well as the number of unlikeable characters.

Caroline Morton is an intriguing character and I will give the next book in this series a try

Fans of Regency romance/mysteries will fall into this new series from Catherine Lloyd, author of the Kurland St. Marty mystery series.

Here we have recently penniless Lady Caroline Morton forced to become a companion to wealthy widow Mrs. Frogerton. Lady Caroline’s life has fallen apart - her father dead, the family without income, abandoned by her fiance - all the horrible things that usually befall a heroine in this genre. Lady Caroline, however, is made of stern stuff and overcomes her obstacles, solving a couple of mysteries along the way.

Lloyd has written another smart and bold protagonist who uses her wits to stay afloat in a dangerous world. The writing flows, the plot holds your attention, and the characters are well-developed for a first-in-a-series. I look forward to more. A solid entry in the Regency mystery genre.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Catherine Lloyd for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Miss Morton and the English House Party Murder.

First of all, I recently got into Catherine Lloyd’s Kurland St. Mary series and I love it! Historical mysteries set in a fancy house with well-dressed, fabulous guests is one of my favorite genres.

This book takes place in 1837. Caroline Morton is the daughter of an Earl who has died. He left her and her sister penniless. Their mother is also deceased. Caroline is reduced to the status of a servant who relies on her extended family to provide for her.

The trouble starts when Mr. Woodford has a fall in the cellar. Dr. Harris is called to treat his injuries.

Caroline discovers her great-aunt murdered in a rather gruesome way. I loved everything about it. It seemed fitting for her to die in that way. But then, Mr. Woodford dies from his injuries. So it seems like a murderer or murderers are on the loose. I know it’s awful, but I definitely loved there was a chance of another murder happening. It raised the stakes and pushed Dr. Harris and Caroline to quickly solve the murders.

Caroline was once attached to Lord Francis who has come to the house party. He treats her poorly now because of her reduced circumstances. His sister, Helen, attends the party as well. I like that he comes around some and discusses what happened between them with Caroline. It was nice they parted as friends. However, I don’t think there was a lot of chemistry there to begin with. I think she definitely had more chemistry with Dr. Harris. I really enjoyed their banter and the fact that she kept wondering if he was the murderer. I loved how kind he really was to her.

Caroline is employed by Mrs. Frogerton. I really liked that her employer became a great ally to her and encouraged her to solve the murders. She was kind to Caroline where her family was not. While she’s trying to solve the murder, she gets accused of stealing by her Aunt Eleanor. Eleanor and her daughter seem to look down on Caroline and her circumstances.

It was a little unclear if the police were informed of the murder. They never stopped by the house or spend their time investigating. It seemed like Dr. Harris turned detective. Of course so did Caroline, but I love when the heroine gets involved with solving murders in historical fiction books!

The ending was so insane and dark! I loved it. I definitely wasn’t expecting it to go that dark. I was thinking it would be more of a cozy murder mystery, but some of the things Caroline’s family did were horrific. It’s hard to think they didn’t deserve the justice they received.

Overall, I loved this book! I don’t have any major complaints. It was a fun read.

I would recommend this book to people who enjoy murder and historical mysteries.

Definitely not your run of the mill English houseparty murder mystery. This book features Caroline Morton, Lady Caroline to some, who has turned her back on society and accepted a job as a companion rather than live with her aunt and uncle as the poor relation. Her father squandered the family fortune, causing a huge scandal, and now society is set to blame Caroline; but she is having none of it.

It’s this calm, take charge attitude that Caroline brings to the story, and the house party she is attending because it is at her aunt’s house and her cousin has requested she come to celebrate her birthday. Caroline consistently presents a calm, almost impervious front to the society elite who are critical of her attendance, her employer, and of her decision to work to earn her money rather than accept what her aunt and uncle offer.

Because she is still a member of the household, the servants come to get her when they discover the butler wandering dazed in the wine cellar. She takes charge, calls in the local doctor, and then starts to find out who would put the old man in a cage in the cellar, and was the intent worse than the result? Close behind that, her maiden great aunt, who has lived in the house almost all her life is found murdered. She and the doctor begin to question circumstances, but when they voice their concerns to her uncle, the local magistrate, he refuses to consider the deaths anything other than natural occurrences.

Not knowing what to do, Caroline turns to her employer, Mrs. Froggerton, a wealthy widow whose husband was in trade. It was only through Caroline’s insistence that Mrs. Froggerton and her daughter were invited to the house party, and she has experienced her own share of rejection. Like Caroline, she decides to ignore those who think they are better than she is because this is her daughter’s opportunity to experience life in high society.

Caroline and Mrs. Froggerton, aided on occasion by the doctor, begin to investigate the murders in the hope of convincing Caroline’s uncle to begin an investigation of his own. Meanwhile, a rainstorm continues outside, confining the occupants to the house. Party activities continue, and Caroline spends what time she can with her sister who still lives in the nursery at the house until Caroline can save enough money to provide a home for the two of them.

As the investigation continues, it points to things that happened in the past to the waifs and strays Caroline’s aunt brought into the house. While on the surface she provided them shelter and an escape from a poor house, their lives were less pleasant than legitimate members of the household, Mable, Caroline’s cousin, has invited some of them back to the house to celebrate her birthday, and this adds a level of strife to the house as they are not members of society, yet they are allowed to mix with the other guests.

The investigation takes a number of twists and turns, most of which are unsuspected, and initially cause Caroline and Mrs. Froggerton to suspect first one and then another of the people in the house. These suspicions are proven wrong, and Caroline and Mrs. Froggerton are left to continue their investigation. When the final piece of information is revealed, it is both shocking and disturbing; but Caroline continues to push toward bringing those responsible to justice. For her, she sees it as the only acceptable outcome for what has happened.

The character development is very good, with excellent depictions of the more principal characters. There are a few slow spots that occur during some phases of the investigation, but nothing so significant it would cause the reader to stop reading. Caroline and Mrs. Froggerton both present unusually independent women for the period, and the reader can enjoy their decisions to act as they see fit, ignoring some of the more restrictive and/or snobbish behaviors that were acceptable in the day.

A good book for anyone who wants to read something that takes place in the Regency period but that has a different focus than the elaborate dress, fancy parties, and extravagant life of members of the ton.

My thanks to Kensington Books for providing an advance copy of the book for review. The opinions expressed here are mine alone.

Initially, I was enjoying this Victorian house mystery. With Caroline being a half-step up from a servant, there's a fair bit of an upstairs/downstairs dynamic that appealed. I liked Mrs. Frogerton, Caroline's benevolent employer, and felt relieved that she, at least, was interested in solving the mystery.

Because here's the thing: Caroline is a wet blanket. I know she's down on her luck and I suppose she's meant to be the voice of reason because she doesn't really have any choice not to be. But she just shuffles through this book, shooting down all of Mrs. Frogerton's speculations while offering very few of her own. The number of times they start down a speculative thread just to end it by saying, "BUT WE HAVE NO PROOF" is mortifying.

Speaking of cluing, much of it involves Caroline speaking to various people, then immediately going to report everything we just learned to Mrs. Frogerton. It's terribly redundant and probably one of the worst ways to conduct a mystery since it throws pacing and suspense right out the window. The house party angle is also poorly-managed, suffering from a sprawling cast but not enough time to make many of its characters stand out. It doesn't even feel like a party, really.

Lastly, in a subplot that doesn't know what it's trying to accomplish, the wealthy aunt apparently runs an orphanage (aka daycare) out of her grand house and, surprise of no surprises, the kids-now-scarred-adults were abused every which way by their caretakers and all Caroline can say is, "well I'm sure I would've reported it to my emotionally abusive aunt, IF ONLY I'D KNOWN." Ok and...?

Runs slow and is overall rather dull -adding not much to the genre. Overall, a fun way to pass the time.

English house party mysteries are so much fun and this one is no exception. Set in the 1830s, Miss Morton's social position has taken a downward plunge due to her late father's choices. She has taken the position of companion to Mrs. Frogton rather than rely upon the "kindness" of relatives. When Miss. Morton and her employer are invited to house party by Miss Morton's aunt the mystery begins. The story is very well plotted and the characters are well drawn. I really enjoyed this book and was kept guessing up to the end, which was surprising but logical.
This is a review of an eGalley provided by NetGalley

As a fan of historical fiction, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The writing provides an immersive sense of setting and the dialogue feels true to the time, while the main character stands out as more relatable than many leading females. She finds herself cut from polite society, but rather than slink meekly into obscurity, she holds herself together through a very human combination of determination, banked anger and pride,
without coming across as unlikable or bitter. I appreciate that she exhibited realistic responses to moral dilemmas that she encountered in the book. I also appreciate that the main suspects were logically laid out over the course of the book while various threads of the mystery unraveled. The conversations between Caroline and her employer, Mrs. Frogerton, provided a fun framework for the investigation, as did the interaction between Caroline and Dr. Harris. I hope to see more of him in future installments.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Kensington for the chance to review the ARC!

Miss Caroline Morton is the daughter of a penniless, disgraced Earl who was compelled to take a paid position as a lady's companion when her father died. Along with her much younger sister, Caroline was raised in the country manor of her aunt, Lady Eleanor Greenwood. When her employer is invited to a birthday party for her cousin Mabel just prior to her society debut, Caroline finds herself back in the household in which she was raised. But all is not well in the Greenwood household, and Caroline finds herself investigating a murder during the weekend festivities. *Gasp!* Will she be able to piece together the strange clues?

I was drawn to this book because as it's been well established, I do love a good murder. I did not expect this book to end up so engrossing. The first couple of chapters, I found the characters to be rather stiff and cold, which I guess is not totally out of line for regency era nobility. But once I got into the book a little bit, I found Caroline to be a unique and charismatic woman and I was cheering her on. The pacing started a little slow, but it picked up quickly and the tension mounted with the story. At the end, I did NOT see the major plot twist that happened, and boy, was it a shock to the system. Well done. Hopefully, there will be more adventures with Miss Morton soon!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for providing me with a digital copy for review. The opinions expressed here are my own and do not reflect those of the author or publisher.

This was my first book from this author who apparently has written another well liked series already.

Miss Morton and the English House Party Murder opens in London in 1837 where we meet our MC, Caroline Morton and her employer Mrs Frogton. Caroline has been left penniless after her father's death and, rather than go and live the life of a dependant with a rich relative, she is trying to make her own way as a lady's companion.

When Caroline is invited to a party at her Aunt's family estate she manages to get invitations too for Mrs. Frogton and her daughter and off they all go never expecting that there will be a series of murders, or that Caroline and Mrs F. will need to find their inner sleuths and solve the crimes themselves.

I thought the book was nicely written and I enjoyed the characters. Caroline is strong and determined and the way she handles herself when dealing with rich relations and ex husbands to be is fun to watch. Mrs Frogton is an excellent sidekick, smart enough to offer good advice and rich enough to be totally independent. I enjoyed it all and look forward to a second book.

This was a little different and for me, made it more enjoyable. Both Lady Caroline and her employer, Mrs Frogerton are strong and independent women who stand in stark contrast to many of their peers who are stuck in the roles of the time. Choices in life matter. How you treat people who are not like you, matters. They are both written as strong, but empathetic characters.

The plot is complicated and the history of the place and the family are key to unlocking it. There were some unexpected dark parts that I was unprepared for, that may distress the sensitive reader.

I look forward to seeing just how these two ladies move forward together in this historic mystery series. I'm sure it will be intriguing.

My thanks to #Netgalley, Kensington Books, and the author for my Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review

This is book 1 in the Regency-set series by this author.

Miss Morton and the English House Party Murder was a fun historical cozy mystery read.

In book 1, Lady Caroline Morton has been left without a home or income after her father, the Earl of Morton's suspicious death. Now, a lady's companion to the wealthy widow Frogerton, she finds herself putting on her sleuthing cap to solve a murder.

Great read and looking forward to reading more by this author.

Enjoyable Regency house party mystery with a strong, unconventional heroine.

Left destitute by her wastrel father, Lady Caroline takes a position as companion to a wealthy but common widow with a debutante daughter. They are invited to a ball at the home of Caroline’s aunt and uncle, where a series of strange incidents and deaths occur.

Caroline and her employer, Mrs. Frogerton, make a good team as they join forces to investigate the mystery. They are both on the outskirts of Society and are shunned or snubbed by many of the other guests. I liked the way Caroline handled herself, particularly in regards to her former fiance. I hope that she and Mrs. Frogerton stumble upon more murders during the Season, and that a certain doctor makes another appearance as well.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

As a mystery, this was a complete flop for me, as much as I hate leaving such negative feedback. I enjoyed Catherine Lloyd’s cozy mysteries set in Kurland St. Mary and was eager to try the first in her new series.

Lady Caroline Morton, following the disgrace of her father’s squandering of the family money (including both his daughters’ dowries) and subsequent suicide, becomes a lady’s companion out of determination to provide for herself and her younger sister rather than be the poor relation thrust on the mercies of her Greenwood family. She finds herself in a nice position despite her complete reversal of fortune, as her employer, Mrs. Frogerton, is a very likable and kind woman. Suffering from the social travesty of being new money in a time when snobbery amongst the ton was high, she and her daughter benefit from Caroline’s expertise in refining their lifestyle, mostly to secure a highbrow husband for Miss Dorothy Frogerton.

Caroline’s younger sister Susan still lives with the upperclass Greenwood side of their family, a home both girls lived in throughout their childhoods. Caroline’s goal is to secure her finances so that Susan, 15 in this novel, can come live with her. Their aunt Eleanor keeps urging Caroline to give up her position to come live with the family again, which Caroline knows all too well will result in her being dependent on them, as well as unpaid labor to help the ‘waifs and strays’ her aunt takes in as part of her charitable works.

The waifs and strays play a pivotal role in the mystery. For her cousin Mabel’s birthday ball, Caroline finds herself and the Frogertons invited to the Greenwood estate. There, things get interesting quickly, as not only is she met with being shunned by previous friends who refuse to acknowledge her in her socially lowered state, but her ex-fiancée is a surprising guest for the weekend. Then: enter a murderer. Or two. Or three. I’m still not entirely certain, and here begins the weak spots. Improbable storylines, including household staff by turns cursing at their employers and then bowing and scraping, as well as lower classes being invited to the ball at the whim of Mabel Greenwood, which none of the snobs seem to care about (so unrealistic), silly attempts to pretend murder was not murder by members of the Greenwood family (and getting away with it?), confusing timelines that didn’t add up (the butler’s age in relation to historical events?), dialogue at times too modern for the period, and no clear understanding of what exactly transpired, plus a rushed and oddly flippant ending to the mystery itself had me skimming to finish.

Things I liked: Caroline. Despite the rotten treatment she receives at the hands of family and former friends alike, she stands up for herself nicely and I liked her character. Mrs. Frogerton is great also, and I grew to like Dr. Harris as well. (the one surprising incongruity in Caroline’s character was the 200 pound note, without giving too much of the plot away — kinda sorta excused by the ‘justice over evil’ explanation attempt?)

Oh, another note: I wouldn’t quite classify this as wholly cozy. There was an underlying ickiness to the story with lots of thoroughly unlikeable characters and some heavier aspects touched on. Nothing over the top, but more so than her Kurland series. I actually would give the second in the series a try, as I do like the characters mentioned above. But I’ll read it with reservations about the mystery itself.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

I received a free copy of this from NetGalley and this is my freely given opinion.

This is the first book of a presumed new series by Lynn Kurland, a cozy mystery set in the 1830s, England. Lady Caroline was the daughter of an Earl, and betrothed to marry a peer, but her fortunes tumbled when her father killed himself, after ruining himself financially, and plundering his daughters dowries, leaving them impoverished and dependent on the kindness of relatives, such as their aunt, Lady Eleanor Greenwood. Caroline decides she will not be a dependent on her aunt, and end up being an unpaid servant to her family. Instead she chooses to take on employment as an paid companion to Mrs. Frogerton, a wealthy widow and business woman from the North, and her daughter, in the hopes of funding future independence for herself and her sister.

Lady Eleanor is a snob and looks down on Mrs. Frogerton, and thinks Caroline is lowering her status by working for such a woman, but Caroline is quite practical and knows that because of the taint of her father's deeds, she is essentially shunned by Society. As well, it appears that Mrs. Frogerton is a good employer who treats Caroline well, listens to her, treats her with respect, and pays her a good wage. Which seems far more than she expects from her own family.

Eleanor invites Caroline back to her family home, including the Frogertons as incentive, to help celebrate the birthday of one of her cousins with a house party and ball. This gives Caroline a chance to see her sister, and the Frogertons a chance to dip their toes into Society before the daughter's debut. But strange happenings occur during the house party, including the harassment and abuse of some of the staff, and the death of Caroline's great aunt Ines. Caroline, and the local doctor called in to help with an injury look into the murder, especially as the Greenwoods refuse to acknowledge it. Ridiculous considering she was found with her neck wrapped in yarn, and stabbed through with a knitting needle - kind of hard to do that accidentally or to yourself. Also, considering that the magistrate of the region is also the lord of Greenwood Manor.

The more Caroline looks into things, with the help of the doctor, and her employer, the more she finds out about the past, and that perhaps things were not as they seemed. There are many people who have grudges against many members of the household, staff and family, and there are many sources of animus that Caroline was unaware of before. There was quite a bit of mystery as to who was responsible for the murder until the end, and for that matter, other crimes of the past were also uncovered. There were some seriously unlikeable characters revealed in this story. Lady Eleanor is a terrible snob, more concerned about the appearances of the house party than the death of Ines. Her eldest daughter - ugh! I won't go any further in case of spoilers, but will say that the victims were certainly not innocent themselves! This was enjoyable in that there were so many layers to the mystery. However, it was sad to see some bridges burnt for Caroline, and her family in the end, and there was some dissatisfaction for me, as some people responsible for some rather heinous acts did not appear to get their just desserts... on saying that, if this is to be a series, it does leave the door open for their reappearance in the future?

An enjoyable reading, but with a bit of dissatisfaction in the end.

3.25 stars out of 5.

A Regency mystery written in a light style, with a touch of romance and characters with great potential for a sequel that makes it an ideal read for a lazy afternoon.

I am reviewing this book for Mystery Scene Magazine Summer issue. please see the full review there when it publishes in May

Miss Morton and the English House Party Murder was a very a thrilling cozy mystery that I enjoyed. I loved the Victorian time frame with its glamour and yet with its mysterious backdrop.

Here we have a young women Caroline who gave up her life of privilege to become a women's companion and be paid for her service. Caroline is a very determined young women who has a few dark clouds hanging over her head. One being the death of her father who had disgraced her family and leaving Caroline and her sister Susan with nothing. With the help of her employer Mrs. Frogerton, Caroline is able to reveal more of her families dark secrets to this women whom I feel is more of a mother figure than an employer., while she also attends to the need of Dorothy the daughter of Mrs. Frogerton who will be making her London outing. What I liked most about Caroline and Mrs. Frogerton was that they both were very ahead of their times for women of this time period. Both bucked the system when it came to "high ranking" within society. They both were hard working women who pushed the so called envelope when it came to surviving in a man's world.

Returning to Caroline's childhood home with her aunt, uncle and cousin was of concern to Caroline. Since it was her cousin's birthday and she would also see her darling sister Susan, Caroline put on a brave front and endured her painful past that lead her to Mrs. Frogerton. Once Caroline is back home along with Mrs. Frogerton and Dorothy the mystery begins. Deaths, denial and many many suspects make this book enjoyable and exciting to read. Every page was a really mystery in itself. Every time I thought i knew the murder another mystery unfolded and another suspect turns up. I must say the author really kept me guessing in this one, and I was truly surprised when the murder was revealed and why these murders occurred.

Loved the time period, the character were given personalities so you either loved them or despised them. I can see future books with Caroline and Mrs. Frogerton solving new mysteries and I look forward to it.

Thank you Kensington Books and NetGalley for the ARC. 4/5 stars.