This is book number three in the Marius Quin series. It’s 1928 and mystery writer Marius Quin and his ex sweetheart Lady Bella Montague are now official detectives with their own agency. They are hired by a mysterious man to find Ernest Castleton, a kidnapped employee of the Foreign Secretary. They learn that Ernest has left a clue at the British Museum, and that leads to other clues, which eventually leads them to Montmore Towers and Lord Darnley, the Foreign Secretary himself and his French counterparts.

This is not just a mystery but also the author’s foray into spy fiction….as he mentions, if it was good enough for Agatha Christie, it’s certainly good enough for him. Those were never my favorite Christie books and this isn’t my favorite of Brown, either (and I prefer Lord Edington to Marius Quin,) but I still liked it just fine. Brown is an always reliable writer and I hope his cozy historical fiction finds more readers.

A cosy mystery that is easy to curl up and read.

I hadn’t realised when I started that this was the third in a series but this could easily be read as a stand-alone and I look forward to going back to the start.

The 1920’s is not usually a period of history I have a lot of interest in but I was completely drawn in by the fascinating and unique duo, Marius and Lady Bella.

What an enjoyable historical mystery! Marius is a novelist and his best friend is Lady Isabella. Together, they have formed a Detective Agency, though they’ve only had two cases so far. A mysterious stranger comes to the door and recruits them to rescue a government agent who has been kidnapped by a mysterious and evil Syndicate. The pair are amateurs, but are actually quite clever at piecing the puzzle together. The story involves codes, an uneasy French-Anglo alliance, and the Syndicate. Who can be trusted? How high does the infiltration go?
Sit back and relax with this fun mystery and enjoy the interaction between Marius and Bella. And, of course, the wonderfully lazy dog, Percy. This was the third book in the series, but works very well as a stand alone. I have already downloaded the first book in the series to read next.
Thanks to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the ARC.