The Right Sort Marriage Bureau is jogging along nicely, much to the satisfaction of its proprietors, Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge, and Miss Iris Sparks. Their personal lives are somewhat in turmoil, however. Gwen’s glide path to full emancipation, manifesting itself in her making decisions for herself and her son Ronnie, has hit a snag. Her conservator…
From the beginning of the Sparks and Bainbridge series, I wanted to play with the idea of two women running a licensed marriage bureau in 1946 London whose own matrimonial prospects were unlikely, to say the least. Gwen Bainbridge is a war widow who was so shattered by her husband’s death that she ended up…
King Charles III’s coronation takes place on Saturday 6 May 2023 at Westminster Abbey in London. To celebrate this regal moment, aficionados of mysteries can explore how royals became part of the plot, with books encompassing the reigns of Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth II. In Jennifer Ashley’s Death Below Stairs, readers are introduced to…
The Fall Girl by Marcia Clark “Clark utilizes a dual narrative technique…It’s a clever, well-executed move that emphasizes the psychological aspects of the story over the procedural elements, which largely predominated earlier works…The Fall Girl shows Marcia Clark at her absolute best.” Child Zero by Chris Holm “Chris Holm’s Child Zero is one of the…
London 1946. If you haven’t met the partners who comprise the Right Sort Marriage Bureau, you’re in for a treat. They were introduced in Allison Montclair’s The Right Sort of Man. The second book, A Royal Affair, is a particularly apt read during Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee year. Miss Iris Sparks (Cambridge grad and serial fiancée)…
A Rogue’s Company, set in 1946 London, is the third and last Sparks and Bainbridge mystery. Readers will be sad to say farewell to this clever series, which shifts seamlessly from Mayfair to the London docks. Londoners grieve their personal losses post World War II, but they are resilient, embodying the motto “keep calm and…
Miss Iris Sparks (Cambridge grad and serial fiancée) and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge (former debutante, widow, related to the Royals) opened The Right Sort Marriage Bureau, in 1946. They hit it off at the wedding of George and Emily Bascombe, where Gwen was the “match-maker,” for the seemingly mismatched couple and Iris, at the behest of…
There is a technique that will supposedly trigger creativity in a writer. It is a list of words and phrases used as random prompts. Take the next one on the list, and use it like an electric cattle prod to goad your muse into action. (I can speak from personal experience that the word tequila…
