The Actress

Suspect: Florence "Florrie" Potts

Age: None of your business

            On the Sunday afternoon of the garden party at Welford Hall, Florrie Potts was carrying a tray of teacups onto the lawn when a severed foot fell out of the sky and landed on her. Anyone might expect the young woman to be a quivering mess of nerves after that. But with her love of drama she's rather enjoying all the attention.

            Not only is Florrie the head housemaid at Welford Hall, as she will eagerly tell you, she is also the only housemaid now that Pace, the butler, has succeeded in getting the under-housemaids dismissed. She also likes to tell anybody who will listen that she is worked off her feet in that house, but that does not stop her indulging in illicit romantic liaisons, as well as practicing her elocution lessons for a future life on the music hall stage. Yes, she's ambitious and not about to be held back by her humble beginnings. Florrie Potts is going places and anybody who gets in her way will be sorry.

            Everybody knows that the housemaid has a temper and a bold determination to get what she wants in life, but would she go so far as murder? Could Lady Isolda have discovered one of Florrie's secrets and threatened to turn her out on her ear?

            Unlike most servants, Florrie is not afraid to speak up for herself and she does not much care for rules, whereas her ladyship is a stickler for them. So why has the housemaid remained at Welford Hall so long?  What, exactly, is Florrie up to and with whom?

            She's keen to tell the detective her version of events and help out in any way she can. For instance, she advises him to question that haughty, pious butler because he definitely knows something. And then there is that "fancy cake woman" who brought her three-tiered chocolate creation to the house on the afternoon of the murder. Now there is a stranger that nobody knows anything about. Oh, yes, Florrie has plenty of suggestions for the detective when it comes to suspects.

            The housemaid, Detective Inspector Deverell decides, might be cheerfully forthcoming with the ideas, but she's still holding something back. He knows she certainly was not where she said she was for most of that fateful afternoon, nor was she doing anything she was supposed to be doing. Florrie, it seems, is already acting a part and relishing her moment in the footlights, but will she eventually slip up and forget her lines?

* * * *

Find out what Miss Potts has been up to on February 20th, when "BESPOKE" comes to all the best online bookstores.  

 

(Image used here: George Goodwin Kilburne: The New Arrangement , before1924)

What the butler saw...

Suspect: Charles Pace, Butler

Age: 52

            Pace, the butler, is originally from Portugal, which makes him an exotic sight in Victorian Yorkshire. He is a proud man, punctilious, dutiful and devoted to Lady Isolda. Yet another servant whose name she felt it necessary to change when he joined her household, he complies unquestioning with this and all her rules.

            But as faithful as he is to his mistress, Pace has a knack for rubbing everybody else the wrong way. His high-handed manner is not appreciated by the young maids of the house, or by the cook and the housekeeper— both of whom think they know better than "That Spaniard" and resent the influence he appears to hold over Lady Isolda. To consolidate his power, the butler has already seen to the dismissal of several under-housemaids. He was working on the removal of his worst enemy, the housekeeper, when she absconded of her own accord, quite suddenly and without notice, leaving the household and it's mistress in something of a pickle a mere two weeks before the annual garden party.

        

    Pace says he knew the housekeeper was untrustworthy and had advised against keeping her. She was nothing but trouble. Now he's glad she's gone, even if it means more work and responsibility on his shoulders. One way or another, with the housekeeper out of his way, he will whip the remaining staff into proper order and sort the wheat from the chaff.

            Since he came to Welford Hall, Pace has become a confidant to Lady Isolda and a great favorite. They share a love of nature and, especially, the craft of bee-keeping. Some of the staff think he's a little too close to her ladyship and they fear that he has wheedled his way into her affections with dark motives. But Pace has no care for the opinion of anybody in that house except for Lady Isolda. Even the other members of her family, in his view, are ungrateful, ill-mannered, undeserving sloths who use and abuse her ladyship.

            He always knew something like this would happen one day and he has a long list of folk he believes could easily have murdered his beloved mistress. Anybody but himself, of course. He is the only one in the house who appreciated that lady.

            But he cannot stand here talking to you all day, for there is work to be done and nobody else can be trusted to do it properly, as her ladyship would wish it done. Even in death.

* * * *

"BESPOKE", a murder mystery romance, will be served up for your enjoyment on February 20th, 2019. Find out then who killed Lady Isolda Skefflington Welford and what Pace was caught burning in his fireplace.

 

(Image used here: The Steward by Joseph DeCamp c. 1919)

           

Much Ado About Cake

Suspect: Bess Duckworth, Cook.

Age: Admits to fifty. Fifty five when pushed.

            The Welford Hall cook has not had a good day. For one thing the weather has been unseasonably hot, the air thick and stifling, or "mafting" as the locals call it. She's very worried about keeping her sandwiches cold, fresh and appetizing for Lady Isolda's garden party, and with an understaffed household— not to mention an ongoing feud with the butler to complicate matters— Bess is ready to tear her hair out.

            But the final straw that breaks the camel's proverbial hump? A stranger bearing the three tiers of a chocolate-coated cake has arrived at the house, claiming it was ordered by Lady Isolda as the grand centerpiece for her party.

            Bess is outraged. For a great many years she has baked the cake for her ladyship's annual soiree and never heard any complaints. This year she has done the same, completely unaware of Lady Isolda's plan to bring in another cake -- this one from the "outside". She cannot understand it. Why would her mistress go elsewhere for a cake and not even mention it to her faithful, long-serving cook?

            Usually the two women discuss menus for every meal served in that house, whether there are to be guests present or not. Bess, as the head of a process that puts good food on their table, has always been treated with respect.

            Until now.

            Humiliated, her pride wounded, she festers over this "slight" for quite some time that afternoon, until she reaches boiling point. Deciding it's time to speak up and complain to her ladyship, she sets off to find her.

            On that sweltering hot day, it's all about to bubble over.

 * * * *

Find out who cooked Lady Isolda's goose in "BESPOKE" -- Coming February 20th, 2019.

 

(Image here: Cook with Red Apron by Leon Bonvin 1862)

The Awfully Wedded Couple

Suspects: Mr. Arthur Welford and his wife Nora.

Age: 41 and 36 respectively.

            Arthur is the eldest son and heir to the Welford fortune. Although he holds a position working under his father, Ezra, in the offices of Welford's Confectionary, his interest in the business is limited only to however much money can be made from it. He is eager to stay in parental good favor, particularly as he knows his father has little time for him and would be glad to cut him off without a penny, leaving everything to the younger son instead. In order to please his mother he has even married where she chose for him, despite the fact that he and his wife can barely stand to be in the same room.

            Never brave enough to rebel openly, but still chafing against his mother's strict rules and her determination to keep everything in order, Arthur has been known to complain about being stifled. He does not see his life as advantaged or privileged and wallows a great deal in self-pity. To cheer himself up, he engages in frequent affairs or "peccadilloes", as he calls them, with women of a lower social class. The adoration with which these women look up to him and are thrilled by anything he can do for them, makes Arthur Welford feel important and powerful in ways that nothing else in his life ever can.

            At home he is a creature under his mother's watchful eye, directed by her in all matters; at work he remains under his father's thumb, given only meaningless tasks that he cannot make a mess of. With every decision in his life taken out of his hands, he has been rendered impotent. It's almost pointless for him to get up every morning. Now, frustrated and seething deeply inside, he must also contend with a wife who despises him and spies upon his every move.

            If only he could get away from them all. Sometimes he nurses that daydream. But, of course, he has no real intention of leaving Welford Hall. One day, all this will be his and he won't let them take it away from  him, even if he has to cling on with bloody fingernails. He's suffered for forty one years and he intends to collect his due when the time comes.

            The sooner the better.

* * * *

     

       Nora, Arthur's wife, never wanted to marry. It was all arranged by the Welfords who wanted her for their son because of her pedigree lineage and the dowry promised by her family. But after the marriage that dowry was slow to be handed over and, eventually, the amount her parents managed to scrape together was barely adequate. Luckily, the aristocratic lineage could not be faulted, and that— in the socially ambitious Ezra Welford's eyes— was more important than money, otherwise Nora suspects she would have been sent back to her parents like an unopened letter in the post.

            It could be said that this "misunderstanding" over the dowry started the union off on a bad foot, but frankly it did not have a chance from the very beginning. The bride and groom took an instant dislike to each other and, in this case, familiarity was not likely to make first impressions improve. While Arthur is mercenary and selfish, Nora is coldly materialistic and embittered. Now, inexorably stuck together in that house, the only way they can manage their marriage is by over-indulging in their own not-so secret vices. For Arthur it is women; for Nora it is gin.

            If she could get out of this marital hell, Mrs. Arthur Welford would gladly run off and never come back, but divorce is a scandal neither can afford. They are trapped, as the vows declared, until death. Now, like her husband, she waits impatiently for the day when she becomes mistress of Welford Hall. Then she can start making some changes and running the place the way she wants. When that happens she can finally begin to reward herself for all this misery. The servants will be forced to obey her orders and her rules. The idea of that power in her hands is certainly a seductive force, for a woman who has been pushed around, used for other people's schemes, and belittled all her life.

            Oh yes, Nora is ready to take over her rightful place as mistress of Welford Hall.

            The sooner the better.

            But with Lady Isolda ruling the roost nobody can go anywhere or do anything, can they? Not without her approval.

            Only one idea comforts Nora. It is, ironically the same idea that soothes Arthur's angry, ruffled feathers too when he's feeling particularly resentful. Unbeknownst to the unhappy couple, it is the one thought they have in common— that one day Lady Isolda will be gone.

            And the sooner the better.

 

 

Find out who killed Lady Isolda Skefflington Welford in "BESPOKE". Coming to an online book store near you on February 20th, 2019.

(Image: "Arrufos" by Belmiro de Almeida 1887)

Cider, Secrets and Secateurs

Now for the next suspect on our list.

Suspect: Jonah/Jack

Age: Indeterminate.

The gardener has been a fixture at Welford Hall since it was first built and Lady Isolda came there as a young bride, more than forty years ago. For all that time, Lady Isolda and her gardens have been his whole life and he can be seen pottering about the lawns all day and in all seasons, keeping everything ship-shape for her ladyship. A big, gruff Yorkshireman of few words, he spends most of his free time at the local pub, "The Blacksmith's Arms". It is one of the few occasions when he might be found indoors, taking shelter from the weather that has shaped his face into a landscape as wild and wind-torn as the gritstone moors and limestone crags of the Yorkshire Dales themselves.

            Of course, his work never takes him inside the grand house of his employers. He is expected to stay outdoors, where he cannot get anything dirty, and he has made his bed in the potting shed, among the tools of his trade. Too much comfort, he thinks, would probably be his undoing. As long as he has his ale and cider in good quantity, he feels no desire to ponder the injustices of life or resent his lowly place in it. Well, almost none.

            Once in a great while, trimming hedges under the bright sun while his "betters" enjoy champagne in the shade, or take a nap in the conservatory, he has cause to grow a little philosophical. Even discontented. Not a good thing for him to be with sharp shears clasped in his meaty, callused fists.

            But everything he has now he owes to Lady Isolda, who once did him a very great favor. It's not something he can forget, no matter how much he drinks to pickle his brains. For as long as she's there to remind him, he knows there is somebody else in the world who shares a dark secret about his past.          

            So he had better keep on her ladyship's good side, had he not?

            The gardener, to all appearances, knows his place and never complains. Never even thinks about protest or revolution. His loyalty is so great that he does not even object when her ladyship changes his name to "Jack", simply because she does not like "Jonah". He goes along with it, as he must with any whim of Lady Isolda's.

            At least for as long as she's alive.

* * * *

Dig into the mystery of "BESPOKE" -- coming to all the best online bookstores, Feb 20th, 2019.

(Image used here: The Old Gardener by Briton Riviere, 1863)

There's something about Ivy.

As promised, today you can meet the first suspect in the death of Lady Isolda Skefflington Welford. Proceed with caution.

Suspect: Ivy Dimmock, Scullery Maid

Age: Unknown

Ivy is a workhouse girl, taken in by Lady Isolda to work as scullery maid at Welford Hall. Nobody knows much about orphaned Ivy. Nor do they care. As the servant on the lowest rung of the ladder, she is teased, shouted at and bullied by certain other members of staff. Expected to keep below stairs, she has no interaction with "The Family" and is never even supposed to be seen by them -- in fact they are probably quite unaware of her existence.

Lady Isolda has hired many girls from the workhouse in the past but they seldom meet her high standards, or those of her punctilious butler. Ivy, however, is resilient, uncomplaining and keener to learn than most. She is also, it turns out, smarter than she looks. At least, she knows when to trust somebody -- even if her criteria is based on whether a person smells of cake and chocolate.

First to rise each day and last to curl up at night (on her bundle beside the kitchen range), she is the hardest worker in the house and the least able to speak up for herself. She is slight of build, quiet, a nervous creature with wide-eyes and large ears. But is she truly as innocent and harmless as she looks? To keep up with the workload she must be physically stronger than she appears, and to withstand the pinches and blows, she must be determined, thick-skinned. A survivor.

As a constable remarks, "Yorkshire lasses can look after themselves, especially them from the workhouse... Young 'uns like that have got a wily instinct."

 There's definitely something about Ivy...

 Such a small person, unnoticed by most, unappreciated by everybody, often sees and hears things they shouldn't. Although intimidated into silence for a while, resentment must surely build inside and with it the likelihood that they might do something desperate one day. Constantly pulled and pushed about, treated like another dispensable workhouse girl— plenty more where she came from— Ivy could find herself stretched too far and then strike out against her tormentors.

The life of a scullery maid is grim and thankless, but for Ivy it's an improvement on her previous place. The last thing she wants is to lose her opportunity in the outside world and be returned whence she came. So how far would she go to stay free of the workhouse?

"BESPOKE" coming to an online bookstore near you on February 20th, 2019.

(Image used here: The Little Potato Peeler by Albert Anker 1886)

The Corpse, the Cake and the Calamity.

There's a dead body in the conservatory and somebody is responsible. But who?

In "BESPOKE", my new Victorian mystery romance, the hero— a recently promoted detective inspector from Scotland Yard— has just been seconded to the Yorkshire police. He's not expecting a great deal of excitement, but within a week he is presented with a dead body, a severed foot, a very suspicious slice of cake and a curious parade of suspects. Even Sherlock Holmes would have his hands full.

Over the next few days, I'll introduce you to the scene of the crime and some of the characters in it.  Don't be surprised if some of the red herrings turn out to be chocolate covered.

 Victim: Lady Isolda Skefflington Welford

Age: 61

             In her youth Lady Isolda was the survivor of both a fire and a shipwreck. Ironic, since she was never the adventurous sort— not one to get her petticoats dirty as a child, or do anything particularly daring. As a woman whose life has been filled with duty and charitable causes, Lady Isolda is much admired and respected, held in high regard by the community as a whole. Indeed, her entire family is considered beyond reproach, even if an occasional blind eye must be turned to the coarse, ill-bred manners of her husband (wealthy businessman Ezra Welford) and the transgressions of her offspring. Out of courtesy, deference and sympathy for the faultless, ever-generous Lady Isolda, these failings are overlooked.

            Her roots are in that soil, you see. As a Skefflington, she is part of an ancient, local family tree that stretches back to the Norman conquest. Although that name is in danger of dying out, the ruins of Skefflington Castle still remain, high on the blustery hill, to remind everybody of her noble lineage. For the people of that county, Lady Isolda is one of their own— and yet higher up on a pedestal. Her behavior is the standard by which all are judged.

            But on one unseasonably hot afternoon at the end of September in the year 1893 something quite unexpected will finally be her undoing. Everything anybody has ever known about that grand lady is about to be called into question.

 

As Oscar Wilde wrote, "Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future."

 

Found dead with a slice of cake in her lap and chocolate on her lips, the impeccable Lady Isolda will leave behind not only crumbs, but a series of clues to frustrate Detective Inspector Deverell. Fortunately, he'll have some help from a certain young woman who, once she's got over the excitement of being a suspect herself, just might prove to be invaluable.

 

 

 

BESPOKE will be available on February 20th, 2019.

 

Image shown here: The Blossom of Youth by Wladyslaw Czachorski 1898)