Mystery Monday: Love and Death Among the Cheetahs

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Publisher's Blurb (per Amazon):

Georgie and Darcy are finally on their honeymoon in Kenya's Happy Valley, but murder crashes the party in this all-new installment in the New York Times bestselling series.

I was so excited when Darcy announced out of the blue that we were flying to Kenya for our extended honeymoon. Now that we are here, I suspect he has actually been sent to fulfill another secret mission. I am trying very hard not to pick a fight about it, because after all, we are in paradise! Darcy finally confides that there have been robberies in London and Paris. It seems the thief was a member of the aristocracy and may have fled to Kenya. Since we are staying in the Happy Valley—the center of upper-class English life—we are well positioned to hunt for clues and ferret out possible suspects.
 
Now that I am a sophisticated married woman, I am doing my best to sound like one. But crikey! These aristocrats are a thoroughly loathsome sort enjoying a completely decadent lifestyle filled with wild parties and rampant infidelity. And one of the leading lights in the community, Lord Cheriton, has the nerve to make a play for me. While I am on my honeymoon! Of course, I put an end to that right off.
 
When he is found bloodied and lifeless along a lonely stretch of road, it appears he fell victim to a lion. But it seems that the Happy Valley community wants to close the case a bit too quickly. Darcy and I soon discover that there is much more than a simple robbery and an animal attack to contend with here in Kenya. Nearly everyone has a motive to want Lord Cheriton dead and some will go to great lengths to silence anyone who asks too many questions. The hunt is on! I just hope I can survive my honeymoon long enough to catch a killer. . . . 


My Review: 
This is a series I have been enjoying from the beginning. In this book, Bowen ventures into perhaps more complex territory, as British colonial life in the 20s and 30s is fraught with racism, not to mention environmental destruction. I think the author handles this matter well, but it does (for me) detract a little from the delightful lightness of the series in general, a lightness with which the book nicely opens.

Or maybe it's the mood of the moment. For whatever reason, though I was happy to see the couple moving ahead with their life together, the mystery itself felt a bit rushed and not as satisfying as some. Not a bad yarn, but not quite what I hoped, either.

On the other hand, the look into colonial life in Kenya (which the author's note assures us is pretty accurate) is eye-opening, to say the least. And I'm grateful that she perhaps moved a little away from reality to have our heroes enjoy photographing, rather than hunting, the local fauna.

My Recommendation:
Not a bad read at all, and certainly nothing to put me off the series. I don't recommend starting here, but this is a series that I think benefits from being read in order in any case.

FTC Disclosure: I checked Love and Death Among the Cheetahs out of my library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher for my honest review. The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising." 

Book Review: Minding the Manor

 

Title: Minding the Manor: the Memoir of a 1930s English Kitchen Maid (published in the UK as Aprons and Silver Spoons).

Author: Mollie Moran

Publisher: in UK, Penguin Books, 2013.  In US, Lyons Press, 2014.  348 pages.

Source: The library (where else, right?)

 Summary:

The subtitle really says it all.  This is the memoir of a woman who worked in the kitchens of the British Aristocracy in the time between the wars, the last years of the real servant system.  She started as a scullery maid at age 14, and by just past 20 got work as a cook.  Though she includes a bit of her childhood to provide context, and a quick summary of her life after she got married and left service, the book is about being part of the "downstairs" society.

Review:

Mollie Moran has retained a writing voice that reflects her upbringing.  The book reads very much like she's talking to you about her life then, including some odd grammatical quirks and a tendency to directly address the reader.  It's a style that makes the book feel less professional, but at the same time more real.  Dialogue is used freely, though obviously it must be reconstructed, a permissible stretching for a memoir, I believe.  The book was a quick, easy read and definitely interesting to those who like the history of that period (like me), despite an unpolished feeling.

Recommendation: 

The cover says that if you are a fan of Downton Abbey you'll like this, and it's probably true.  I'd recommend it for those interested in the period, for whatever reason, and perhaps especially for us Yankees who may not have a very good grip on the class system (I spent a winter taking a dive into that system in a way, working as an au pair for a rather wealthy family in Monaco.  I didn't take very kindly to being treated as a servant.  Maybe you have to be brought up to it!).

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Full Disclosure: I checked Minding the Manor out of my library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher in exchange for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

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Today is Memorial Day here in the US, so I want to just take a moment to say "thank you" to all those who have served and died for our country.  So many of my parents' generation were lost to WWII, and so many have been lost since in all that "non-wars" we've fought.  We honor their sacrifice, and would like to see an end to any need for more.