Allison Montclair

Iris Sparks and Gwen Bainbridge are the owners of The Right Sort Marriage Bureau operating in London in 1946. Since the new year is approaching, they decide to host a New Year's Eve party for all of their clients. However, finding a venue isn't easy until Iris's beau Archie Spelling tells them that he has purchased and is renovating a club.

Archie and Iris's relationship is deepening. He has asked her to his nephew's wedding which will entail meeting his family. And she has asked him to dinner with her mother who is an MP and with whom Iris has a difficult relationship. Archie's criminal past - and present - makes the relationship that is growing between them a bit problematic.

When they inspect the club to see if it will be suitable for the party, Gwen encounters a man she met and was attracted to on an earlier case. Then, she didn't feel that she had enough control of her life to begin dating again. Now, he's the one who's engaged. Just as they are exchanging some words, a wall Des is demolishing falls and reveals a body. Unfortunately, the body was not a victim of the Blitz but was stabbed to death and walled up more than twenty years earlier. And Iris's ex from Scotland Yard is on the case which creates a lot of tension for Iris.

Meanwhile, Gwen, who has regained control of her financial life but not yet custody of her young son, is house hunting and dipping her toes back into the dating pool. She has dated their friend Sally a few times, but nothing has clicked for her. The man who was her Friend in her court battle for her competence wants to date her. And she meets a pool shark at Archie's who looks to be someone she can have fun with except for his hidden agenda.

When Archie is shot at his nephew's wedding and almost dies, Iris and Gwen are determined to find out who wants him dead and why they do. They both believe that the shooting is because of the discovered body and the secrets around it, though Iris's ex and the detective assigned to Archie's shooting aren't so sure. Their investigations find a long-hidden enemy deep in Archie's organization.

I really enjoyed this story. Gwen's surprising talent for Snooker was a revelation. Her ability to read truth from lies when she is meeting with people had a number of uses in this episode. I also liked Iris's relationship with Archie which really tested Iris's limits.

The ending makes me really want to read the next book in this series which I hope is coming soon.… (altro)

This was another excellent episode in the Sparks & Bainbridge Mystery series. It is almost the end of the first year that Iris and Gwen's marriage agency The Right Sort has been in operation. The business is growing and finally becoming profitable since many are looking to start over after the interruption of World War II.

When a married woman who is dying of cancer comes in to sign up her husband for their services, they become involved in yet another murder investigation. Just days later, she is found dead in Epping Forest in an apparent suicide. But the local constable who is called to the body thinks that things might not be as they appear. A brochure from The Right Sort Marriage Bureau sends him to Iris and Gwen for information.

Meanwhile, Gwen's court date to prove her competence and remove her legal guardian is coming up. Things should go well, but a contentious board meeting and argument with her legal guardian throws a monkey wrench into the proceedings. Then, when her guardian is found beaten to death, Gwen becomes the prime suspect.

This was an engaging and entertaining mystery. I like the post-World War II setting. The dialog is crisp. The women's problems are real and engaging.… (altro)

The fourth Sparks & Bainbridge mystery centers on Iris. The ex-lover she threw out recently is back trailing trouble behind him. Andrew, like Iris, was an operative during World War II, but unlike Iris he still is. He has come back to their shared flat hiding from his bosses, his wife, and maybe foreign intelligence agents too.

Meanwhile, at the Right Sort Marriage Agency, Gwen and Iris turn down a young Polish widow who is looking for a new husband because she's pregnant. Gwen has the feeling she's lying about something else. When both Iris and Gwen are followed, they are trying to figure out why.

Then the body of the young widow is found murdered in Iris's apartment and Iris is the prime suspect. And Andrew has disappeared. Iris needs to clear her name but she's on her own. Her old bosses in the intelligence game won't take her phone calls. Her current boyfriend who is a gangster keeps his distance. And Gwen can't help because she has a court appointment soon to resolve the issue of her competence and her lawyer has demanded that she not get involved in any crime solving.

But Gwen can't keep out of it. Friendship, and the fact that she's being drawn into the investigation because she is also being followed and pumped for information, means that she'll have to take her chances with the court.

This was another engaging episode in the Sparks & Bainbridge series. I really like the way the narrator distinguishes the characters.… (altro)

Lord Bainbridge returns from Africa in this third Sparks & Bainbridge mystery. He throws the whole house into chaos when he demands that Gwen's son Ronnie be sent away to a harsh boarding school. Gwen is even more determined to regain custody of her son but her psychiatrist is not yet willing to indicate that she's been cured.

But Ronnie's custody is only one part of the problem. Gwen was also willed her husband's share of the company Lord Bainbridge built. Her court appointed financial manager has been unwilling to do anything other than let Lord Bainbridge control Gwen's inherited shares.

Lord Bainbridge brought home other problems from Africa too. These problems lead to the death of a man outside his exclusive club. And they lead Lord Bainbridge's kidnapping and Gwen's too since she was in the car arguing with him with the kidnap attempt went down.

Gwen's kidnapping has her partner Iris Sparks willing to call in any and all favors to find and rescue her friend. This jeopardizes Sparks' relationship with her gangster boyfriend Archie. And it reveals some things Gwen and Sparks' friend Sally hasn't been willing to reveal.

And then there is the object that a new client at the marriage bureau is looking for which has ties to the Bainbridge family. Since the new client is a Black man, it causes both Gwen and Sparks to question some of their assumptions about their own prejudices and the purposes of their marriage bureau.

This was an action-packed episode in the series. Lots of secrets were revealed.… (altro)