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A Laetitia Rodd Mystery
by Kate Saunders
Introducing an irresistible new detective, the first book in the Laetitia Rodd Mystery series will enthrall and delight.
Mrs. Laetitia Rodd, aged fifty-two, is the widow of an archdeacon. Living in Hampstead with her confidante and landlady, Mrs. Bentley, who once let rooms to John Keats, Laetitia makes her living as a highly discreet private investigator.
Her brother, Frederick Tyson, is a criminal barrister living in the neighboring village of Highgate with his wife and ten children. Frederick finds the cases, and Laetitia solves them using her arch intelligence, her iron discretion, and her immaculate cover as an unsuspecting widow. When Frederick brings to her attention a case involving the son of the well-respected, highly connected Sir James Calderstone, Laetitia sets off for Lincolnshire to take up a position as the family's new governess - quickly making herself indispensable. But the seemingly simple case - looking into young Charles Calderstone's "inappropriate" love interest - soon takes a rather unpleasant turn. And as the family's secrets begin to unfold, Laetitia discovers the Calderstones have more to hide than most.
Dickensian in its scope and characters, The Secrets of Wishtide brings nineteenth century society vividly to life and illuminates the effect of Victorian morality on women's lives.
"Starred Review. Readers who relish the puzzle of a well-done Victorian-set mystery with a resourceful female detective will take pleasure in this series launch by a prolific British author and journalist." - Library Journal
"Starred Review. Readers will forgive - and smile at - the blatant contrasts between the warmth of affection and humor in Letty's immediate circle and the self-centered wickedness and scheming of the dark, depressed villains. The book is a sheer delight, with its deliciously intricate puzzle and well-drawn characters whom readers are sure to continue to enjoy in volumes to come." - Booklist
"Saunders explores Victorian sexual mores in a well-evoked historical world marred only by some overly complicated subplots." - Publishers Weekly
"Without hitting readers over the head (as she does with many of her characters), Saunders ... launches a well-written series with all the hallmarks of a classic British cozy." - Kirkus
"A Dickensian glow pervades this immensely satisfying novel. Hugely enjoyable." - James Runcie, author of The Grantchester Mysteries
This information about The Secrets of Wishtide was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Kate Saunders is an author and journalist who has worked for the London Times, the Sunday Times, and Cosmopolitan, and has contributed to Radio 4's Woman's Hour and Start the Week. She has written numerous books for adults and children, including Night Shall Overtake Us and Five Children on the Western Front, which won the Costa Children's Book Award in 2014. She lives in London, England.
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