Cozy Monday

A Gilded Grave (Newport Gilded Age Mystery #1) by Shelley Freydont (Berkley Prime Crime trade paperback, 4 August 2015).

The Season - the annual period when it is customary for members of a social elite of society to hold debutante balls, dinner parties and large charity events. It was also the appropriate time to be resident in the city rather than in the country, in order to attend such events.

In the United States in the late 19th Century, the Season moved from New York or Boston to Newport, Rhode Island in the summertime. Apart from the change of location, not much changes: the social competition is as ruthless as ever.

Newport is the first season for Deanna Randolph, so she doesn't have the experience that a City season would have given her. She's already a bit at a disadvantage, having effectively been jilted by her intended, Joseph Ballard, who decided to move to a warehouse on the wrong side of town.

The first ball she attends a the seaside home of the Woodruffs, and is very exciting and glamorous, but the evening's festivities are dampened when the body of one of the maids is found at the bottom of a nearby cliff.
Deanna is stunned when Joseph, whom she's known since she was a child, turns out to be the main suspect. Despite the fact that he's "spurned" her, she knows he could never do such a thing, and she intends to prove it.

The story begins a little slowly, but it soon picks up. The reader will soon become captivated by the intelligent, caring and slightly naïve young woman as she navigates the unfamiliar waters of business and society.

Once you get into the story you won't be able to put it down.

No word yet on when the second installment is due, but it won't be soon enough!


The publisher has generously offered a copy of A GILDED GRAVE to one of my readers.  Please comment below before midnight on August 10, 2015.  Entries from the US only, please.  
Please don't forget to include an email address where I can contact you if you win!


FTC Full Disclosure:  Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy of this book.