A Secret Never Told (A Lady Dunbridge Mystery) by Shelley Noble
A Secret Never Told (A Lady Dunbridge Mystery)
by Shelley Noble
About A Secret Never Told
A Secret Never Told (A Lady Dunbridge Mystery) 
Historical Cozy Mystery
4th in Series
Publisher : Forge Books; 1st edition (November 23, 2021)
Hardcover : 336 pages
ISBN-10 : 1250750458
ISBN-13 : 978-1250750457
Digital ASIN : B08PSNGTZF
Miss Fisher meets Downton Abbey in A Secret Never Told, the fourth installment in the critically acclaimed mystery series from New York Times bestselling author Shelley Noble.
Philomena Amesbury, expatriate Countess of Dunbridge, is bored. Coney Island in the sweltering summer of 1908 offers no shortage of diversions for a young woman of means, but sea bathing, horse racing, and even amusement parks can’t hold a candle to uncovering dastardly plots and chasing villains. Lady Dunbridge hadn’t had a big challenge in months.
Fate obliges when Phil is called upon to host a dinner party in honor of a visiting Austrian psychologist whose revolutionary theories may be of interest to the War Department, not to mention various foreign powers, and who may have already survived one attempt on his life. The guest list includes a wealthy industrialist, various rival scientists and academics, a party hypnotist, a flamboyant party-crasher, and a damaged beauty whose cloudy psyche is lost in a world of its own. Before the night is out, one of the guests is dead with a bullet between the eyes and Phil finds herself with another mystery on her hands, even if it’s unclear who exactly the intended victim was meant to be.
Worse yet, the police’s prime suspect is a mystery man who Phil happens to be rather intimately acquainted with. Now it’s up to Lady Dunbridge, with the invaluable assistance of her intrepid butler and lady’s maid, to find the real culprit before the police nab the wrong one . . .
A SECRET NEVER TOLD
Chapter 1 excerpt
Philomena Amesbury, Countess of Dunbridge, sat on the veranda of the Manhattan Beach Hotel sipping a glass of champagne and looking out at the dark ocean. To her right the rowdy display of lights from Coney Island beckoned the masses.
But on the veranda of this jewel of beach hotels, the diners were enjoying a quiet decorum—some more quiet than others, depending on their losses and wins at the Brighton Beach track that afternoon.
Phil and her friend Bev Reynolds had been here for nearly a week. Bev, who had had two horses running this week, spent her mornings at the stable, then joined Phil for a day of sunbathing and dipping their feet in the ocean. They’d spent one day discovering the wonders of nearby Coney Island amusement parks. They’d drunk lemonade, hiked up their skirts to ride the Steeplechase Races, mechanical wooden race horse ride. Neither of them won. They’d bought tickets to see the Wild Men of Borneo. Even grabbed places on the Human Roulette Wheel.
They attended the races. At night they rubbed elbows with members of the Jockey Club, danced with dashing men in the moonlight to the hotel orchestra.
And yet Phil felt an overwhelming, innervating sense of ….boredom.
There, she’d said it. The fact of the matter was, the Countess of Dunbridge was bored. Sea bathing, horse racing, even amusement parks didn’t hold a candle to uncovering dastardly plots and chasing villains. And there had been very little of that lately. She hadn’t had a big challenge in months...
Who doesn't love a strong female who solves crimes?Even more enticing when it is during an age when women are supposed to remain in the background, following orders and making the men in their lives, husbands, fathers, etc. look smarter, more refined, more successful.
Having been widowed at a very young age, the Countess has more freedoms than most but still must maintain an image suited to her station. This allows her to travel within certain privileged circles.
It also allows for her to have two talented and loyal "servants" by her side, available to add their skills to her investigations.
When she receives an invitation to act as hostess for the wealthy Lord Godfrey she doesn't hesitate in the least. Even though he is hosting an unusual collection of academic Doctors of various studies of psychoanalysis, a very new science. Once she meets them, including two unexpected guests, things turn chaotic and extremely unpredictable.
From that point on it is nonstop page turning as more than one (or two) agencies try to figure out attempts on one guest's life and a murder. Was the woman who died the intended victim? What could be the motive? And what is happening with her sister?
Political intrigue, academic competition, some romance, and a healthy dose of witty banter fill this novel. I am sure revelations along the way will surprise you.
About Shelley Noble
Shelley Noble is the author of the Lady Dunbridge Gilded Age mysteries beginning with ASK ME NO QUESTIONS, and The Newport Gilded Age mysteries. As Shelley Freydont she has written several amateur sleuth series.
She is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of nine novels of women’s fiction. WHISPER BEACH and BEACH COLORS, were Amazon and Nook bestsellers. The latest, LUCKY’S BEACH, was published in June 2020.
A former professional dancer and choreographer, Shelley lives at the Jersey shore where she indulges her passion for lighthouses and vintage carousels.
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