“Something Blue” by Emma Jameson

A gala at a posh London hotel leaves the host, an oil tycoon with a recent environmental disaster on his hands, murdered in his suite. Chief Superintendent Anthony Hetheridge of Scotland Yard, aka the Baron of Wellgrave, is called in to investigate. His team includes Detective Sergeants Deepal Bhar and Kate Wakefield. Kate, born and raised in London’s East End, is shortly to become Mrs. Hetheridge, aka the Baroness of Wellgrave.

The gala has attracted a host of interesting types – and a host of suspects: the tycoon’s estranged wife and son, his current fiancée, and the American psychic he’s been having a fling with; Hetheridge’s own daughter, whom he didn’t know existed until investigating a previous case; the hotel manager and security man; IT people who may (or may not) have tampered with the hotel’s CCTV; and Sir Duncan Godington, the Scotland Yard team’s nemesis from an earlier murder. 

Something Blue is the third in the Lord and Lady Hetheridge mystery series by Emma Jameson. Like its predecessors, it’s a conscious blend of mystery and comedy, with several minor characters as well drawn and convincing as the main characters. And like its predecessors, Hethridge has to battle Scotland Yard politics, scurrilous reports in the tabloids about Kate and the wedding, and well-placed and well-titled suspects who are always prepared to pull strings. 

Related:

My review of Ice Blue by Emma Jameson.

My review of Blue Murder by Emma Jameson.

Top photograph by Mavis CW via Unsplash. Used with permission.

“Blue Murder” by Emma Jameson

Mayfair meets East End London, to solve a double-ax murder in Chelsea. Welcome to Blue Murder by Emma Jameson.

Chief Superintendent Anthony Hetheridge happens to have a title – the Baron of Wellgrave. He’s also 60, unmarried, and faces the possibility of his title passing to a rather obnoxious cousin. He’s been content with that, until he meets Detective Sergeant Kate Wakefield, born and raised in the East End, with a prostitute for a mother and a sister confined to a mental institution. That’s about as far as one can get from DeBrett’s Peerage.

He’s very close to proposing marriage, including toting around an heirloom family ring. Kate is part of his team, as is Detective Sergeant Paul Bhar. As Hetherdige is considering his marital options, he and his team are called to a townhome in Chelsea. What had been something of a Halloween party for university students while the homeowners are out of town has become something else entirely. 

A party-trashed home, considerable damage to the contents, and two students dead – both killed with an ax to the head. One victim is a captain of the university rugby team; the other is something of a nondescript character whom everyone knew, nobody liked, and wasn’t invited to the party in the first place. And complicating everything is the house next door – the home of a titled gentleman who had been arrested, tried, and acquitted for killing his father, brother, and the family butler.

Emma Jameson

As Hetheridge, Wakefield, and Bhar investigate the murders, they find themselves caught up in cases from the past, family problems, and the relationship between Hetheridge and Wakefield erupting into full-blown passion. 

In addition to five novels in the Hetheridge series, Jameson has a second series of novels featuring the amateur detective Dr. Benjamin Bones. The series begins in Cornwall during World War II, and it has a companion series called “The Magic of Cornwall.” Jameson is currently working on the third Dr. Bones mystery.

Blue Murder is full of back stories, a raft of suspects (including the next-door neighbor), comic relief with Bhar’s mother’s tribulations as a romantic suspense novelist, and the Hetherridge-Wakefield romance. It’s a fast-paced, fun read, or at least as fun as a double-ax murder can be.

Related:

My review of Ice Blue by Emma Jameson.

Top photograph: a townhome in Chelsea, London.

“Ice Blue” by Emma Jameson

Chief Superintendent Anthony Hetheridge of Scotland Yard, aka the Baron of Wellgrave, has barely recovered from a close personal brush with death. But he’s gotten through it. He arrives one morning at the Yard to find two officers involved in a very loud and very public argument over the conduct of an investigation. One of them is Detective Sergeant Kate Wakefield, who was born and raised in London’s East End, about as far from the privileged life of Hetheridge as you can find. 

Hetheridge has Wakefield join his investigative team. Over time he learns that she has a mentally disabled brother and a nephew living at home with her, the nephew a gift from a sister serving jail time. 

The team is called to investigate a particularly gruesome murder in very upscale Belgravia. A man has been beaten to death with a fireplace poker, his face almost obliterated. Complicating the investigation is the man’s wife, a former romantic interest of Hetheridge’s. The victim was a rather nasty piece of bad news, hated by almost everyone who knew him. The investigation has no lack of suspects.

Ice Blue by Emma Jameson is the first of five “blue” murder stories in the Lord and Lady Hetheridge detective series. It superficially resembles the Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers detective series of Elizabeth George, but the resemblance is only that – superficial. Hethbridge and Wakefield have very different characters than those in the Inspector Lynley series.

Emma Jameson

In addition to the Hetheridge series, Jameson has a second series of novels featuring the amateur detective Dr. Benjamin Bones. The series begins in Cornwall during World War II, and it has a companion series called “The Magic of Cornwall.” Jameson is currently working on the third Dr. Bones mystery.

The highlight of Ice Blue is watching the unfolding relationship between Hetheridge and Wakefield as they go about their investigation. They’re attracted to each other but maintain a professional working relationship, with only an occasional slip that surprises them both. 

It’s an entertaining read, and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Top photograph: Homes in Belgravia by Paul Farmer via Wikimedia Commons.