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karlou 's review for:
Fatal Masquerade
by Vivian Conroy
Fatal Masquerade is the fourth Lady Alkmene book but the first I have read and can be enjoyed as a standalone. Most of the crime books I read tend to be quite dark but now and again I like to mix it up with a cosy mystery and Fatal Masquerade certainly fits the bill. I love the Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries TV series and this is very much in the same vein. The setting for the book will also invite comparisons with Downton Abbey. It's the sort of book where you just have to allow yourself to be swept away by the glamour of the Roaring Twenties.
Lady Alkmene has been invited to a lavish ball by her best friend, Denise Hargrove. As soon as she arrives it's apparent that this is a house of secrets. Denise and her young stepmother argue bitterly, the staff seem to be behaving oddly, and as the guests start to arrive it seems more than one of them is concealing something. A dinner party discussion about a recent murder case causes upset and is ended abruptly by Mrs Hargrove. Lady Alkmene is also confused by the appearance of her sometime crime-fighting partner, Jake Dubois. This isn't the sort of social circle he usually mixes in and she recognises immediately that his reason for being there is a cover story. She's infuriated when he refuses to tell her the truth behind his appearance but before long she has something much more important to occupy her, when she finds a body on the night of the party. Although the police suggest that the victim may have been the victim of a bodged break in, Lady Alkmene suspects it's far more likely the perpetrator is a guest at the party.
What follows is a deliciously fun closed circle mystery with all the expected ingredients in place - the wrong-footed police investigation meaning Lady Alkmene is forced to conduct her own enquiries, the innocent person wrongly accused, a list of suspects who all seem to have their dreadful secrets, blackmail, red herrings and an exciting denouement as the killer is finally unmasked.
To be honest, I'd worked out who the murderer was before the reveal but it didn't matter, I still enjoyed the cast of quirky characters, the relationship between Lady Alkmene and Jake Dubois and the escapism of this glitzy setting. Although the murder is solved, the book finishes on a bit of a cliffhanger and I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next!
Lady Alkmene has been invited to a lavish ball by her best friend, Denise Hargrove. As soon as she arrives it's apparent that this is a house of secrets. Denise and her young stepmother argue bitterly, the staff seem to be behaving oddly, and as the guests start to arrive it seems more than one of them is concealing something. A dinner party discussion about a recent murder case causes upset and is ended abruptly by Mrs Hargrove. Lady Alkmene is also confused by the appearance of her sometime crime-fighting partner, Jake Dubois. This isn't the sort of social circle he usually mixes in and she recognises immediately that his reason for being there is a cover story. She's infuriated when he refuses to tell her the truth behind his appearance but before long she has something much more important to occupy her, when she finds a body on the night of the party. Although the police suggest that the victim may have been the victim of a bodged break in, Lady Alkmene suspects it's far more likely the perpetrator is a guest at the party.
What follows is a deliciously fun closed circle mystery with all the expected ingredients in place - the wrong-footed police investigation meaning Lady Alkmene is forced to conduct her own enquiries, the innocent person wrongly accused, a list of suspects who all seem to have their dreadful secrets, blackmail, red herrings and an exciting denouement as the killer is finally unmasked.
To be honest, I'd worked out who the murderer was before the reveal but it didn't matter, I still enjoyed the cast of quirky characters, the relationship between Lady Alkmene and Jake Dubois and the escapism of this glitzy setting. Although the murder is solved, the book finishes on a bit of a cliffhanger and I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next!