Interesting but fairly slow mystery that is the start of a new series

Murder Most Malicious (A Lady and Lady’s Maid Mystery)

By: Alyssa Maxwell

Rating: 4 of 5

When I started reading this book, I didn’t realize that it was the beginning of a series. Because so much is being introduced in this book, it made it a rather slow read.

While there appears to be a murder most malicious, one isn’t sure about this until the very last few pages of the book. While that may have been intended to leave the reader guessing, I found the result to be less than what my imagination had been able to conjure up, so I was slightly disappointed at the outcome.

The manners in the book seemed to be slightly out of place for the period in which it is set. I would have expected much of this behavior to have taken place in a Regency mystery rather than one set in the twentieth century (ala Downton Abbey.) Perhaps follow-on books in the series will be more time period appropriate.

I was provided a temporary digital advance reader copy of this book by the publisher, Kensington, via Netgalley.