... [an] authentic Golden Age–style mystery ... Fellowes is the author of the best-selling Downton Abbey books—and the niece of Downton Abbey’s creator, Julian Fellowes—and this series is perfect for devotees who need something to tide them over until the next Downton film. Fans of Downton ladies’ maid Anna, in particular, will relish the story of Louisa and her romantic interest, Detective Sergeant Guy Sullivan
With such interesting characters at the centre of the story traveling across Europe and enjoying glamorous lives, this should be a thrilling and page-turning read, but somehow it just falls completely flat. While there are suspicious deaths, the author allows the tension to drop as they are dismissed as tragic accidents, and the action moves on often with big leaps in time ... There are some interesting moments...The real problem, however, is that the pace never really picks up, and what should be a thriller full of allure and excitement ends up being rather dull. I had high hopes for this novel, so I was disappointed that they weren’t met. Louisa’s story as a woman keen to leave being a servant behind is the only really intriguing thread in the plot, and if the author had focused in on that aspect more, then the novel would have been much more readable.
Heavy-handed foreshadowing mars bestseller Fellowes’s third mystery featuring the real-life Mitford family ... Thin characterizations, especially of Diana, who would go on to marry British fascist Oswald Mosley, don’t enhance a lumbering plot. Series fans will be disappointed.
