cover image Move Your Bleeding Corpse: An Eliza Doolittle & Henry Higgins Mystery

Move Your Bleeding Corpse: An Eliza Doolittle & Henry Higgins Mystery

D.E. Ireland. Minotaur, $25.99 (336p) ISBN 978-1-250-04936-0

This sequel to 2014’s Wouldn’t It Be Deadly from the pseudonymous Ireland (Meg Mims and Sharon Pisacreta) suffers from the absence of any real conflict. The relationship between Eliza Doolittle, who has already succeeded in consistently passing as a member of the upper set, and Professor Higgins lacks tension; Eliza’s love-interest remains colorless; and even her father, Alfred, has become respectable. At the Royal Ascot in 1913, the eccentric Harold Hewitt runs onto the racetrack and is trampled. Higgins, who spoke with Hewitt earlier (and identified him as a Harrow graduate by his accent), saw Hewitt carrying a case with a gun. Oddly, the professor first watches a race before notifying the police of this potential threat. Though Hewitt survives his injuries, Diana Price, a horse owner impaled with a pitchfork, does not. Eliza is refreshingly not relegated to the sidekick role, but fails to impress as an investigator. Agent: John Talbot, Talbot Fortune Agency. (Sept.)