Cold winter evenings and warm cozy mysteries seem to go together like honey and biscuits. Emily Brightwell has provided us with a series that fits the bill very nicely.
The Victorian Murder Mystery series, set in Victorian England, started in 1993 with The Inspector and Mrs. Jeffries and 2011 will see the 28th book, MRS. JEFFRIES FORGES AHEAD.
Scotland Yard Inspector Gerald Witherspoon and his partner, Constable Barnes, have been gaining a solid reputation for solving crimes in London. What Londoners do not know is who is doing the actual detective work that puts the guilty parties behind bars.
Inspector Witherspoon is a warm, friendly and nice, but naive man. His secret weapon is his housekeeper, Mrs. Jeffries and her staff. Mrs. Jeffries is, as her employer, warm friendly and nice, but she is anything but naïve. Her ability to run a Victorian house and still solve the same crimes that baffle Scotland Yard is truly amazing.
Helping Mrs. Jeffries is a most unusual group of employees. Smythe is the coachman. He is a tall, muscular man with a rugged face. Throughout the course of the series we learn that Smythe is more complicated than people realize.
Betsy, the housemaid, uses her position to gather information from the shopkeepers and other maids in London. She and Smythe seem to get along especially well. Wiggins is the man of all work and can be counted on to get into some places that would be dangerous for the others. Mrs. Goodge rounds out the staff as the cook. “Rounds out” is definitely the right term to use for Mrs. Goodge because she is constantly baking to feed her sources of information as they come to her kitchen.
These mysteries are not too complicated. In fact the reader may have them solved long before Inspector Witherspoon does. I also felt that the author did not do a good job of convincing us that the action took place in Victorian England. What makes these books delightful is the author’s affection for her characters. The Inspector is not a bumbling fool, just a sweet man who has a staff that does not want to see him hurt or humiliated. Each member of the household becomes an individual as the stories go on.
If cozy mysteries are in your library, make sure Emily Brightwell’s Mrs. Jeffries is on the shelf with them.
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