Snobbery with Violence — Marion Chesney

THE FASHION IN SHROUDS

Beautiful but rebellious Lady Rose Summer's debut into high society is a complete disaster. When a marriage proposal appears imminent for Lady Rose, her father wants to know if her suitor's intentions are honorable. He calls on Captain Harry Cathcart, the impoverished younger son of a baron, to do some intelligence work on the would-be fiancee, Sir Geoffrey Blandon. After his success in uncovering Geoffrey's dishonorable motives, and a scandalous public breakup follows.

To redeem her name, Lady Rose attends the last-chance soiree at Telby Castle for aristocratic women with dubious matrimonial prospects. But when a malicious guest is found dead under strange circumstances, Rose becomes far more intrigued with discovering the truth than with landing a suitor.

Harry fashions a career out of "fixing" things for wealthy aristocrats, so when the Marquess of Hedley finds one of his guests dead at a lavish house party, he knows just the man to call. But when Harry is caught between his client's desire for discretion and his suspicion that murder may indeed have been committed, he enlists the help of Superintendent Kerridge of the Scotland Yard and Lady Rose, also a guest at Lord Hedley's.

Set in the Edwardian world of parties, servants, and scandal, Snobbery with Violence is a delightful combination of murderous intrigue and high society. From Telby Castle's whisper-filled corridors to country lanes with secrets at every turn, Harry and Rose must unravel a web of lies, rumors, and perilous plots as a clever murderer sets out to make Rose's disastrous season her last.