The Right Sort of Man by Allison MontclairMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Miss Iris Sparks (former Special Operations operative) and Mrs Gwendolyn Bainbridge (widow, mother of a young son, living with her husband's parents) have set up a matchmaking agency, The Right Sort Marriage Bureau in Mayfair, London, shortly after the end of World War II. When one of their clients is murdered, and another is charged with her murder Iris and Gwen are convinced that he is innocent, and determine to find the real murderer.
As the action moves between the houses of the British aristocracy, the offices in Mayfair and the bomb-ravaged East End of London our heroines are dealing with their own issues, including what I would term PTSD.
Some of the attitudes and snobberies of the age portrayed in the novel are grating (the client who won't even consider being matched with an Irishman), looking back I can't tell whether the East End characters' accents are lazy caricature or just an attempt to portray the strong accents of the area but I am leaning towards the latter.
This is an intelligent historical murder mystery with engaging characters full of light and shade, the war might be over but the secret service is still very much in evidence, preparing for the Cold War to come. The criminal gangs selling nylons and alcohol outside the strict rationing systems in place, the way in which criminals were legitimised for their war efforts etc were all fascinating and there is lots of interesting backstory which I hope will be explored in future books.
If you like historical detective novels then I think you'll love this.
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