Enjoyable mystery with fun elements. Engaging and well written. Would gladly recommend to mystery fans.

One of the best things about historical novels is that even though they are fiction, and the characters are fictional, the good authors have done their research and readers learn factual information about the time. Alyssa Maxwell is one such author that has done her research, and her Gilded Newport Mysteries are excellent. Murder at Chateau sur Mer is the fifth installment in the series. Emma Cross, a poor relative to the Vanderbilts, a powerful society family in Newport, is a reporter for a newspaper and is covering a polo match. At the match, a woman, Lilah Buford, who is a prostitute, tries to force her way in to speak to Senator Wetmore’s wife. She is thrown out, and later that evening is found dead at the bottom of the staircase in the Wetmore’s home. Emma investigates, along with her friend, Detective Jesse Whyte and Derrick Andrews, Emma’s previous love interest, always with societal rules in mind.

Maxwell has a knack for creating an environment in her novels where readers feel they are living in the time and place of the novel. She does an excellent job of developing the characters, and they are believable and seem like real people. The historical aspects of the novel ring true, and there are scenarios that help build suspense. Emma is a likeable protagonist, is perfect for the time period.

All told, this cozy is a good, fast read. It has no sex, profanity, or blatant violence, so it is a good novel for all ages. This is an excellent series, and this novel is also excellent.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

A great book by a fantastic author. The writing is excellent and the mystery keeps you turning the pages. Characters are well developed. Highly recommend.

Emmaline Cross, poor relation of the Vanderbilts and society columnist for the Newport Observer, is caught in a difficult situation when she is recruited by Senator George Wetmore's wife to discover the details that resulted in the dead body at the bottom of the steps at Chateau sur Mer, the Wetmore's home in Newport. The victim, Lilah Buford, a prostitute at the Blue Moon tavern, had been making an effort to contact Mrs. Wetmore at a polo match earlier in the day and now she was dead. What did she need to communicate with Mrs. Wetmore about? Was the matter the cause of her death? How could she have gotten into this guarded home without anyone knowing?

Emma sets out to find the answers but the manner of her investigation may endanger her livelihood if not her life.

It was great to see all the characters surrounding Emma again. The mystery was very complex as well as entertaining. The writing, as usual, was superb.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Step back in time with Emma Cross in Newport, Rhode Island as a day reporting on a polo match leads to murder. A woman tried to make her way into the stands where the elite are watching the match to speak to Edith Wetmore, the wife of Senator George Wetmore. Security was escorted her off the grounds but it is not the last the Westmores will see of her. No, the good senator’s wife finds the woman dead in their home at the bottom of their grand stairway. Police detective Jess Whyte has summoned Emma to Chateau sur Mer. He knows Emma’s help on previous cases has been fruitful, but this time Edith Wetmore has requested her presence. She wants Emma to use her skills to investigate while at the same time keep any rising scandal out of the press. Trying to find a connection between the Wetmores and the dead woman Emma uncovers a web of secrets and lies that puts her own life in peril and others too. It could also cost her her job meaning she could lose her home.

Alyssa Maxwell knows Newport history and she uses that knowledge to create fictional stories that have enough real facts that readers may think the story is real and events may have actually happened. She does include some facts at the end of the story to keep the record straight.

Strong characters and a captivating mystery make it very easy to escape right into this story. Emma Cross is part of the not very well to do side of the Vanderbilt family. She has inherited her home with enough money to pay for basic upkeep but needs to work for necessities like food and clothing. She is the fashion and food reporter for the Observer newspaper but always keeps her ears open for information to get her byline on or close to the front page. She is a strong woman, unafraid to travel unaccompanied to the seedier areas of town, no matter how many times she is told how dangerous it is. Thankfully sometimes she listens. Other times she is just plain lucky.

Emma’s investigation this time to her down to the docks more than once, to a brothel more than once, and even to the scene of a fire. Ms. Maxwell puts our heroine in some precarious situations. I enjoy following Emma everywhere she goes. The author fully describes each place so perfectly, putting us readers right there on the scene.

The mystery is very complex. Suspects are unclear until Emma realizes an event from the past is affecting people’s lives in the present. Even then the suspects remain fluid until the final reveal. Usually when I read a mystery like this one my brain is always trying to be one step ahead of the story’s amateur sleuth. This time I was immersed into the culture and all the happenings that I just kept pace with her. I so enjoyed our tandem journey.

Like the other mansions in this series, Chateau Sur Mer is now owned by the Preservation Society of Newport County and is open to the public as a museum.

I have loved each book in this series. I do recommend they be read in order to understand the settings and the character development.

I've enjoyed reading this series of books and taking a glimpse into the gilded age. It really gives a taste of how they live on both sides of the wealth. Emma gets to be a part of both worlds as a reporter and a distant relation to the Vanderbilts. Emma seems to have a knack to be in the "right" place at the "right" time and has to unravel more than one mystery. A great read and it really makes you feel like you are a part of the story.

DNF, stopping at p.134. This is the fifth is the series, and while I read the first, I feel that I've missed too much to fully understand the character development. The story was not as engaging as the first and I found myself not interested in what was happening. I recommend not reading this one as a standalone, but to read the series in order.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

If you are a lover of historical mysteries and you haven't read any of Alyssa Maxwell's Gilded Age series, start at the beginning so you can enjoy the characters and story line develop. This entry can be read out of order but reading them in order is best. Emma is a member of THE Vanderbilt family but is not blessed with their money so she has to make her own way. That being the case, she straddles two worlds and, in this case Emma is covering a polo match and becomes aware of an argument between a senator's and a woman who turns out to be a prostitute. The next day she is found dead, her neck broken. The senator's wife turns to Emma for help but has no idea that Emma will delve so deeply into her family affairs and that of the dead woman. From the mansions of Newport to the brothels, Emma searches for answers, one that many people do not want her to know. This series is historical mystery at its finest.

Another great entry in the Gilded Newport Mysteries series. I love reading about Newport and the Four Hundred, the Vanderbilts and Astors, and imagining what their lives must have been like. Alyssa Maxwell's descriptions are detailed and her plots are well thought out. It isn't easy to guess the killer's identity, which is a plus in a mystery.

Emma Cross is a Vanderbilt cousin, but sadly without Vanderbilt money. She has to work for a living (gasp), and she's a society reporter for the Newport Observer. Her family connections get her into places most reporters could never go. She's covering a polo match when she sees a strange woman approach the wife of Senator George Wetmore. Since all the important members of Newport society are present, she stands out and Emma wonders why the woman is there. When she is found dead in the Senator's home, and turns out to be a prostitute, the Senator's wife asks Emma to investigate the murder.

Her investigation takes her from the grandest houses in Newport to a local brothel, but Emma is tenacious and doesn't give up easily. She has to walk a fine line between her Vanderbilt family name and her desire to find the truth.

This is fantastic historical mystery, and I highly recommend it.

Thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Murder at Chateau sur Mer by Alyssa Maxwell brings readers in the midst of Newport, Rhode Island and the surrounding area during the Gilded Age. Emma Cross, a cousin of the Vanderbilts, is on site to cover a polo match in her role as a reporter for the Observer. Emma is soon called in to Chateau sur Mer to look into a murder while using discretion. She soon unravels many secrets as she tracks down the murderer. Overall, this book was a great read, and I highly recommend it for the mystery as well as for the description of New England during this time period. The Newport Mansions are exquisite and it was a delight to read this book and see a nearby mansion in context. I look forward to reading the other books in this series. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Murder at Chateau sur Mer is a fabulous addition to Alyssa Maxwell’s Gilded Newport Mysteries series. The characters are well-crafted and authentic, and the addition of real-life members of the Four Hundred crowd including the Vanderbilts and the Astors adds a fun element to the mysteries. The highly entertaining protagonist, Emma Cross, is a newspaper columnist for the Newport Observer and an amateur sleuth who is torn between two very different but equally likeable suitors. In this fifth installment, Senator Wetmore, his wife Edith, and their beautiful Bellevue Avenue home Chateau Sur Mer are at the center of the mystery when a prostitute is found dead at the bottom of the home’s grand staircase. To resolve the matter and avoid gossip, Mrs. Wetmore employs Emma to determine how the woman ended up at Chateau Sur Mer. The plot is clever and kept me guessing until close to the end. At the end of the book, Maxwell includes a phenomenal Author’s Note detailing both Chateau sur Mer’s and the Wetmore’s history as well as information on other real life characters and locales that played roles in her book. After I finished the novel, I enjoyed looking up pictures of Chateau sur Mer and hope to visit Newport again (I went as a child) to see the various mansions that play prominent roles in the Gilded Newport Mysteries series. I highly recommend Murder at Chateau sur Mer and the earlier books in the series too. Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What begins as a routine task for reporter Emma Cross, covering the polo match at the legendary Westchester Polo Club in Providence, RI quickly turns into a story that threatens the elite summer residents. Emma herself is far from routine in the town of 1897 Providence. She is a less well-off cousin of the Vanderbilts who runs her own household, works for a living, and has decided ideas about women's equality. Her relations give her entree into most of the social events that she covers for the local paper, but Emma really wants to be an investigative reporter. When a shabbily dressed woman approaches the wife of RI Senator George Peabody Wetmore and asks to speak with her, it causes quite a stir and arouses Emma's curiosity. Emma becomes involved when that same shabby woman is discovered dead at the foot of a staircase in Chateau sur Mer, the Wetmore "cottage". Mrs. Wetmore denies any relationship with the woman. Neither she or her distinguished husband have ever seen the woman before, and she asks Emma to investigate. The investigation leads Emma into the seamier side of Newport, threatening her livelihood and ultimately her life. She is aided and sometimes hindered by Derrick Andrews, a former romantic interest who reappears in her life, and her friend, Jesse Whyte. Jesse is a detective on the town police force, who also has more than a friendly interest in her.

Murder at Chateau sur Mer is another well-researched and plotted book in Alyssa Maxwell's Gilded Newport series. She takes historical figures and builds mysteries around them without sacrificing accuracy in either history or the manners and mores of the day. This time Emma may have gone a little too far with her disregard for proprieties and may have to pay the price. It's an excellent build-up to the next novel in the series, which I will be looking forward to.

Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for an advance digital copy. The opinions are my own.

RATING- 4 Stars

Newport, Rhode Island - 1897

Emma Cross works as a reporter for the Newport Observer. She is responsible for writing the weekly Fancies and Fashion page. Emma is a poor relation of the wealthy Vanderbilt family. Emma lives in Gull Cottage with her Nanny. Although she has to work for a living, she still does all the can to offer a haven to someone looking for a fresh start in life.

Emma is good friends with a police detective and together, they have helped solve some crimes. So, when a prostitute is discovered dead at the foot of the stairs in the home of the wealthy Wetmore family, Emma is called upon by Mrs. Wetmore to help solve the mystery hoping to show that it had nothing to do with her family. This brings Emma in contact with some of the prostitutes in the town, as well as some of the dock workers in the not-so-nice part of town. As some of the wealthy and influential people in town start to get nervous when Emma is around, she knows she is onto something.

Emma introduces readers to characters from other books in this mystery series. If you enjoy a well-written mystery which makes you put on your thinking cap as you help figure it out, then this is the book for you. I have read the other books in this series and have enjoyed them very much. Be sure and check out the author’s “A Lady and Lady’s Maid” mystery series as well. Very good!

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Princess Fuzzypants here:
I do like this series. Emma Cross is a fascinating character, well ahead of her time yet firmly planted in the Society of the 1890's Newport. As a cousin to the Vanderbilts, it provides her entry into places a normal person of her modest means would be forbidden. She works for a living(*Gasps*) although her curiosity ends up getting her fired. It does not stop her, nor do the barriers and deceits she comes up against as she tries to find out what a prostitute wanted to tell the wife of a prominent family that ended in the woman's murder.
It is a cracking good story that paints a vivid picture of the two worlds- rich and poor. There are many twists and lots of surprises. It kept me well entertained and again, would be a great holiday read.
I give it four purrs and two paws up.

Murder at Chateau sur Mer is the fifth book in the Gilded Newport Mysteries series.

Another exciting, well-plotted, and told story in this wonderful series.

Emma Cross is covering the Meadowview Polo Club match for the Newport Observer. As she is heading for a different vantage she catches bits of conversation of three men of means. They are discussing the acts of vandalism that have been taking place and the unfairness of The Dingley Tariff that is being supported by Sen. George Wetmore. As Emma is approaching the grandstand to learn of the latest fashions the ladies are wearing, she notices a commotion caused by a young lady who seeks to speak to Mrs. Wetworth. She is certainly not a member of society and the police send her on her way.

The next morning Emma receives a call from Jesse Whyte, a good friend and detective with the Newport Police, asking her to come the Wetmore home. Upon arriving she sees the body of the girl she had seen at the polo match. She is soon identified as Lilah Buford, a prostitute at the Blue Moon tavern near the wharf. After an autopsy, it is learned that Buford was pregnant. Emma is quite surprised when Mrs. Wetmore, having heard of Emma’s investigative skill in the past, asks her to look into who murdered Buford so her husband’s name can be cleared.

Emma, even though she is just a “poor relation” of the Vanderbilt’s she is able to use that to gain access to members of society to help with her investigation. She also uses the friendship she has with Whyte to share items that she has learned and to act as a sounding board for other sleuthing trails she might come across. But she also finds herself searching the seamy area around the wharves for clues where she encounters an adversary from the past, Mr. Dobbs. She also gets help from Derrick Andrews, a family friend and who she was engaged to for a short time.

I am anxiously the next book in this series to see what adventures are in store for Emma, where her career choice will take her, and if she will decide who will become a romantic interest.

Thanks Kensington Books and netgalley for this ARC.

I enjoy Alyssa Maxwell's novels on so many levels. They are always a puzzle that pushes the limits and expands Emma's boundaries. Newport comes alive in this story- we get to explore the bad side of town this time too. Emma has some life-changing decisions to make at this end of this tale.

While covering a polo match, Emma Cross observes a woman demanding to speak to Mrs. Wetmore, the wife of a senator. The next morning, she is summoned to the scene of a crime: the woman she had observed, dead in the Wetmore home. Secrets on secrets get revealed as Emma searches to find the truth.

This was my first introduction to Emma Cross. The book does a phenomenal job in leaving hints about what has happened in previous books for a new reader, but without annoying a reader who may have already read the other books.

Emma is a character I fell in love with from the start. As a distant relative to the Vanderbilts, she has access to the higher parts of society, but she must make her own way in the world. She is curious and tenacious in doing what she must to solve the crime.

The mystery is paced just right and the clues Emma (and we the readers) must know to solve the murder are found in a believable way. Secondary characters, who have been important to Emma in the past, make their appearance to aid her once again.

For a cozy mystery set in the American Gilded age, you won't go wrong with this one.

It's not easy being a strong and independent woman, especially if the year is 1897 and you are a poor relation to the Vanderbilt family. Reporter Emma Cross would prefer hard news to her society beat but she does overhear some political skulduggery at an event she is attending and it isn't long before she is caught up in a murder investigation. She scandalizes Newport by setting foot in a brothel as part of her investigation, then has the audacity to enter a men only club in pursuit of the truth.

This historical mystery series has lots of factual elements and characters. Cross is an appealingly gutsy character. There is some romantic tension but not overdone. Overall, an enjoyable series and setting.

I received an ARC of this novel via Net Galley in return for my honest review,

Alyssa Maxwell’s murder mysteries at the various mansions run so true to the nature of Newport at the turn of the century. Being a frequent visitor to Newport over the past thirty years her stories are all the more interesting to me. I was able to recognize so many details of Chateau Sur Mer, which I have been fortunate to tour, as well as many locations in Newport which Maxwell uses in her novel.

This story, set in 1897, revolves around Senator George Wetmore and his family, the occupants of Chateau Sur Mer. We are reintroduced to most of the author’s previous characters along with some newcomers. The story revolves around the privileged “400” but also explores the rough and seamy side of Newport’s docks and the less fortunate who call this part of the society town home. And of course there is the murder to be solved by the redoubtable Emmaline Cross. Maxwell’s facts are well researched and the few liberties taken are understandable. I found this plot to be more convoluted than some the previous mysteries in this series, but still an enjoyable and satisfying read. This was just a hair shy of four stars. Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Books for an ARC.

Another good outing in this wonderful series. Emma hears a disturbing conversation at a polo match, and the next morning someone is found dead. Are the two related? With the assistance of Jesse and the newly returned from Italy Derrick, they find many clues, but are having a hard time putting it all together and narrowing the suspects. As always the culprit is caught in the end, but this book had lots of twists and turns. The characters are delightful, and the mystery was sound making this an enjoyable read!