Death below stairs, by Jennifer Ashley

A friend recommended this series, set in the 1880s, as being somewhat similar in theme to the Maisie Dobbs mysteries that I will eventually exhaust. The main character in this first book is a servant in a grand house, just as Maisie started out as in the 1910s. Kat Holloway is a gifted cook who has taken a new job at the Rankin mansion. In addition to the lord of the manor, there’s his wife who rarely leaves her room, and his wife’s sister, who is shockingly addicted to wearing the clothes of a gentleman. But all is not as it seems and there’s skullduggery afoot. An innocent maid is brutally murdered in the pantry one night, and this will bring the police to their door, as well as Daniel McAdam, who Kat is acquainted with slightly. He is hired as an odd-job man. But what and who is Daniel really? By the end of the novel, even Queen Victoria gets into the act, so clearly he is not exactly what he seems to be. It was an enjoyable novel, but the author’s other genre writing, romance, was perhaps a bit too prominent. Kat is no Maisie, but fun anyway. 329 pp.