The Ambassador’s Wife

…is a bit of a feminist in the wonderfully written murder mystery Death in the Garden by Elizabeth Ironside.

I do find it a bit odd though that even though the main character in the story is a photographer, a camera is never once mentioned. Anyway, I enjoyed this more than any mystery I’ve read in a good while.

Here is the short review from The New York Times from last November.

“Regional crime novels may be getting grittier, but there's still comfort to be found in the civilized mysteries of the pseudonymous Elizabeth Ironside - recently revealed to be Catherine Manning, wife of the current British ambassador to the United States - that a new publishing house is making available here. An extremely stylish piece of writing, DEATH IN THE GARDEN (Felony and Mayhem, paper, $14.95) is a country-house mystery told in two parts, opening in 1925 on a gracious estate with a lively group of friends gathered for a birthday party that turns grim when the host is poisoned and his wife is arrested for the murder. The leisurely pace of the storytelling is perfectly pitched to that mannerly period between the two world wars when attractive people like George Pollexfen, an influential member of Parliament, and his charming wife, Diana, a "New Woman" with a vivid bohemian sensibility, could spend a weekend entertaining their clever friends from the city. The narrative maintains its appeal when the story shifts to the present day and the same country home, where Diana's great-niece, Helena, has called her cousins together to read through her late aunt's journals and absolve her of the suspicion that hung over her for the rest of her life.”