Margaret Newman wrote Murder to Music
in 1959 as her first mystery novel. She was a prolific writer and many of her other books are published under Anne Betteridge, Margaret Potter or Anne Melville, in which she wrote historical novels. In this mystery Detective Superintendent Simon Hudson is dating Delia Jones, and gives her a ride to a London Choral Society Meeting. The meetings are fraught with conflict due to the Assistant Conductor, Owen Burr. He is a man who is musically talented but causes people to dislike him intensely.
The characters are a nice touch by Newman. They are very English and have gone through World War II. She has elderly women who have devoted their lives to the Chamber, ambitious young men- very talented, and two sets of couples to add romance. On the night of one of their most ambitious programs, who would ever have predicted murder? The setting is tight but I found some of the lesser characters more developed than Supt. Hudson, which did not make the mystery less interesting because the red herrings flew fast and furious. The end was a surprise to me. Four stars
Blurb:
You must have a curious taste, to love someone whom you believe to be capable of murder.’
Detective
Superintendent Simon Hudson finds himself in a difficult position.
Attending the Metropolitana Choir’s concert was intended to make him a
supportive partner… not the head of a murder investigation. But when the
conductor drops dead during the performance, Hudson winds up with a
shocking list of suspects – including his girlfriend.
Unable to
keep his professional and personal lives separate, Hudson finds himself
embroiled in the peculiar hatreds and spiteful grudges that dominate the
Metro’s managing committee. Desperate to ensure his girlfriend’s
innocence, Hudson must work quickly to bring the murderer to light
before it’s too late.
This melodic murder mystery, brimming with charm and wit, was first published in 1959 and was Margaret Newman’s first novel.
Murder to Music is also part of Agora Books' Uncrowned Queens of Crime series.
Book Eight of the Lady Darby Series has the happy couple attending a Twelfth Night Event at the Duchess of Bowmont's Castle. The elite gathering, started earlier in the day with the heralding of Trumpets while each guest drew a role to play at the Event. The evening revelry soon descends into drunkenness and fissures appear beneath the jibing, prompting Lord Edward to do a ghost tour. The guests all are led into the basement with its damp, cold and rats. But the real terror lies in the catacombs under Kirkbryde Abbey and joined at the very far corner of the Castle by an opening in the stonework. Led deeper into the underground of gray stonework, and the ghost of a monk, the story takes a bizarre twist for the guests. Who is the new body placed there... that met such violence, for the the face has been chewed by Rats. Kiera, Lady Darby decides to help the family and pursue a murderer.
I had these books recommended to me by a friend, who devoured them. I can see why... Anna Lee Huber writes with a deft touch and very eerie overtones. Who could resist all the elements of the aristocracy during the 1830's? The parties, costumes, love affairs and as an added spice- murder, start the book in the first four chapters. The tension builds as Lady Darby and her Husband Sebastian Gage track a murderer? This story has all the makings of the great Gothics of the 1970's. Who could resist unknown corpses, rats, underground catacombs, suspicious characters, and a tense build-up leading to the last page?
Blurb:
Lady Kiera Darby and her husband Sebastian Gage are looking forward
to celebrating with new friends at an exciting yearly soiree, but they
soon learn that murder never takes a holiday in the latest riveting
installment in this national bestselling series.
January 1832.
After enjoying a delightful few weeks with her family, expectant mother
Kiera and Sebastian Gage have been invited to the Duchess of Bowmontʼs
Twelfth Night party in Traquair, Scotland. Though she normally avoids
such fashionable, rambunctious events, Kiera is ready to join in the
festive merrymaking. But upon their arrival at the opulent estate, it
becomes obvious that all is not merry in their hostess’s home. The
family appears to be under a great strain, and someone seems determined
to cause mayhem among the guests with a series of forged notes.
Matters
swiftly turn from irksome to downright deadly when the partygoers
stumble upon a decomposing body in the castleʼs crypt. The corpse is
thought to be the duchessʼs son-in-law who had purportedly traveled to
Paris more than a month earlier. It is evident the man met with foul
play, and Kiera and Gage soon realize that a ruthless murderer walks
among them—and may well be a member of the duchessʼs own family. And
when the investigation takes a treacherous turn, Kiera discovers just
how deep the killer is willing to dig to keep their secrets from ever
seeing the light of day.
