Review: The Ambitious Stepmother

The Ambitious Stepmother Amazon UK HC
Fidelis Morgan
Class/Genre: Mystery
Series: Countess Ashby De La Zouche # 3
2002, HarperCollins

This is another excellent adventure for the countess of Ashby de la Zouche and her faithful servant Alpiew, described on the cover as "A tale of poison, passion, and perfidy in 17th century France".

An alderman's new wife is rather peeved at having her stepdaughter moping around, so she hires the Countess to act as chaperone and take the stepdaughter to France, in search of a rich husband at the Chateau St Germain, court of the exiled English ex-king James.

Unfortunately for the Countess, it's strictly cash on marriage, and robbers reduce them to penury on the way to the court. And when they get there, it seems that everyone in St Germain is plotting against everyone else, everyone has at least one awful secret, and most of them are certifiable.

Then a young girl is poisoned, and the Countess and Alpiew have to solve the murder (and the following murders, of course) to get out of the madhouse and back to London, whilst avoiding the murderer, the Bastille, and M. Bechamel.

" 'She will be exploring. St Germain is a wonderful chateau,' said Lady Prude, her voice almost drowned out by a particularly impressive musical flourish. 'I find there's nothing quite like the throbbing swell of a huge organ.' The Countess decided it was safer not to respond. 'Heavy going to the uninitiated, but you get used to it,' murmured Prude. 'Personally, I find it exhilarating.' The Countess gave her a sideways glance, wondering whether Lady Prude was still on the subject of music. 'A typical erection of Charles the Wise,' Lady Prude continued, while the Countess gawped open-mouthed..."

As always, this is a high speed romp, with humour well to the fore. Fashions, French and English, are mocked wholesale. No entrendre goes undoubled (there's a whole subplot about exactly what Lord Whippingham is putting in women's mouths, and why it puts them off eating). There are Fidelis' characteristic references to our times ("Commercial pull? Try cookery books or things about how to decorate your home. They are all the rage."), including a primitive form of txt mssgng. And a would-be authoress who continually suggests book titles the Countess rejects as unsellable ("War and Peace", "Pride and Prejudice" and so on).

Underneath the humour there's the genteel despair of the Jacobite political refugees who are being sidelined by history, and the glory of the Sun King's court is contrasted with the poverty of the peasantry. It's also interesting to see the Countess and Alpiew in a much smaller, confined, setting than London; St Germain functions to some extent as a Christie country house. There's a wider selection of suspects, though, and I did get just a little confused at some points.

In all, a satisfying read. I'd visit a bookstore and demand a copy now, if I hadn't already got one.

The only thing I've got against this book is the cover; instead of the rather nice 'things on fabric with the title in script' style of the first two books, they've gone for a collage of 17th French pictures. This doesn't have the same impact to me, mainly because it gave me the impression I'd seen it somewhere before. This is obviously bad, as I don't go round buying books I've already got, but I'm sure Harper Collins know what they're doing.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Rik Shepherd - RAM

Please Note: Books reviewed are usually provided by the publisher, author, or an agent. Reviewers usually get to keep the book.

Book Review: The Ambitious Stepmother

Please Note: Books reviewed are usually provided by the publisher, author, or an agent. Reviewers usually get to keep the book.