The first in the Lady Hardcastle mystery series, this novel seems to have been the author’s debut; originally self-published, it was revised and re-released a few years later.

The story is narrated in first person, past tense, by one Florence Armstrong, longtime personal maid to the wealthy widowed Lady Emily Hardcastle; from the first page, the dialogue and dynamic establishes a close relationship between master and servant that, while reminiscent of that of Lord Peter Wimsey and Bunter, is much more informal.

Beware: apparent suicide that isn’t; phonetic accent denoting both class and origin; some Orientalism (per the era it’s set).

I was immediately immersed in the world; it is a very Edwardian-set kind of story, showing the transition between the rigid traditions and über-imperialistic culture of Victoria’s reign, and the upheaval of the first Great War, as both social and technological progress challenged the status quo.

The dynamic between maid and lady is lovely; it is evident that they have known each other for a long, long time, and that they like each other very well. There’s a closeness to their friendship that allows Florence to be rather flippant (bordering on rude) to her employer on occasion, but the order of precedence, as it were, is very clear nonetheless: one is master, the other servant; at one point, Florence muses that in all the years they’ve known each other, she’s only once called her friend “Emily”, and in fact, it’s only once in the whole book that she thinks of her by her given name.

Little by little, as they settle in town, the narration reveals bits of both characters’ backstories, individually and together; Florence drops bits about her past into her narration of current events in a way that feels very natural; for example when they enter the library-cum-crime scene at The Grange, she reminisces about the first house she worked for, as a scullery maid, and how her love of books developed in that mansion’s large library.

Lady Hardcastle will occasionally share an anecdote about incidents during her travels in the Far East; or, in conversation with each other, they’ll do that, “does this remind you that time…?” thing that people with shared histories do.

However, it’s never over done; there’s so little exposition in fact, that at the end of the story there’s still so much to learn about what exactly they have been doing for the past decade or so. For that same reason, there’s a lot to look forward to in the following installments (see footnote 1).

Mind you, the part of my brain that needs to keep track of hard facts was very confused about a few things, specifically the two main characters’ ages.

Fair warning: minutia obsession for the next three paragraphs, skip at will.

We are told more than once that Florence has been with Lady Hardcastle for 14 years, after having been in service for a few years with at least one other “good family” (more on this below). So, depending on how young female children were sent off (ten? thirteen?), she’s likely at least thirty years old. However, during the course of the story, she comes across as both quite older or quite younger, depending on what’s going on.

For her part, Lady Hardcastle has been widowed for about a decade; her late husband was in the Foreign Service, and posted to different locations in the so-called Far East, until his murder in Shanghai in “the late nineties” (1890s). She gives her age (in chapter 12, and in between ellipses, I’ll note) as “forty”, but again, between dialogue and action in the novel, she could be anywhere from forty to her late fifties.

Which means that the gap in their ages can be anywhere from ten to thirty years, and I really want to know for sure.

Here endeth minutia digression.

The age difference between the main characters is not relevant to the mystery, mind you, and there is no hint of a romantic relationship between them, though it is very, very clear how deeply they do care for each other. (In a contemporary-set book, I would say, “they’re each other’s human”, if that makes sense).

Florence’s internal voice is hilariously funny; I laughed so loud I scared the cats at her reflections on the smell of ‘the country’ as compared to the city’s, and her potentially needing a face mask should Paradise smell like it. The dialogue, especially between the two main characters, is bright, witty, and quick.

“And in the middle of the clearing, my dear Florence,” she was saying, without apparently having broken her conversational stride, “we have…I say!”

“A dead body, my lady?” I said.

“I was going to say, ‘a magnificent English oak’,” she said, somewhat distractedly, “but the body is definitely the more arresting sight.” (Chapter 2)

Keep in mind, however, that they aren’t precisely charitable in their observations about most everyone they meet; in that sense, they remind me of Miss Marple’s pitiless, and occasionally cruel, characterizations; e. g., “so-and-so is not terribly smart” and “so-and-so is no better than they should be”.

Going back to the “good family” thing above; here I mean the landed gentry or squireocracy so beloved by Agatha Christie; the people whose families have either lived somewhere for hundreds of years, or are known to those families when they show up in the village. The people, in short, you can trace through friends and family to someone else with a known lineage.

This is in fact the case for our good lady; soon after moving to the house she’s leasing (from someone named Jasper, connection unknown; this is another annoyingly vague detail my fact-starved mind has been gnawing over), she’s invited to dine at The Grange, where the local lady reveals her own connection to Lady Hardcastle’s mother.

The mystery is played straight; I believe that it is a good example of a fair play mystery (as defined previously in the footnote in this post); a novelty I appreciated is that the detective in charge is not only competent, and devious in a very effective way, but also open to Lady Hardcastle’s, and therefore Florence’s, participation in the investigation of the first murder and of subsequent events of a criminal bent.

As I mentioned on Mastodon, it is a good thing there’s already a longish backlist, because I’m very much into these two women’s adventures.

However, it bears keeping in mind that there are a few things about the setting and therefore the characters that might set someone else’s teeth on edge. For example, some Orientalism is present in one of the subplots, with mysterious mystical Indian jewels and so forth; there’s menion of a Shaolin priest who no only saved both their lives as they escaped Lord Hardcastle’s murderers, but decided to train Florence as well, and finally, the cast of characters is entirely white, the class divisions marked, and often indicative of morality.

As I imprinted on Agatha Christie as a pre-teen, I can see these things, and still enjoy the novel for what it is, but it’s worth a warning nonetheless.

A Quite Life in the Country gets a 9 out of 10

Okay, I have a new favorite mystery series! Lady Emily Hardcastle and her lady's maid, Florence Armstrong, have been leading a life of adventure and intrigue. However, she decides it's time to settle down and takes a home in the country. All hopes of a quiet country life are dashed, however, when the ladies discover a dead body in the woods and decide to begin their own investigation. After another murder and a robbery, it seems that the country life is not going to be the relaxing idyll that they envisioned.

Where to start? Flo is a delightful narrator, and Lady Emily is slightly eccentric but completely charming. They do not have your typical lady/maid relationship; they seem more like friends or sisters, and their teasing and snark is hilarious. They are also intelligent and capable women. Lady Emily has a prestigious university degree in natural science, and in spite of her tiny stature, Flo evidently knows several ways to incapacitate people twice her size. They've also got the perfect stations to gain intel in every class; Lady Emily circulates among the other titled people in the area and the up-and-comers are in awe of her because she is titled, and Flo is able to get an in with the working class and the "downstairs" people. They've got all the bases covered.

The supporting cast is colorful and entertaining as well. I really appreciated that the police inspector not only allowed the ladies to investigate but works with them. Anytime you have these kinds of stories, the protagonists solve the mystery in spite of pushback from the local police, but this time they were able to solve it in tandem. Each party shared what they'd learned, which allowed them to solve the crime that much faster. Everyone should do this!

They mystery was layered and had good twists and turns. The pacing was good, the writing was descriptive and enjoyable. I'm definitely adding the next book to my to-read list! Thanks to NetGalley for the free ebook in exchange for my opinion.

This was a delightful and most entertaining mystery. I loved the duo of Lady Hardcastle and Armstrong. They definitely have some tricks up their sleeves.
Many thanks to Thomas & Mercer and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a nice introduction to a new series of Edwardian era historical mysteries. I would recommend this book to others.

An interesting story with lovely characters. I would enjoy reading more with these two adventuresome ladies.

RATING: 4 STARS

(I received an ARC from the NETGALLEY in exchange for an honest review.)
(Review Not on Blog)

I really like historical/classic mysteries like this novel. It reminds me of Patricia Wentworth or Agatha Christie's writing. I enjoy the chemistry between Florence and Lady Hardcastle. They banter like Holmes and Watson as they sort through the clues. I would recommend this novel to those that like cozy mysteries, witty humour and eccentrics.

As per usual, I loved this book because of the eccentric characters. I adored Emily Hardcastle and her maid and confidante, Florence Armstrong. As two strong women at the beginning of the 20th century, it was hard for them to be acknowledged by society for their efforts in discovering murderers and solving crimes.
I would thoroughly enjoy reading the sequels as this book was a nice read under 300 pages.

Fun mysteries. Love these historical mysteries where the set rules between money and servants don't follow the accepted ways.
Goodreads

Hard to get into. If you are into cozy mysteries you might like this one.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a copy for review which in no way influenced this review. I love historical fiction and I've noticed that authors have branched out from the Victorian era, finally. This isn't too far from that, set in the Edwardian era with two very fun characters, Emily, Lady Hardcastle and her lady's maid, Armstrong (Florence but she goes by her last name and she is the point of view character).

To be honest, chapter one is a bit rough. It tries to start out more or less in media res as Armstrong and Hardcastle move into Emily's new country home and it' a tad confusing. It settles down nicely by the next chapter. It's obvious that Armstrong and Emily are not just mere maid and mistress. They've been through stuff together (References to their wild adventures pepper the story, especially their time in China and India where Armstrong has learned some hand to hand combat). These ladies are friends and Armstrong is the anchor to the more wild Emily.

On a walk in the woods as they try to get to know their neighbors, turns up a dead body hanging in a tree. They help out the local constabulatory with it but the detective from one of the larger towns is less interested in the case and they assume he's either lazy or stupid and set out to clear the young man he hauled off for the crime.

Soon enough, Lady Hardcastle is invited to the engagement reception of a local girl thrown by her social climbing mother. Also in this is a friend of Emily's mother, also quite wealthy by local standards. During the party another death happens and a special gem has been stolen. Working with that same detective, the ladies learn he isn't as much of an uncaring fool as they thought.

I really liked the mystery and the ladies. It was a fun story and I'll be looking forward to more.

This is a clever book - entertaining, along with being historically accurate and chock-full of witty dialogue. And it's two lead characters are a nice twist on the typical aristocracy and ladies maid tale. I received this free from Netgallery, and will be purchasing more in the series.

I loved this book. It was sparkling and fun, with very dry and witty humor. The author's writing was skillful and a pleasure to read. I was afraid I might be bored (premise: a lady and her maid move to the country to take up a quiet life?), but I wasn't. The plot was well-paced and somewhat but not terribly guessable (what more could a mystery reader ask?). I really enjoyed the dialogue and relationship between Lady Emily and Flo. I thought it seemed pretty unrealistic for the time period, but the author rationalized it by emphasizing the uniqueness of their relationship and all the hardships they had gone through together. I loved all the cryptic hints to their past and the crazy things they went through and would love to read more more more! I thought the biggest weakness of the whole book was the very end. I thought the last chapter (involving Lady Emily) was totally superfluous and thought it could have been easily omitted without changing the book at all. Overall though, I thought this book was terrific and am really looking forward to reading more. Ah, the joy in finding an excellent book #1 of a series and knowing there is more to come! :)

Nice neat cozy with Lady Hardcastle and Flo. This won't be for everyone but you'll like if if you enjoy gentler mysteries with a sense of humor. I look forward to more from Kinsey who has a light readable style. Love the country setting. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I really enjoyed it. Great story, characters, and setting. A great read.

I giggled a lot while reading. Flo and Lady Hardcastle are both witty and snarky and have great chemistry. Flo is Lady Hardcastle's lady's maid, friend, and co-conspirator.

At first, their involvement in the first murder they investigate was spurious at best but as they're drawn into their new life in the country, they get more involved with the people and with events and soon their involvement seems inevitable. I loved how well they worked together and their relationship with Inspector Sunderland.

The story gets off to a slow start as Kinsey lays the foundation but it slowly builds up. The mysteries, two murders, a theft, and embezzlement, keep the ladies, and the local police, hopping. Are they connected? Is their new small town a hotbed of crime? Can Flo really torture someone without leaving a mark? I had fun finding out.