Mrs. Jeffries Holds the Trump-Emily Brightwell

Mrs. Jeffries Holds the Trump
Emily Brightwell
Berkley, Jun 2008
ISBN: 9780425222089

Inspector Weatherspoon is considered the shining superstar of the Metropolitan Police Department of Scotland Yard, but few people know he gets help in solving tough cases. Led by his housekeeper Mrs. Jeffries, his household staff uses their under the stairs contacts to gather information that is serendipitously fed to the Inspector.

When mortician Dr. Bodworth sees the body of Michael Prescott on his table, he is shocked that the police assume an accident occurred. He visits Mrs. Jeffries to ask her to investigate; she and the staff gladly agree; while Prescott’s attorney and housekeeper go to the police to argue he was murdered. They say Michael was investigating the disappearance of a friend who was publican and a bookie when he died. Inspector Weatherspoon gets the case and learns Prescott was writing to the police begging them to look into his friend’s vanishing. No on in the Yard will admit to reading the letters and every clue leads to a wider puzzle, leaving the Inspector and his housekeeper to wonder if this is the one that got away.

Very few writers can consistently provide an entertaining historical cozy as Emily Brightwell does with her Mrs. Jeffries tales. The current Victorian era case is interesting catching the reader’s attention due in part to recurring characters, but also because the police are under suspicion by the physician and team Jeffries. Readers will appreciate this latter half ninetieth century whodunit as Ms. J, her staff and her employer provide the audience with a strong investigation and a deep look at Victorian England.

Harriet Klausner