My name is Mabel Canning and I work for the Useful Women agency—the office is in Dover Street just off Piccadilly in London. It’s 1921 and not many of the big houses can afford a butler, footmen, a housekeeper, lady’s maid, upstairs maid, parlor maid—let alone the cook and her kitchen helpers. That’s where Useful Women come in. We do all manner of work, not just domestic jobs. Just today, I collected a dress from the drapers that had been died that fashionable kingfisher blue shade and delivered to a woman in Mayfair. After that I wrote up a report about a Chrysanthemum Show, settled a disagreement between a cook and a fishmonger over the freshness of his sole, and read a French novel to an invalid lady.

For my breakfast this morning, I had tea and toast in my own flat at New River House in Islington—a new purpose-built block of flats for today’s woman or man. My papa was dead set against me living alone in the city, but I’m thirty-two years old and know my own mind. I’d lived at home in Peasmarsh, a village in Sussex, my entire life—it was time to get on with things. It helps ease Papa’s mind to know that the porter at New River House is an old friend of his from their time in the Army Service Corps in India.

So, here I am, a thoroughly modern woman. Not only do I live in a flat with my own bathroom and kitchen—each not much bigger than the inside of a wardrobe—but also piped-in gas! No lugging coal scuttles for me, thank you very much. I travel throughout London on trams and busses, which are quick and efficient unless a horse cart gets in the way. Occasionally, I even gin up enough nerve to get on the Underground. I live on a strict budget that rarely stretches all the way to taxis. I’ve made good friends at New River House, and there’s a gentleman on the first-floor landing who owns a terrier named Gladys.

Before I signed on, proprietress Miss Kerr listed ninety-nine jobs Useful Women could do for its clients. After an assignment to help out at a funeral reception dropped me in the middle of a murder enquiry, Miss Kerr added one more offering to the list: private investigations.

As a private investigator, I have the opportunity to employ a few of my special skills—and I don’t mean mending lace. I can read upside down, which is a useful way to pick up a clue or two, and I can identify a person’s handwriting by the music I hear. Odd, isn’t it?

With the assistance of my friends and their own special skills, we—members of what I like to call my London Ladies’ Murder Club—are ready for our next assignment.

A Body on the Doorstep, A London Ladies’ Murder Club Mystery Book #1
Genre: Historical Mystery, Cozy
Release: January 2024
Format: Digital
Purchase Link

Fiercely independent Mabel Canning can’t wait to begin working for the Useful Women’s Agency. But when she discovers a body on her client’s doorstep, it’s time to add solving murders to her job description…

London, 1921: Mabel Canning is proud to be a modern woman working for the Useful Women’s Agency, carrying out tasks for gentlewomen from flower arranging to washing muddy dogs. But when she answers the door for wealthy widow Rosalind Despard, she almost chokes on her cucumber sandwich when she finds a soldier’s body on the doorstep.

As she offers tea to the policemen of Scotland Yard, Mabel can’t resist getting drawn into the investigation. Who was the mysterious dead man? And why was he holding a letter for Rosalind, written by her husband on the day he disappeared?

As Mabel hunts for clues, she joins forces with Rosalind’s handsome brother, former detective Park Winstone, and his adorable terrier, Gladys. But when Mabel suspects she is being followed, the detective duo know that time is running out before the killer strikes again.

As she investigates, Mabel discovers dusty old photographs that help her reveal the soldier’s true identity. But as she gets closer to uncovering the young man’s murderer, she knows she’s also one step closer to danger… Can she outsmart the killer and save Park and Rosalind before they also turn up dead as doornails?

A Body at the Séance, book #2 in the London Ladies’ Murder Club releases on the same day as book #1.

About the author
USA Today best-selling author Marty Wingate writes mysteries and histories—all fiction and all set in Britain. Her new historical mystery series, The London Ladies Murder Club, is set in 1921 and inspired by the real-life Useful Women agency. Marty also writes the Potting Shed series and the Birds of a Feather mysteries in addition to standalone historical fiction including Glamour Girls and The Orphans of Mersea House. Marty prefers on-the-ground research whenever possible, and so she and her husband regularly travel to Britain, where she can be found tracing the steps of her characters, stopping for tea and a slice of Victoria sponge in a café, or enjoying a swift half in a pub.