Dancing with Death: A Nell Drury Mystery

Set in 1925, Myers’s winning series launch introduces 29-year-old Nell Drury, the Escoffier-trained chef for the aristocratic Ansleys at Wychbourne Court, their country house in Kent. At a party one evening, Nell and her well-trained staff provide a splendid dinner, which is followed by dancing and—at midnight—a tour of the stately home’s not-so-stately ghosts. While conducting one of the two groups of ghost-hunting guests, Nell stumbles on the body of an old Ansley family friend, Charles Parkyn-Wright. But who would want to stab the inoffensive Charles multiple times? Practical, quick-witted Nell is a problem solver, as shown by her ability to put together a lunch for 30 at a moment’s notice or sort out clues in a murder investigation. Scotland Yard’s Det. Insp. Alexander Melbray, her sometime rival and sometime ally, makes an appealing foil. Myers (Classic at Bay and seven other Jack Colby car detective mysteries) offers a jolly entertainment while touching on such serious matters as class conflict. Agent: Sara Keane, Keane Kataria Literary (U.K.). (May)