A Little Bit of Doyle and a Little Bit of Austen Makes For One Great Start To A New Series

Miss Charlotte House will not admit impediments to marriage, not even when those impediments include scandal, blackmail and even a duel to the death. With the help of her particular friend Miss Jane Woodsen, she deduces all that happens in Bath—both good and ill—and together they ensure that true love’s course runs smooth, even though both friends have suffered tragedies that prevent their own happiness. These six affairs, set in Bath, England, during the Napoleonic War, are inspired by the creations of both Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Jane Austen.

Jackie says: 
"I really don't do the whole Jane Austen thing, or the Sherlock Holmes thing either, so I very reluctantly agreed to be an early reader for this book.  It didn't take long for me to figure out that I would have been a fool to miss out on this book.  It is absolutely delightful, with plenty of humor and mystery.  It concerns the inestimable Miss Charlotte House, a brilliant woman known for her ability to help in matchmaking situations.  She can quiet scandals or start them, whichever serves her purpose.  Miss Jane Woodsen, a young lady in dire states after her father's death and her family's crash in wealth and status, ends up a guest of, and then an assistant to, Miss House and her investigations and machinations.  It might sound like light fare, but it actually very quick witted and absorbing.  This first book in a planned series involves six different 'cases', leaving the investigative team, at the end of the book, planning to move back to London and take on the big city in the second novel.  All in all, a very entertaining book for mystery lovers and fans of the England of the early 1800s."