Shelley Noble

From New York Times bestselling author Shelley Noble, Ask Me No Questions is the first in the Lady Dunbridge Mystery series featuring a widow turned sleuth in turn-of-the-twentieth century New York City. A modern woman in 1907, Lady Dunbridge is not about to let a little thing like the death of her husband ruin her social life. She’s ready to take the dazzling world of Gilded Age Manhattan by storm. From the decadence of high society balls to the underbelly of Belmont horse racing, romance, murder, and scandals abound. Someone simply must do something. And Lady Dunbridge is happy to oblige. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A Lady Dunbridge Mystery

Ask Me No Questions

Alexia Cambaling

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to Netgalley and Tor/Forge!

I requested this book partly because of the nice cover. Honestly, I’ve been wanting to get into the mystery genre more lately and I enjoyed watching this tv series called Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (Yes, I know it’s also based on books I haven’t read yet). The description reminded me of the tv show so I decided to request it. Well, if you’re a fan of that one, you might enjoy this one too.

Ask Me No Questions is the first book in the Lady Dunbridge Mysteries which features Lady Philomena Amesbury, a young dowager Countess who comes to early 20th century New York. She arrives with her butler, Preswick, and her new lady’s maid, Lily. However, on her first day, she arrives only to see a friend's husband murdered.

Ask Me No Questions is an incredibly fun, fast-paced read. Reading it felt a lot like watching an episode of my favorite mystery series. The descriptions are so lush and vivid that I can almost imagine the habits and doings of Old New York society. I almost wished I sipped a martini as I read.

While I will admit that the killer felt a bit obvious and can easily be guessed, the story was still gripping. The author was able to weave a gripping story with interesting subplots and threads I want to see explored in future books. For example, Phil's maid Lily. Who is she? What's her story? She seems very mysterious and I'm dying to know more

Aside from that, I got easily attached to the characters. Lady Phil was an amazing main character. I loved her wit and charm and I also liked that there were moments where she was a bit more vulnerable, particularly when thinking about her deceased husband. Bev also managed to grow on me, even though she was mostly portrayed as being kind of naive? She also wasn't shown to be taking the murder seriously so I did think she was the murderer, until the narrative convinced me otherwise.

Overall, Ask Me No Questions is a great introduction to a new mystery series. If you know some basic tropes of the mystery genre, you could probably guess the killer early on. Otherwise, the author gives you enough clues to guess who it is. I would love to read more books in the series and I highly recommend this one.

This review is also on  The Bookworm Daydreamer

Ask Me No Questions A Lady Dunbridge Mystery

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