The Mitford Secret
written by Jessica Fellowes
Narrated by Rachel Atkins
If you enjoyed previous books in this series, you'll likely welcome the 6th & final installment of this mystery series that takes place during WW2, when former nurserymaid Louisa attends a family Christmas at Chatsworth, acclaimed country seat of the Dukes of Devonshire.
Many of the eternally fascinating Mitford family are in attendance: the parents and several of the daughters that The Times journalist Ben Macintyre famously described as "Diana the Fascist, Jessica the Communist, Unity the Hitler-lover; Nancy the Novelist; Deborah the Duchess and Pamela the unobtrusive poultry connoisseur".[2] Unity's already brain-damaged but still an ardent Hitler supporter. Diana's in prison for her Fascist activities (probably also, in the minds of Britain's War Service, to serve as a potential check on her husband Oswald Mosley's more seditious speeches and writings). Nancy's at odds with her husband, who hasn't bothered to communicate with her in quite some time, and Debo's philandering husband, Andrew Cavendish, is off on war duty somewhere, as is his older brother, the current heir to the dukedom. The Mitford parents are emotionally withdrawn from the family and each other. It's hardly the recipe for a successful house party even before the arrival of the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire adds a formal chill to every meal.
And then there's the wild woman who turns up on a stormy night claiming to be a psychic medium, leading them through the unheated ancestral pile to a cupboard containing a bloodstained maid's cap.
There are house party games, rationing-constrained festive meals, shopping for small gifts in the village, and the handsome Air Force officer from the nearby base, ingratiating himself with the Chatsworth party. He's inordinately nice to disabled Unity even while unhappily married Nancy eyes his obvious sex appeal and vies for his attention. Soon Louisa figures out the medium is a former employee of the great house, determined to discover the truth behind the long-ago disappearance of her best friend on staff: the maid who once wore that cap.
Oh yes, and then there's a murder that some of the family seem determined to believe was natural causes.
"Debo" may be the putative hostess for this decidedly non-festive house party, but she's not yet the duchess nor even in line for the title (her husband's older brother isn't killed until quite late in the war). Indeed, one of the more fascinating parts of the book to me was watching her nascent steps toward becoming the woman now widely counted as saving Chatsworth by turning it into a productive, thriving estate and tourist attraction with a dedicated, largely local staff. The duke, it must be said, seems to have followed in the footsteps of his ancestors in the matters of horse-racing, spending lavishly, and continuous infidelities, all proclivities that play into the mystery of the missing maid.
Here, for those interested, are links about Debo
Basic biographical details https://www.historyonthenet.com/deborah-mitford-the-duchess
The books she wrote https://www.librarything.com/author/devonshireduchessof
The tiaras she wore https://royalwatcherblog.com/2016/09/24/the-tiaras-of-debo-duchess-of-devonshire/
I enjoy this era of history both in fiction and in non-fiction. And aristocrats behaving badly is a rich vein of misdeeds that many biographers and almost as many crime writers successfully mine.
Sadly, I didn't find this one particularly convincing, in part because SPOILER! RUN YOUR CURSOR OVER TO SEE nobody would have made much fuss of a duke siring a bastard child, much less cover it up for decades. There are endless anecdotes in circulation still about the infidelities of pre-birth control aristocrats, and well understood protocols for how the children ought to be provided for. WW
When the central reason for a historical crime doesn't hold up to scrutiny, none of the subsequent coverup holds up either.
Also, other characters are inconsistent, in one scene being very helpful to Louisa beyond the scope of any relationship or job requirement (even the police inspector) and then, for no apparent reason, suddenly getting angry and refusing further cooperation with her. Also too many of these noble and individually famous people simply spilled their innermost thoughts and secrets to the former nursemaid with the weakest of motives other than allowing the author to provide the reader with context and clues in the most expeditious manner possible. As a lifelong reader of British mystery I found it lazy plotting. The writing doesn't enchant me either. We're told too often what Louisa (or another character) is feeling, rather than seeing her react to situations, so it all comes off as quite emotionally flat no matter how exciting the situation should be. The plot is driving the characters like so many bumper cars rather than events arising more organically from the characters' interactions and discoveries.
The audiobook narrator added nothing to the tale's enjoyment either. Louisa's accent meandered quite a bit from chapter to chapter, and every scene involving Lousia's wide-eyed daughter, regardless of which characters were speaking, was steeped in sentimental cooing tones that brought to mind movie-house Victorian spinsters in chintz-covered parlours. That said, the text didn't give her much help, as many chapters simply meandered to a stop without providing any compelling emotional subtext to pull us forward. (see 'quite emotionally flat' above')
The Mitford Secret is out in audiobook as of January 17, 2023
I'm giving it 3 stars out of 5 for Debo, and for the convincing backdrop of an impoverished great house brought even lower by wartime rationing.
Thanks #NetGalley for the audiobook ARC
#MitfordMystery #MitfordSecret #WW2 #HistoricalCrime #OswaldMosley #DianaMitfordMosley #NancyMitford #Chatsworth #DuchessOfDevonshire #audiobook #WorldWar2
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