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    Hasty Death: An Edwardian Murder Mystery
    Unavailable
    Hasty Death: An Edwardian Murder Mystery
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    Hasty Death: An Edwardian Murder Mystery
    Ebook243 pages3 hours

    Hasty Death: An Edwardian Murder Mystery

    By M. C. Beaton

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Eager to join the working classes, Lady Rose Summer has abandoned the comforts of her parents' home to become self-supporting. But life as a working woman isn't quite what Rose had imagined---long hours as a typist and nights spent in a dreary women's hostel are not very empowering when you're poor, cold, and tired. Luckily for Rose, her drudgery comes to a merciful end when she learns of the untimely death of an acquaintance.

    Freddy Pomfret, a silly and vacuous young man, was almost certainly up to no good before he was shot dead in his London flat. When Rose discovers incriminating evidence pointing to several members of her class, she returns to London high society in order to investigate properly. With the help of Captain Harry Cathcart and Superintendent Kerridge of Scotland Yard, Rose prepares to do the social rounds—uncovering a devious blackmail plot and an unexpected killer.

    Set in Britain during the Edwardian world of parties, servants, and scandal, M. C. Beaton's Hasty Death is a delightful combination of murderous intrigue and high society.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateApr 1, 2007
    ISBN9781429902731
    Unavailable
    Hasty Death: An Edwardian Murder Mystery
    Author

    M. C. Beaton

    M. C. Beaton (1936-2019), the “Queen of Crime” (The Globe and Mail), was the author of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling Agatha Raisin novels -- the basis for the hit series on Acorn TV and public television -- as well as the Hamish Macbeth series and the Edwardian Murder Mysteries featuring Lady Rose Summer. Born in Scotland, she started her career writing historical romances under several pseudonyms and her maiden name, Marion Chesney. In 2006, M.C. was the British guest of honor at Bouchercon.

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    Reviews for Hasty Death

    3.5/5

    153 ratings13 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Rose is back with grand ideas for becoming a working girl. She and her lady's companion "get work" as typists and Rose discovers that life as a working girl isn't exactly what she thought it would be. She quickly finds herself teamed up with Harry again and they both try to discover the latest murderer in their social circles. Along the way there Rose has a close encounter with an insane asylum and finds herself considering marriage just to get her parents off her back.
    • 4/5
      Quick and lively read with some interesting characters.
    • 3/5
      Chesney/Beaton doesn't disappoint. You have your "oh she's supposedly so well educated but portrays herself as a half-wit" heroine who comes from exceedingly good stock; the mysterious and fallen main male lead who "oh really publicly hates the heroine but secretly loves her" and yes, it's all very predicable and cliche-y. There is no stretch in the research or imagination here, and if I had not been well attuned to Ms. Chesney/Beaton's writing style from before, I would probably like the book even less but you know, at the end of the day, it's a frippery of a read that while it may not have educated me, it did keep me entertained.The above was written about Snobbery With Violence and much could be said for book two in the series. Rose is still flighty as ever, Daisy is one step ahead of everyone else, and poor Captain Harry is just reviled that he could be in love with Lady Rose Summer.I immediately started book 3 after finishing this one and what I can say about the series at this point is they make great books to use for research on Edwardian themes since Beaton was kind enough to reference many period items and sayings. But other than as reference points, the books are incredibly dull.
    • 3/5
      Chesney/Beaton doesn't disappoint. You have your "oh she's supposedly so well educated but portrays herself as a half-wit" heroine who comes from exceedingly good stock; the mysterious and fallen main male lead who "oh really publicly hates the heroine but secretly loves her" and yes, it's all very predicable and cliche-y. There is no stretch in the research or imagination here, and if I had not been well attuned to Ms. Chesney/Beaton's writing style from before, I would probably like the book even less but you know, at the end of the day, it's a frippery of a read that while it may not have educated me, it did keep me entertained.The above was written about Snobbery With Violence and much could be said for book two in the series. Rose is still flighty as ever, Daisy is one step ahead of everyone else, and poor Captain Harry is just reviled that he could be in love with Lady Rose Summer.I immediately started book 3 after finishing this one and what I can say about the series at this point is they make great books to use for research on Edwardian themes since Beaton was kind enough to reference many period items and sayings. But other than as reference points, the books are incredibly dull.
    • 4/5
      Captain Harry Cathcart, the impoverished younger son of a baron, has become known as "The Fixer", a private detective with the knack of quietly "fixing" things for the upper class.Much to the dismay & chagrin of her parents; Lady Rose has just rejected another marriage proposal, this time from a man 30 years her senior, and has taken it into her head that she wants to become an independent working woman. Her parents agree to purchase Rose a typewriter and she & Daisy learn to type and take dictation. With the help of Harry, they secure a job typing ledgers in a bank.When Freddy Pomfret is murdered in his flat after a weekend-long house party for singles; where the season's female "failures" (including lady Rose) are set up to find a husband. Rose snoops into his bank account and finds 3 £10,000 deposits from 3 different sources, thus convincing her that Freddy was blackmailing people. When Lady Rose returns home after her dismal work experience & demands that her maid Daisy become her paid "companion"; her parents (at the suggestion of her mother's jealous maid) send her away to an asylum for "difficult" women; it is Harry & Daisy who find a way to break Rose out, rescue the drugged & starved inmates, arrest the staff and close the asylum down.After Rose's rescue and subsequent shaming of her parents; Rose & Daisy are invited for a weekend at Lord & Lady Glensheil's along with the murder suspects... yet another murder occurs. Harry enlists the help of his aide Beckett, Lady Rose, and her companion Daisy to find out what exactly Freddy had on each of his victims. When Lady Rose discovers letter & photos of the blackmail victims in a cigar box of Freddy's each is confronted in turn, leaving Rose once again in peril.Again, I like the characters, I liked the story... it was a light, fun & compelling read; which I read between 2:00 & 4:11 am this morning!
    • 4/5
      Book 2 - Rose with her companion Daisy continue to get into dangerous situations trying to solve another murder as her now fiance Harry to the rescue. Love this adventure!
    • 3/5
      An entertaining read, but this particular edition is very badly edited--lots of typos and errors. Makes it difficult to get through at times!
    • 3/5
      Very formulaic, Rose is an Edwardian version of Agatha Raison. I can see that the little snippets of information about Edwardian life are going to become tiresome before too long as I'm reading these to pass the time not to be educated.
    • 1/5
      This series s published in the UK under her M C Beaton persona. I was left feeling almost annoyed and shortchanged after having read the first two back to back. The plot idea is great however the very brief stocatto writing seems to leave me feeling insulted. The author is going to churn out books willy-nilly to a formula knowing that they will sell regardless.Whereas the style may have been adequate for Agatha Raisin it sits oddly with the pace of Edwardian life. I am actually a fan of sparse writing as Simenon but compared to the master this is Jack and Jill stuff. For light frothy romance/travel/ and mystery Edwadian books that are free as e-books may I recommend C N & A M Williamson who wrote several such as "The Lightning Conductor".
    • 3/5
      Silly, spoiled Victorian deb wants to be a sufferagette and attempts to support herself with getting a secretarial job at a bank. Of course, she brings her maid along as her best friend and soon discovers that's not the life for her. She then attempts to outwit Captain Harry in solving the murder of a wealthy society friend. Harry is a bossy stuffed shirt and she's an immature young lady and they never say what they mean to each other.
    • 3/5
      Another adventure featuring the rebellious Lady Rose Summer and her nemesis (and would-be beau) Captain Cathcart. These books are historical fiction "lite" -- not for readers who take history seriously and/or look for period details. It's a frothy story, what readers have grown to expect from this author.After a failed attempt at being a working girl, Lady Rose sets out to find out who murdered a young man of her acquaintance -- one who might have been a blackmailer. When her working-girl adventure goes awry, she decides her parents may be right -- that she should be grateful for any man who finds her attractive, settle down, get married and have children as she is expected to do. But that wouldn't be any fun for readers. 01/02/2010
    • 4/5
      Still determined to pursue her dream as a working woman, Lady Rose finds help from an unexpected quarter when Captain Harry Carthcart champions her cause to her parents on her behalf. Taking Daisy with her, Rose quickly discovers that working isn't all she had thought it would be and soon the event of another murder and blackmail investigation lures her back into society.For the first few chapters this book charmed me much as the first book had. However, part way in the writing style seemed to change and instead of one smoothly written tale we began to get staccato globs of story thrown about here there and everywhere as the author follows multiple plot lines and different characters. I will say that most of it was interesting, especially the bit about following the dead body, but it felt very disjointed. Rose even seemed to undergo a transformation into a whiney little pip. She had always been socially conscious despite her more progressive ideas, which is true to the time and her station, but instead of becoming more open minded as I would have thought her character development would allow, she seemed to regress into (as Harry put it) a bit of a shrew. For his part Harry, who we already know isn't afraid of violence, starts leveling people willy nilly in the name of saving Rose's reputation. It seemed a bit extreme.The murder mystery, although kind of a subplot, was enjoyable in a Clueish fashion with a host of suspects all brought together in one place. This time I didn't guess the "who dunnit" ahead of time although I can't say I was surprised by who the culprit was. The revelation arrived in much the same fashion as in the first book and seemed kind of redundant.Despite my bit of disappointment here I still feel that I would like to see more of these characters and discover what they're up to. I plan to pick up the next of the series in the future.
    • 4/5
      In their second adventure, Lady Rose finds herself in the midst of three people who she believes were being blackmailed by the late Freddy Pomfret. On top of all this, her parents send her to an asylum. Daisy and Harry are there to rescue her, but can they stop a killer?These are fun little cozy mysteries.