Book Review - The Unwanted Corpse - By Elizabeth Bailey - Publication Date: 6 April 2022

 

Having a corpse dumped at one's doorstep did not constitute an ordinary day even for the Fanshawes, oh, except perhaps, for Ottilia Fanshawe, otherwise known as Lady Fan.  She had thought she'd left the detective life behind though when she married Lord Francis Fanshaw and had Baby Luke.  However, she was very much mistaken.

When the corpse showed up and was addressed to Lady Fan, what could she do?!   She just had to know who the chap was, who had done him in and why.  Also, the curiosity of knowing who had dumped him there so unceremoniously.

Richenda Vexford definitely had a hand in it as did several young toffs who fluttered around Richenda.  What info they were privy too and who was lying, kerflummoxed and maxed out Lady Fan's detective skill to great challenge.  It was not an easy task to squeeze out the facts of the matter.  Thankfully, she had her husband Fan, mother-in-law Sybilla, and her niece Lizzy's sleuthing assistance.  Even the Mr. Maplewood pitched in to help.

What a romantic, or not, relationship between Lizzy and Maplewood, was it all above board?  The angst of it all pestered and persisted throughout the narrative, keeping the reader second guessing right along with Lizzy and Maplewood themselves.  

This story has a historical setting from a way back to 1794, so I detected some era culture to be imbued within the pages as whispered strokes in the way they addressed each other, the great use of horses and carriages even in "high speed" gallop chase which lend to the effect.  The feature which had the most impact was the health issue of the corpse (ahem, before he expired), which today, with the advancements of treatment in the medical field, would more than likely have not been  such a grave problem. and therefore smacks of the time and place in place.

I  did like the book as it was quite clean of objectionable-to-me conduct between couples and in fact portrayed much decorum.  This then, emphasised the aborted misconduct of Richenda when she was retrieved.  Some readers may have met Lady Fan before as this book is the eighth in the Lady Fan Mysteries series.

                                                ~Eunice C.,  Reviewer/Blogger~

                                                          March 2022

Disclaimer:  This is my honest opinion based on the review copy sent by NetGalley and the publisher.

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