Lady May and the Memoir of Death

Lady May Delacourt Mystery, Book 1

A brand-new 1920s-set mystery series! Auntie Mame meets Miss Marple

An impoverished earl’s sister, madcap Lady May Delacourt raised her niece Alice for years—even if the child wasn’t precisely orphaned and the raising wasn’t particularly conventional. Now the two are attempting to restore the family’s fortune by any means necessary for Alice’s son Tommy, the three-year-old Earl of Woodford.

After the Royal Family threaten to sue, May abandons her memoir (just temporarily until circumstances or kings are more favorable) and has established an antique shop in the gatehouse of crumbling Woodford Abbey in the pretty Cotswold village of Woodford Haven.

There’s no point in hanging on to the family knickknacks when Tommy is outgrowing his shoes every three months, and cold hard cash trumps nostalgia for Uncle Everard’s chamber pot every time. Unfortunately, May’s late brother George sold off the most valuable of the family’s possessions and property to finance his louche lifestyle and occasionally pay Alice’s school fees, so the pickings are not what they could have been. But May knows the market, and has numerous contacts amongst similarly cash-strapped peers. A bit of bartering and discreet transactions keep the wolf from the post-war door, just.

But when a man is found stabbed to death in Abbey Antiques, all fingers point to May, including those of Detective Chief Inspector Charles McLeod. The stubborn man would like to retire from Scotland Yard on a high note, and seems unwilling to fall victim to her famous, if not quite innocent, charms. May’s only recourse is to try to solve the crime herself without making matters even worse.