Captain Harry Cathcart and Lady Rose Summer have entered into an engagement of convenience-convenient for Rose, who wants to avoid being sent to India with all the other failed debutantes. Despite her considerable good looks, Rose's sharp intellect and radical ideas have served to repel her would be suitors. Rose's parents, unaware of the deception, are hardly thrilled that their only child is marrying a man in trade, but Harry comes from a good family, and at the very least, they hope he will keep their troublesome daughter out of mischief.
Unfortunately, even a pretend engagement cannot save Rose from trouble. Bored with endless parties, teas, and balls, she befriends Dolly Tremaine, a beautiful young girl newly arrived from the country and overwhelmed by the demands of the Season. Rose is delighted to have a protΓ©gΓ©e but their friendship is cut tragically short when Dolly is found floating in a river. Harry is summoned immediately to help solve the mystery of Dolly's death, and to keep Rose from being the murderer's next victim.
- Sick of Shadows *was originally published under the name "M.C. Beaton writing as Marion Chesney."
Review
"If you missed the first novel in this series, get it right away. * Snobbery with Violence introduced the Edwardian heroine Lady Rose Summer. Her second appearance is, if anything, even wittier and more amusing than the debut."-- The Globe and Mail on Hasty Death _
"Once again Chesney has concocted an amusing brew of mystery and romance that will keep her fans turning the pages."--_ Publishers Weekly on Hasty Death _
"If you are a fan of well written traditional mysteries, Lord Peter and Albert Campion, you might want to try this series."--_ Reviewing the Evidence on Hasty Death _
"Light, amusing, easy to read and thoroughly delightful."--_ Tampa Tribune on Snobbery with Violence _
"Old hand Chesney (the School for Manners series and, as M. C. Beaton, the Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth mysteries) maintains her charm and sassiness while indicting evergreen pomposity and class-status stupidity."--_ Kirkus on Snobbery with Violence _
"Combines history, romance, and intrigue resulting in a delightful romantic mystery."--_Midwest Book Review on Snobbery with Violence*
From the Back Cover
A DEADLY FIRST SEASON
Lady Rose Summer couldn't be more delighted to assist Society's most beautiful new debutante Miss Dolly Tremaine in negotiating her very first Season. Now engaged to Captain Harry Cathcart in order to avoid being shipped off to India, Rose is desperate to do something more useful than attend endless balls and parties. And the country-bred Dolly was totally at sea--and needed all the help Rose could give. But when Rose rushes to prevent Dolly from making a disastrous mistake, she discovers her stabbed to death and floating in a boat on the Serpentine River. And it isn't long before Rose barely survives an attempt on her own life. Now, Rose and Harry's race to uncover the secrets of Dolly's life is stirring up a hornet's nest of deceptions and devilish schemes from London's most exclusive townhouses to the seemingly-peaceful Yorkshire coast. And a cunning murderer is only a breath away from burying the truth--and the persistent Lady Rose--with one devastating stroke...
"A tidy and well-executed mystery/historical with strong overtones of romance."
-- Library Journal* _
****
"A lighthearted romantic romp through Edwardian snobbery, with hints of the cataclysmic changes in store for high society."
-- Kirkus Reviews_*