A Fiancée’s Guide to First Wives and Murder - Dianne Freeman

Written by Dianne Freeman
Read by Sarah Zimmerman
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Countess of Harleigh Mystery Series, Book 4
Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
Release date: July 31, 2021
Duration: 08:41:33

Victorian England…November 1899

For Frances Wynn, widow to the late Earl of Harleigh, life has a cosmopolitan flavor of late. No sooner has she sent her mother and daughter off on a shopping trip to Paris than she and her fiancé, George Hazelton, are socializing with visiting members of the Russian royal family.

Yet amid this whirlwind, scandal also comes calling when Inspector Delaney turns up outside Frances’s house with a young French woman with a shocking claim: she is Mrs. George Hazelton. As the future Mrs. George Hazelton, Frances assumes the woman is either lying or demented. “Mrs. Hazelton,” aka Irena, makes other outrageous statements. Among them, she insists that she is the illegitimate daughter of Russian royalty, and she has been abducted and held for ransom many times, and that someone is sending her threatening letters.

When George arrives, he clarifies that he is certainly not married to Irena—though he can confirm her royal parentage. But even as he agrees to investigate whether Irena’s life is in danger, her claim proves tragically true. Irena is found strangled in Frances’ garden. To uncover a killer—and clear their own names—Frances and George must determine which of Irena’s outlandish stories were based in fact, and who stood to benefit from her death. And as the search reaches a shocking conclusion, they may find that villainy lurks all too close to home …

Publishers Weekly “…. The impetuous fantasist also claims to be the owner of a London theater, the victim of serial abductions, the recipient of menacing letters, and the daughter of a Russian grand duke. Her accusations against George could lead to his and Frances’s ostracism from polite society and put a damper on their nuptials, and the situation becomes even more dire when Irena is murdered in Frances’s back garden. Frances and George investigate with aplomb. Freeman delivers it all: clever plotting, charming characters, plausible suspects, and red herrings galore. This historical is pure unadulterated fun.”