A DAUGHTER'S GUIDE TO MOTHERS AND MURDER (Countess of Harleigh Mystery #8) by Dianne Freeman will be released on June 24, 2025, by Kensington.
Frances Hazelton is trying to enjoy some personal time in Paris with her new husband when her frenemy, Alicia Stoke-Whitney, draws her into investigating a personal matter. Alicia’s daughter is being courted by an American man whose former wife was murdered just last year. The case quickly went cold. Around the same time Frances starts inquiring into Carlson Deaver’s personal life, Inspector Daniel Cadieux of the Sûreté receives a new lead into the late Mrs. Deaver’s death. World famous actress Sarah Bernhardt received a piece of the murdered woman’s stolen jewelry along with an incriminating note that implies Sarah murdered her rival. Despite the danger, Frances and her husband step in to help the police with the investigation that takes them from the highest social circles to the backstage of Paris’s theaters.
I’ve enjoyed all the novels in the Countess of Harleigh Mystery, and A DAUGHTER'S GUIDE TO MOTHERS AND MURDER is the best one yet. The beginning was a bit slow, but the plot quickly picked up and Freeman provided plenty of twists and turns that kept me guessing until the end. What I really enjoy is that Frances is becoming more liberated and modern with each novel. Having conformed to the ideals and restrictions forced upon her by her mother and society when she was younger, Frances is slowly shedding that contrived personae and blossoming into her true self. I thoroughly enjoyed all the feminist undertones in A DAUGHTER'S GUIDE TO MOTHERS AND MURDER.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.