This is Book 14 in the Lady Eleanor Swift series and I absolutely loved it. I have been a fan of this series and the characters, very much invested in Eleanor and her adventures. Though I haven't read all the books and sometimes not in the right order, I enjoyed the ones that I read.

This book was a pleasant surprise and felt different than the others, perhaps due to the setting. In this story, we follow Eleanor on a trip to New York City as she navigates the glitz and glamour of the city. What follows of course is a murder and thus she is embroiled in another investigation, in a city where she isn't as welcome as she thought she was.

Though the storyline continues from the previous and brings to us a lot of our beloved characters, this book feels different. The style of writing and the development of the plot is a little different from the rest and this is what set it apart for me. Though a little slow on the uptake, the author dove right into the plot, taking the reader along on a wonderful investigative adventure.

I truly enjoyed this book and cannot imagine missing out on further of Lady Swift's adventures! I look forward to reading the next books.

Book Review: Murder in Manhattan: A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery Book #14
Stars: 3 x 5
Author: Verity Bright
Publisher: @bookouture
Thank you @netgalley for the ARC.

Lady Eleanor has arrived in New York City for vacation and while there Hugh proposes. After Hugh’s proposal he returns to England. Eleanor, Clifford and Gladstone somehow end up trying to solve a very tricky murder. Boy what an interesting vacation there are going to have.

Lady Swift is the talk of the town in New York Society. She is getting invites to all kinds of fancy parties. It seems that everyone wants to be this Lady Swift, the lady whose exploits have made her famous. When Marty, the doorman at her hotel is killed by a hit and run driver, Lady Swift believes it was murder but the police do not.
Lady Swift is out of her elements in New York but when a second murder happens things get a bit more chaotic. Lady Swift eventually ends up ”partnering” with officer Balowski who also believes these were murders.
Will Lady Swift and her gang be able to figure out who the killer is before they are deported and officer Balowski is fired?

This story is well written and there were enough clues to keep the reader interested.
The story takes place in the 1920‘s and I must admit it took me a while to get into it.
It may because I don’t generally read historical fiction or it may be that this was the 14th book in the series and the first one I have read. I did enjoy this cozy little mystery.

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Lady Eleanor is visiting New York and sees the doorman, Marty get killed by a hit and run driver. No one seems to care but one street cop, Officer Baloski. When she searches Marty's apartment she finds a lot of money hid under the floor. The society elite aren't happy and Officer Baloski is fired and Lady Eleanor is evicted from her apartment. She's determined to find the killer no matter who he is. Happy all the regulars are available to help.

Loved this author. This is one of Verity Bright’s best. Also, Lady Swifts greatest feats so far! It’s always interesting to see England through Americans eyes and now we get to see Manhattan through English eyes. It was a nice turn of events.

If someone had told me when I first stumbled on this series that I would still be following it fourteen books in, I would not have taken that prediction seriously. I have missed one or two in between, but overall it is very surprising how efficiently my interest in the series has been kept intact even after so many adventures.
In the previous installment, our intrepid lady Eleanor was on a ship bound for America and ended up solving a case while on board. She has reached Manhattan but is finding it hard to break through the ranks of the who's who of the town. Her lack of adherence to standard decorum for the rich and wealthy is a pretty strong reason.
One of the people who have been nice to her is the doorman in her building. He ends up being run over, and Eleanor is a witness to the incident. Surprisingly (for her), the cop at the scene as well as the whole procedure for everything that follows, smells off to her.
The issues here are a lot deeper than some of the previous instances. Even the hurdles that came her way were quite higher and stronger than the ones she had faced before. Our protagonist is a stranger in a strange land, and this shows in the execution of the adventure.
I enjoyed this book, and although I do not recommend starting at this point, it is one of the books that her now fiance is not present, working quite decently as a standalone in comparison to some of the other books in the series.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

I have been an avid reader of the Lady Swift series and have recommended them widely. I read this and book 15 and feel they have lost their cosiness. Spoilers below to explain so please skip if you’ve yet to read them and don’t want to know.

*Spoiler warning*
The hit-and-run murder to kick off this investigation felt unnecessarily gruesome in its description with blood and flashbacks to Eleanor’s war work as well as the grief of Marty’s family, I found it upsetting. I skipped ahead to the end to see the resolution and was disappointed it was a serial killer with no remorse and Eleanor is, once again, very nearly killed. To see a similar scene play out in the next book is unfortunate and I’ll be taking a break from the series. I read cosy novels to relax and solve the whodunit, not for emotional upheaval and violence.

These lovely characters are across the water in the US and get to experience a very different culture. Of course, it can't be just a holiday, but they are a resilient bunch who build new relationships while digging into a local murder that happens just outside their door!! Unsurprisingly it gets complicated and Clifford and Ellie team up to take on some rather shady and scary characters. It was a little different to the ones based in their home village, and at times felt a bit of a stretch (it seems there are very few people that don't succumb to the charms of this dynamic duo) but it was entertaining.

It's 3 out of 5 for me! With thanks to Bookouture, Netgalley and the author for my advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love this series. The characters are great and the butler! The mystery kept me guessing. I look forward to more.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lady Eleanor Swift is off to New York in Verity Bright’s latest in this fabulous series, Murder in Manhattan.

Lady Eleanor is in Manhattan where she has set up home in a gorgeously lavish apartment. It doesn’t take long for her to become the toast of the town and she’s soon gracing every single high society party in the city. However, it’s not all fun and games as she discovers when the doorman of her building, Marty, is killed in a hit-and-run. With fashionable society closing rank, nobody seems to want to help Eleanor to catch a killer – except for street-smart beat cop Officer Balowski.

Eleanor is willing to do anything to get justice for Marty, but when she searches his apartment and finds huge wads of banknotes, she wonders just what the doorman was mixed up in. When wealthy entrepreneur Ogden P. Dellaney – a man Marty used to work for – is found dead downtown far from swanky Manhattan, Eleanor and Balowski are convinced the murders are connected, but they are no close to catching the killer.

When Eleanor is served with an eviction notice and Balowski fired from the NYPD, it becomes increasingly clear that something sinister is afoot. But New York doesn’t know how tenacious Lady Eleanor Swift can be because she will do whatever it takes to find Marty and Ogden P. Dellany’s killer – even if it means putting herself in danger.

I just cannot get enough of Verity Bright’s fantastic series featuring Lady Eleanor Swift. Murder in Manhattan is a fun, glamorous, intriguing, tense and deliciously readable mystery I read in a single sitting. Lady Eleanor is once again on top form and even though she is on foreign soil, she solves this case with her customary panache, cleverness and sophistication.

A top-notch mystery from one of my favourite crime writers, Murder in Manhattan is the latest unmissable page-turner by Verity Bright.

Lady Eleanor Swift, Gladstone and the loyal Clifford have taken their household to New York.
And, as usual she manages to end up with a dead body
This story is about the impact of the mob on New York and is as usual fun, quirky and mysterious enough to make you think.
This series is going from strength to strength!

Victoria Bright gives the reader the 14th Lady Eleanor Swift mystery in Murder in Manhattan. Lady Swift has landed in Manhattan during prohibition with Clifford her butler and her staff. She rents an exclusive apartment and is welcomed by society. Then the doorman in her building is run down by a car in suspicious circumstances and the a rich plutocrat Mr. Dellaney is found dead. Lady Swift quickly finds out how crooked New York is with police corruption and rich New Yorkers dabbling in speakeasies with liquor. What could go wrong as she tries to solve two murders. Her New York helpers are fire while she is evicted. Read and enjoy a fast moving story.

Another trip along with Lady Swift, Gladstone and her ever loyal troop of staff. This time we are in Manhattan and Lady Swift’s holiday is not going as smoothly as she would have liked. Not only is she committing her trademark faux pars everywhere she goes but once again a murder falls right into her lap – quite literally when a man is knocked down in the road. The dying man’s final words ‘Why Mary?’ is enough to get her murder senses tingling and no matter what the local New York cops say, she is convinced it was no accident. As always, her conviction that justice must prevail pushes her on to unmask the perpetrator. With Clifford by her side, she begins to see a very different side of New York – one that is in the control of mobsters. Not knowing who could trust, danger really is around every corner this time and I did wonder on more than one occasion how on earth she was going to get herself out of it.

I loved this new instalment from Verity Bright. It was lovely to be back with Ellie, Clifford and the gang and to visit New York in the early 20thcentury. The city is a character in itself, and made the perfect backdrop for this latest novel in the series. Another winner. I can’t wait for them to arrive safely back at Henley Hall (and hopefully a step closer to the wedding of the year!). This cosy crime thriller is a perfect summer read to dive into.

As a fan of cosy mysteries, I was looking forward to this book, a new location and character to try. However, I found it difficult to warm to the leading character, though maybe that was because she was a fish out of water in this book. I also had trouble with the ending, as it was one of those "tell" the reader what happened, but not show it ones. Perhaps because I found the tell a little unbelievable. I may give another a try.

I’ve read every book in this series so far and enjoyed them all. This one, I feel, is the best yet. Much as I love the usual cast being in Henley Hall with its familiar surroundings I really enjoyed this book being set in New York. It’s not the first in the series to be set somewhere else but I think because the setting is so different from the previous ones it adds something to the story. I’ve not explained that well at all but I believe it’s because this one is set in New York which is vastly different from all countries of the UK, and because the people of that city are quite unique themselves, that this gives the story a completely different flavour while still retaining familiarity because Clifford, Gladstone and the rest are still present.

Unsurprisingly I wasn’t a fan of Officer Balowski to start with but he quickly grew on me, and Iver and Marty’s mother were great characters from the start. There were also a number of characters who behaved exactly as I expected but the biggest character in this story is the city itself. The descriptions of the city, the feel of it and the clear differences between it and the UK made it stand out on its own.

I’m not going to say anything about the investigation to avoid spoilers but this was an excellent new addition to the series, definitely one to read if you’ve read the others and if not, worth checking out.

This book is so cozy to read it is like wearing a big fleece hooded dressing gown. I really enjoyed it. It started off a bit slow for me as it assumed you had read previous books, but it was well worth the read. My only criticism is that I would have liked the book a bit longer. Once the plot and characters unfolded I wanted to know more.

4.5 Stars: Murder in Manhattan is the 14th book in the Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery series and the first I have read. I had no problem following the story or enjoying it, so don't be frightened by that #14, jump in and enjoy this mystery. In this book, Lady Eleanor is in New York for a couple of weeks, and of course stumbles upon a murder. At first, the hit and run on the doorman where she is staying appears to be an accident, but as she rethought what she saw and heard, she was sure it was intentional and a murder. Unfortunately, the case is closed, but she gets Officer Balowski to believe her and begins her own investigation, while he does the same. Will they figure out who killed, Marty, the doorman? Just when she finds some clues, philanderer Ogden P. Dellaney is found dead. Marty used to work for him, so both Eleanor and Officer Balowski think the deaths are related. When Eleanor is evicted and Officer Balowski is fired, they know they are on the right track.

I enjoyed this historical, cozy, mystery a lot and now wish I had started this series from the beginning. Eleanor is a great character. She is a bit socially inept, but she is strong and independent, has deep feeling for those she cares about, is tenacious and wants to do what is right, especially when justice is involved. She was raised by an uncle after her parents died and he left her everything when he passed, including his butler. Clifford is wonderful. He is like Eleanor's conscience and keeps a careful eye on her. He assists her in her endeavours, although he is also the calming influence when needed. The last of the trio is Gladstone, Eleanor's dog. It seems everyone loves him and it gets her some answers and entrances into circles when he turns on the charm. As far as the mystery goes, I had no idea who the culprit was. This was a well-written and plotted story with enough clues to keep me guessing, but enough twists to have me wrong a few times. This was a fun, face paced story that kept me interested from start to finish. I definitely recommend this one and will be reading more of the previous books myself.

Murder In Manhattan by Verity Bright takes Lady Eleanor, Clifford, Gladstone, and the ladies all to Manhattan. Manhattan is a surprise for Lady Eleanor and Lady Eleanor is certainly a surprise for Manhattan. She witnesses a hit and run outside of her apartment and rushes to help. Who should be the victim except their doorman? Marty, her doorman. Of course, they were late as usual and then ran into a very unpleasant neighbor and her cat. Gladstone could hardly let that go, now could he? They made it to the party and met some interesting people and set up some engagements for later in the week. It was later in the week that Marty got hit and died in Ellie’s lap. She vowed then and there to catch his killer for she didn’t believe it to be an accident. She met his family and was further convinced. Sadly, the New York Police had already declared it accidental and shut the book on it. Fortunately she met the police officer who had been present that night and with his help, and the help of a few others, she and Clifford were able to locate the murderer and close the case.

Lady Eleanor Swift is an amazing character who continues to show personal growth every book. He sidekick is Clifford, her butler, who is an extraordinary butler as well as character. Both of these characters are extremely well-written by Verity Bright. The mystery was a good one, although how they managed to solve it is beyond me. They started off with no evidence and only Ellie’s tenacity and personality got them as far as it did. She has recently become engaged to her policeman beau back home and is beyond thrilled. It will be fun to see this relationship expand
even more than it has so far. This is an early 20th century story and as such, England is still living in the past as far as nobility is concerned. Ellie is helping to turn the tide on the way women are treated and it is fun to watch. This is a wonderful series and a terrific book!

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Murder In Manhattan by Bookoutre, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #Bookoutre #VerityBright #MurderInManhattan

‘Murder in Manhattan’ is everything I love about this type of crime mystery - full of fun, dashings of intrigue, great characters and all set in interwar New York! What is there not to love?! This is book 14 in the series but it can easily be read as a standalone book. I just adore this series though so thoroughly recommend reading them from the beginning!

Lady Eleanor Swift is loving her time in New York due to the glitzy world of parties, sightseeing and strolls through Central Park. That is until she witnesses a murder! Her charming doorman Marty is knocked down right before her eyes in a hit-and-run and when she begins to ask questions New York’s society starts to close ranks. The only local cop willing to help out is Officer Balowski and he isn't too much help either. When Eleanor and her trusty Butler Clifford search Marty’s bedroom they find banknotes hidden in his floor. But Marty was broke so how does he have these? Will Eleanoris able to work out who the murderer is…

Oh, what an outing this is! Eleanor is the happiest and most settled she has been in the whole series and is freshly engaged to Hugh! Eleanor is spending time in New York and has brought Clifford and the girls as well as trusty Gladstone. It was great to see how a tried and tested formula still works in a new setting, indeed it brought excitement and a bit of novelty to the table. But then I love books that are set in this period of New York as so much of the city is gritty in cooperation with the echelons of upper society!

The plotline was packed full of action and intrigue and I was hooked from start to finish! But then this series is one that I am always desperate to get my hands on as it's one of my all-time favourites. So it got devoured in one day when I was in bed with my fibro. This book had an air of added danger to it which I think was a reflection of the gritty side of New York and I liked that! You didn't know who to trust and being new to the city neither did Eleanor.

Roll on book 15!

My thanks to Bookouture for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Murder in Manhattan‘ by Verity Bright.

This is Book 14 in the Lady Eleanor Swift series of historical cosy mysteries set in the 1920s. As usual, I complemented my reading with its unabridged audiobook edition, narrated by Karen Cass.

This novel follows on from the events in Book 13, ‘Death on Deck’, in which Lady Eleanor (Ellie) had travelled to New York City and solved a murder while on board the luxury ocean liner. Ellie has settled herself and her staff into a sumptuous Manhattan apartment and socialises with members of the local high society.

When Ellie witnesses a fatal hit-and-run accident outside her building, she is convinced that it was deliberate though her concerns are initially brushed off by beat cop, Officer Balowski. In addition, her new high society acquaintances close ranks and are not at all encouraging of her sleuthing.

Still, Ellie is unlikely to be put off and doggedly pursues her own investigation. However, New York City presents a very different society to the one that Ellie is used to and she soon finds herself in danger. No further details to avoid spoilers.

This was something a little different from the usual type of murder that Ellie investigates given that she is confronted by a hostile police force, Prohibition-era gangsters, and the like. Being Ellie, she does also find allies and, of course, is assisted by Clifford, her faithful butler, and Gladstone, who continues to win over everyone apart from Catamina, a Siamese cat, and her snobbish owner, who resides in the same apartment building as Ellie and company.

I always enjoy Karen Cass’ narration of the series’ audiobooks and here she obviously had a great deal of fun with the various American accents.

Overall, ‘Murder in Manhattan’ was another enjoyable instalment in this brilliant series with a nail-biting finale that had me on the edge of my seat. The change in location also allowed for a change of pace for Lady Eleanor Swift, combining the usual cosy mystery with a touch of hard boiled pulp fiction.

Highly recommended.

How have I not known about this series? So fun and entertaining all wrapped up in a historical cozy. And it takes place during one of my favorite eras, the 1920s (OK I just had to go back and add the 19 – Yikes). While I am sure the series is more enjoyable being read in its entirety, this book can be read as a standalone. This is the only one I have read and i had no trouble following it and really enjoyed it.

Lady Eleanor is in New York with her court and has witnessed another murder. My only gripe with cozy mysteries is how do these people have any friends left? When the New York police and the elite company Eleanor is keeping all don’t want to investigate, our amateur sleuth is hot on the case. She along with one NYC cop start poking around and this just brings trouble to them both.

New York City with all it has to offer is a great setting and I really felt it as I read. I like the supporting cast and their quirky personalities. This was a quick, easy read that captivated me from the start. I’m not sure murder has ever been this fun. I even laughed out a few times.