Good morning, Gentle Reader, and welcome to London on the 5th of May, 1926. The General Strike started yesterday, and quite a lot of Town is at a standstill this morning. In the words of the Cheshire Cat, “we’re all mad here.”

I moved to London with my cousin and best friend, Christopher Astley, a few months ago, from Wiltshire. (Wiltshire is where Stonehenge and Avebury are, in case you’re not familiar with it. I wasn’t, until I got there from the Continent at age 11.)

Wiltshire is also where Sutherland Hall is located, the ancestral seat of the Astleys. Christopher is the second-youngest nephew to the current duke, and the one farthest away from the title, since his cousin Crispin is two months younger, but in the direct line.

Crispin, just to make it clear, is not my cousin. He’s related to Christopher on the spear side of the family, while I’m on the distaff side. My mother was Aunt Roslyn’s younger sister, who ran off to Germany and married a commoner around the turn of the century, while Christopher’s father is the duke’s younger brother, and currently second in line for the title, after his nephew.

And all of that’s neither here nor there. I just wanted to make it clear that Crispin and I are not related, because he’s easily the most annoying young man on the face of the earth, and I’d hate to be associated with him.

Case in point: Crispin’s mother passed recently.

It’s a long story, quite shocking—I’m amazed that Uncle Harold has managed to keep the details out of the gossip rags, to be honest. And I’m sure he must have knocked Crispin flat and sat on him, because the scion of the Sutherlands is a favorite of the more salacious tabloids, and he hasn’t appeared on a front page in all of London in the week since Aunt Charlotte died. The only way that could possibly happen, is if Uncle Harold kept Crispin chained up at Sutherland Hall. When he’s not forcibly prevented from visiting Town, young Lord St George has a bad habit of disporting himself with the Society of Bright Young Persons, and of winding up on the front cover of The Daily Yell with a glass of champagne in one hand and a young lady in the other.

A different young lady each time. And I use the word ‘lady’ in its titular sense, not any other.

But I digress. After the sad death of Aunt Charlotte, and after Christopher and I scurried back to London while Crispin was in conference with the officials from Scotland Yard, I wrote him what I would consider a very nice letter of condolence on the loss of his mother. It was full of support and sympathy, and carefully worded phrases of commiseration and comfort.

It took forever to compose, and I ended it appropriately, with Yours, Philippa Darling.

And do you know what I got back in the post two days later?

Two scribbled lines and no signature.

Darling,
Yours? Really?
You and Kit are coming back for the funerals, aren’t you?

So that’s where we’re going today. Back to Wiltshire for the funerals of Aunt Charlotte, Duke Henry, and Grimsby the valet. And may God have mercy on our souls.

Especially Crispin’s. By the time I’ve finished giving him a piece of my mind, I imagine he’ll need all the mercy he can get, poor chap.

Giveaway: Jenna has generously offered to give away one print copy of Secrets at Sutherland Hall and Death at the Dower House, the first two books in the Pippa Darling series. To enter, please leave a comment below. One entry per person and the giveaway is limited to U.S. residents only. Giveaway ends December 16, 2023. Good luck everyone!

Death at the Dower House, Pippa Darling Mystery Book #2
Genre: Historical Mystery
Release: December 2023
Format: Digital, Print
Purchase Link

England, early May, 1926

After the funerals of the late Duke of Sutherland and his daughter-in-law, Charlotte, (and of course Grimsby, the blackmailing valet), the younger members of the family—Philippa Darling, her cousins Christopher and Francis, and Crispin, Viscount St George—are invited to a weekend party at the Dower House in Dorset by Dowager Lady Peckham’s children, Constance and Gilbert.

Once in Dorset, things go sideways very quickly. Lady Peckham’s ward, the lovely Dutch emigree Johanna de Vos, has been making a dead set at Crispin, and has had him all to herself for the past few days. Constance’s time has been monopolized by Francis, while Pippa wouldn’t throw Crispin a rope if he were going down for the third time. However, the house party also includes the beautiful Lady Laetitia Marsden, a former dalliance of Crispin’s, and she doesn’t take the competition for his affections—or his title and fortune—lying down.

As a result, when the lovely Johanna is found murdered, the suspects are plentiful. Did Lady Laetitia decide to remove her rival? Did Lord Geoffrey, her brother, the handsy one, lose control and strangle the woman he was trying to seduce? Or perhaps Crispin was tired of the relentless pursuit, and took matters into his own hands?

When Lady Peckham also dies, miles away in Wiltshire, the case develops yet one more wrinkle. Now Pippa, with some help from Christopher, must figure out who wanted the two women dead, hopefully before the murderer can consign her to the same fate.

About the author
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jenna Bennett (Jennie Bentley) hopes to finish her 50th book by the end of 2023. Her most recent project is the Pippa Darling mysteries, a Golden Age historical mystery series set in England in the time between the wars. Book 1, Secrets at Sutherland Hall, is available in print, digital, and audio formats, and book 2, Death at the Dower House, was released December 5th. For more information, please visit pippa-darling-mysteries.