Book Review: ‘The Mayfair Dagger: A Novel’ By Ava January

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The year is 1894 and Albertine Honeycomb, and her best friend Joan, have fled to London to avoid her having to marry the farmer next door with 15 kids. They decide to open a detective agency catering to upper-class women. She takes the name Countess Von Dagger, and Joan is her maid, and a phantom husband who is abroad. She has an assignment to get some letters from Lord Grendel, he’s found dead, and she fears she will be the prime suspect. When she doesn’t get paid, she decides she needs a man to be part of the agency. When Spencer Sweetman, who is a Duke, and a Scotland Yard agent shows up to question her, he ends up taking the job as her man in the agency. He doesn’t tell her who he is, and she pretends as well about who she is. They end up falling for each other, revealing their secrets, and she’s arrested for murder. He vows to do what he can to clear her and be with her. This is a great novel. The characters, story, setting and love story all gel together, with some funny moments thrown in, and you have a winner. I hope there will be more novels with these characters.