Lovely Cozy Mystery set in Rhode Island

Hi Everyone,

Blogging has been quite slow lately.  Zman and I are in the process of packing up our lives and moving back to New England, so my life right now is boxes and planning and trying to get as much done at lab as possible before I leave, so that my work may one day (sooner rather than later) be published.  Therefor I picked something sweet and easy for a RNE challenge update.  I am quite far behind now, but I hope to pick back up soon.  Things should calm down in a couple of weeks, and there will be lots of reading time while we wait for the moving truck to bring us our stuff. (Really, 4-10 days is as accurate a prediction as you can give us moving company!)  Right now I am contemplating what my Massachusetts pick should be.  Maybe something to do with the Salem Witch Trials...

Anyway, A Gilded Grave by Shelley Freydont is a lovely cozy mystery set in Newport during the Gilded Age.  It features a young female protagonist with progressive ideas of how a woman should behave who sticks her nose into the untimely deaths of two maids from the household of her friend. One of my favorites in the cast of characters is Gran Gwen, the grandmother of her once-intended Joe, who lives a bit scandalously and does as she pleases, but is available for wise counsel when needed. There is a setup to what may turn out to be a nice romance and they mystery was enjoyable if a bit formulaic. If you enjoyed this book I would recommend the Gilded Newport Mysteries by Alyssa Maxwell which is set in the same time period and also features a progressive female poking her nose into things she shouldn't.

Happy Reading!