Published By: HQ
Pages: 400
Released On: 24/10/2024
Alice Beeton never meant to wind up single and childless on the wrong side of fifty. Like her distant relative Mrs Beeton – yes, that Mrs Beeton – she had hoped to have her own spic-and-span household by now. In reality, she lives in an immaculate but dingy basement flat in a rather shabby block in Kensington with Agatha, her fiercely intelligent, if rather over-territorial, corgi-Jack Russell cross.
Now Alice runs the Good Household Management Agency, providing discreet domestic staff to extravagant townhouses and sprawling country piles. So when Camille Messant calls in urgent need of a new housekeeper, Miss Beeton sends out new hire Enya. She’s rather forward but she does come with impeccable references and is fluent en français.
But in the early hours of New Year’s Day, Alice is rudely awakened with the news that Enya has been found dead. As the intriguing, if somewhat scruffy, Detective Rigby struggles to drum up an adequate investigation and the wealthy family and their party guests close rank, Miss Beeton takes it upon herself to solve the crime…
*****
Thanks to Rachel Quin and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I have read two of Josie’s books so far – The Cancer Ladies Running Club and Lifesaving For Beginners – and they were both exquisite. So if you add that talent, plus the Beeton name, plus what looks like a Christmassy setting, judging by the cover, then you’ve got the recipe for a brilliant read.
There are recipes in it!!!!!! I do enjoy a good recipe, especially when you least expect it, and I have saved a few of them.
I began reading this thinking it was set in the 1950s and it fits that era in my head, but then after a few pages it mentions Instagram and so I had to re-evaluate what I thought I knew. And yet knowing this, I still pictured Alice as a young woman in the 50s and I couldn’t rid myself of that image.
It’s got a lot going for it. There’s history (I know I’ve learnt it’s not an historical novel now, but all the talk of Mrs Beeton just gave me that nostalgia), there’s adventure, thrill, comedy, crime, cosy crime, Christmassyness, uplift. I would have liked a bit more festivities considering the cover sort of advertises it as a Christmas story but that’s not a big thing.
It was a little slow to begin with, it took a while to get going. And I’ve seen from other reviews that some see that as a problem. But I don’t see it like that. It gives us time to get into this world, get to know our characters and become invested. I think in a story like this, if I’d had gone straight in, it wouldn’t have had quite the same effect.
There is a very large cast of characters, but I loved Alice the best. She’s so warm and friendly and trusting. She really shone. The other characters – there are too many to mention here – are just as good and work well with and against her. There’s no wasted characters, which is impressive given a cast this size.
I read it in less than a day, it was so addictive and easy to read, and even though there’s murder and whatnot, it’s a real uplifting read. I reeeeeeeeeeeeeally hope this is the start of a series as I can really see it flying. It’s completely different to the books of hers I’ve read before and it’s just great. Good storytelling, fab characters, adventure, emotion, and at the centre, it’s got real heart.
Books By Your Bedside 