I've been quite enjoying the Lady Hardcastle mysteries and didn't quite realize that this is a new series with characters that we have seen before. Lady Hardcastle and Flo do make a brief appearance in this book both "in person" and through letters that Flo is exchanging with Skins' wife, Ellie.
Skins and Barty are part of a jazz ensemble who have been asked to been play for a specific group at the Aristippus club. It seems that this group is supposed to go up against another group in a dance off. But these boys will need a lot of help.
It is a routine job until an old friend, Superintendent Sunderland, asks them for a bit of help. Rumors have it that an army deserter who stole a fortune in diamonds is somehow related to the club. Skins and Barty agree to help and are eventually aided by the whole band as well as Ellie.
The mystery was very much secondary to the character development and I did not hate it. Bartholomew "Barty" Dunn is a footloose and fancy-free bachelor though he is starting to re-think his ways. He is shown to have a soft spot for his landlady who lost all three of her sons in the war.
Skins and Ellie fell in love in an early Lady Hardcastle book and now have two children. Ellie is supposed to have an inheritance but her family didn't like Skins being a musician and are holding the money until they've been married for a set amount of time. It's all of the little touches that really start to make us care about reading more of the stories.
Four stars
This book came out March 1, 2021
Followed by A Baffling Murder at the Midsummer Ball
ARC kindly provided by Amazon Publishing UK and NetGalley
Opinions are my own
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