Nikki’s review of The Right Sort of Man by Allison Montclair
Historical Mystery published by Minotaur Books 4 Jun 19
I’ll start this off with an admission: I don’t know enough about British history to know whether the depictions here are accurate. I suspect some accuracy—in attitudes, in culture—has been compromised on behalf of crafting a fun read. As it turns out, the book Ms. Montclair writes is entertaining enough that I don’t mind those suspicions.
After WWII, Iris Sparks and Gwendolyn Bainbridge join up to form The Right Sort Marriage Bureau. It’s a new kind of venture for a world that feels wholly changed, from the landscape forever altered by bombs to the lack of men and the changing character of the women. Iris and Gwen would never have become friends in the old world, but now they not only appreciate each other, they need each other.
Because, as it turns out, some things never change and two of those are love and murder. Gwen has high society contacts and can find them excellent prospects for their new marriage bureau, but when one of their clients is murdered and another accused, it is Iris’s decidedly lower-brow companions who provide the most assistance.
The mystery here is…well, let’s say it’s not precisely on point. You read a great deal of the book and go through a lot of adventures and then the solution to the mystery is sort of tacked on. But that almost doesn’t matter because the journey to get there is so entertaining. There’s a good deal of banter, of female friendship, of seedy society underbelly…all the ingredients to a delicious romp. There is even the promise of a possible romance or two in future books (though there’s none here).
Grade: B+
Summary:
In a London slowly recovering from World War II, two very different women join forces to launch a business venture in the heart of Mayfair—The Right Sort Marriage Bureau. Miss Iris Sparks, quick-witted and impulsive, and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge, practical and widowed with a young son, are determined to achieve some independence and do some good in a rapidly changing world.
But the promising start to their marriage bureau is threatened when their newest client, Tillie La Salle, is found murdered and the man arrested for the crime is the prospective husband they matched her with. While the police are convinced they have their man, Miss Sparks and Mrs. Bainbridge are not. To clear his name—and to rescue their fledging operation’s reputation—Sparks and Bainbridge decide to investigate on their own, using the skills and contacts they’ve each acquired through life and their individual adventures during the recent war.
Little do they know that this will put their very lives at risk.
No excerpt available.
