It’s 1864 and Lizzie
Martin is leaving London for the south coast of England to be the
companion of Lucy Craven, a teenager who lives in seclusion with her
aunts and has recently lost an infant daughter to illness. En route,
Lizzie meets Doctor Lefebre, a slightly off-putting gentleman headed for
the same destination. Lefebre, it turns out, is an alienist hired by
Lucy’s family to determine whether the young woman is mad. And he
discloses something shocking: Lucy Craven doesn’t believe her daughter
is dead ; she insists the baby was stolen from her.
In Hampshire,
complications mount. Late at night, Lizzie hears furtive voices outside,
there’s a gentleman farmer whose demeanor with Lucy seems unusually
familiar, and, while Lucy proves a bit moody, she hardly seems deranged.
The girl’s aunts are clearly withholding something... These
tensions come to a head when a man is found dead in the garden, stabbed
with a knife from the aunts’ home.
Lizzie calls upon her beau,
Inspector Benjamin Ross. Together, they find themselves entangled in a
mystery as bewildering as any they’ve faced.
I loved reading book #1, so here's book #2 !
And here is Lizzie again, the doctor's daughter turned companion for a living, who now goes to Hampshire. I found the atmosphere a mix of The hound of the Baskervilles and Jamaica Inn, with the moor, the sea, the gothic house, the old aunts : good, I love those books. Of course, when Lizzie arrives somewhere, a murder follows so she calls Ben Ross, the Scotland Yard detective, for help.
It's a very enjoyable series, easy to read, good atmosphere, good ending (not the one you'd wish, but believable). I really like Lizzie, she's very human but has a will of her own. I won't tell you you'll never forget this novel, but while reading it, you'll have a real good time, so don't be picky !
PS : I looked up pictures of the Solent and the isle of Wight, veeeery nice place !
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