Lynn Brittney, the author of the successful YA Nathan Fox series, has now created a series for adults who love historical mysteries. Set in London during World War I, the team is composed of both police and agents who
assist both the police and the intelligence community. A Death in Chelsea is book 2 in the Mayfair 100 series.

It is now July 1915, Chief Inspector Beech is restless. He fears that his team is being under utilized. The Great War now global scope, seems to be not going well for the allies. His relationship with Victoria, a team member and former flame is moving slowly. He hopes a new case will offer greater proximity. to her charms. His hopes are rewarded when he is handed a new and very delicate case involving the death of the daughter of the Duchess of Penhere.

Was this a suicide? The daughter was a notorious individual known for writing a lurid gossip column. How will the Mayfair 100 team be of use? Actually the strengths of the team, that they are comprised of professional women, help enormously. They bend the conventions of the time to be able to go undercover more easily.
This is significant as the crime involves more that murder, it is infused with both blackmail, and worse with infanticide. They are a group that welcomes people from all social classes, allowing the solution to come from many minds. They are a delightful group of crime solvers, one that I hope to hear from again.

A good fast paced read for historical mystery fanciers.

Full disclosure: I received an ARC copy form Netgalley and Crooked Lane Publishers in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you for the opportuntiy.

A Death in Chelsea by Lynn Brittney, the second in the Mayfair 100 Murder Mystery series, named for the telephone number 100 Mayfair for the crime-fighting group based in Mayfair in 1915.

I read Murder in Belgravia, the first in the series last year and enjoyed it. Chief Inspector Peter Beech has assembled an unusual team that (gasp!) includes women.

A society gossip columnist has been found hanged in her room. The death isn't a suicide, as first suspected, and the fact that Adeline Treborne's defamatory and scandalous column has maligned some wealthy and powerful people means that the suspects are plentiful.

This book has the same strengths and weaknesses as the first book: an interesting plot and well-researched details...and characters who are a bit too good to be true.

Nevertheless, it was entertaining, and I would read the next in the series.

NetGalley/Mirror Books
Historical Mystery. March 14, 2019. Print length: 326 pages.

This Book!! I wanted to read something both light but also fit for October's spooky/mysterious mood and A Death in Chelsea was the perfect choice. I especially loved the twists. They were so well-written and well thought of. I also loved the characters and their dynamics. Overall, I'd recommend it to all Sherlock Holmes lovers because although this is rather about a WHOLE team of investigators and the leader isn't as aloof and mysterious as Holmes, the work of the Mayfair team kept on reminding me of Sherlock Holmes adventures.

I was so happy to have the opportunity to review A Death in Chelsea. Thanks go out to @NetGalley and author Lynn Brittney for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was the first Lynn Brittney novel and although at the very beginning I had some difficulty getting into it, I persevered and I'm thankful I did. I love the characters, I loved the mystery. The fact that it's set in 1913 when the great war is going on is a plus for me. This is a period in time, where roles and classes were redefined. Women took on roles, that they would not have otherwise. The story revolves around the daughter of a duchess (sister of a duke) who writes gossip columns about society. She is found hanging and her death a suicide, until her mother asks a friend in Scotland Yard for a favor, that the death be investigated - so the mayfair 100 team is called in and of course we find out that she was murdered. The story is enjoyable and I recommend it as a nice cozy mystery.

A Death in Chelsea is a good historical mystery with interesting characters. A bit far fetched at times and easy to figure out.

While this mystery falls into the category of historical fiction, it’s more recent history as it takes place in London during the first World War in 1915. The mystery surrounds a suicide…or was it murder??… of a prominent society gossip columnist. It’s a delightful read with interesting characters throughout. Chief Inspector Peter Beech and his motley team, including several women of varying social levels, try to solve this mystery. Women's roles in society were changing, as was the nature of class and customs, so it's more believable that a group of women from various backgrounds could come together to solve crimes than it would have been, say, 100 years prior.

I enjoyed the strong women characters who were part of the secret police task force assigned to the murder case. From a story standpoint, the plot was well designed and executed. I am a fan of allowing the dialogue to tell the story and I felt the author did that well. It kept the story moving forward at a nice pace.

I recommend A Death in Chelsea as a fun, clean mystery read. Especially for those folks that enjoy either/or history mysteries and cozy mysteries.

too much editorializing, in my opinion.

The year is 1915.A young woman of an entitled family is found hanged in her bedroom. Her mother insists she wasn’t the self-murdering kind. The idea of a disgrace to her family, but incapable of suicide. Adeline Treborne, our murder victim, had several enemies to choose.

It’s discovered at the autopsy Miss Treborne didn’t die from the hanging.

The plot slows way down and it is hard to read.
At least the epilogue ties it all up very neatly, explaining what happened to basically every participant in the crime.



Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of the book in exchange for this review.

I had a hard time getting into this book. It just didn't quite grab my attention. #NetGalley-thanks for the advanced read. #Adeathinchelsea

This book was received as an ARC from the Author, in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own


A Death in Chelsea is a compelling mystery set in 1915 in London

It is the second novel in Brittney’s Mayfair 100 series; it follows A Murder in Belgravia. The book can also be read as a stand-alone, but I would recommend reading the first in this series because of the wonderful back story.

This a captivating engaging book right from the first page. A group of intelligent, resourceful women and policemen worked to solve a crime that needed to be kept a secret..

The author keeps you on the edge of your seat in great historical mystery that is extremely well researched and wonderfully complex. A secret team of amateur sleuths acting a detectives. Have paired up with some interesting individual policemen. Factored into this twist plot was the Suffragette Movement, the early stages of forensics and pathology and WWI war demonstrations.

When a daughter of a Duchess is found hanged in her rooms. Suicide or murder?

The odds just don’t add up, when it's discovered that Adeline Treborne is a gossip columnist whose scurrilous reports have had many a family or person shunned.

Could this be an ugly question of blackmail.

I adored this extremely engrossing, enjoyable & entertaining book right from the very start and had me engaged with all the suspense. A creative compelling mystery that was hard put down .

I will be recommending this highly engaging novel to family and friends. I am anxiously waiting for the next installment in this intriguing series.

A Death in Chelsea by Lynn Brittney is the second book in her Mayfair 100 mystery series. I thoroughly enjoyed this book from beginning to end. I had gotten the first book in the series from my library and was eager to start this one.

Chief Inspector Peter Beech calls in his "secret" team when a daughter of a aristocratic family is found hanging in her flat. Caroline, Mabel, Victoria and PC Billy Rigsby's Aunt Sissy converge on the flat to determine if it is suicide or murder. Each member of this team is smart, dedicated and determined to find the answers as the case evolves into blackmail and another murder. A clever and quickly paced plot with twists and turns and a nail-biting finale that I can't put down until the end.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book from Mirror Books via NetGalley. All of the above opinions are my own. I would like to sincerely thank Mirror Books for allowing me to read and review this book.

in the time of wolrd war 1, some crimes are happening. a special quad helps to solve the different crime, that are all somehow connected. This book gives you a look how life was during the time of world war 1, very interesting

A Death in Chelsea is the second book in the Mayfair Murder series and whilst I don't think it hindered the reading of this book too much, there were some questions that I felt were unanswered, ie how did Beech know Victoria before? How did everyone know each other?

The daughter of a Duchess is found hanging by her maid, a devout Catholic, would she really have hanged herself. She was known as a notorious gossip monger, but never went out socially, so how did she find out all the information about everyone she wrote about.

The investigation is done by the police and aided by a group of woman recruited to assist the police during the First World War.

Was it far-fetched, absolutely but enjoyable nonetheless, I found the paragraph regarding not letting a boy who was 'tongue-tied' have an operation which could have potentially cured him, very emotional. If he was tongue-tied he couldn't be sent to war

A good story, liked the characters and look forward to seeing how they develop in future stories

I was not interested in the p
It. Did not read the book through. I was looking for more historical fiction resemblance of pre WW II

Perhaps it’s because I didn’t read the first book in the series, or maybe because I read it over a week, but I had a hard time keeping track of all the characters. I spent a bit of time going back and forth figuring out who was the pharmacist, Lady, patrolman, Doctor, etc. Unfortunately, this constant confusion took away from the story.

A blackmailing, gossip-writing, sister to a Duke has been found swinging from the ceiling in her apartment. What was obviously a suicide is quickly debunked once more facts come to light. Her many, many victims are tracked down and their secrets told to the investigative crew (those of the myriad names). The gossip & blackmailing didn’t stop with her death, which leads to the deep investigation of murders, etc.

I think readers of the series will like it, but not a good standalone.

There seem to be many reviews for this, so I'll just say this has a simple premise and it is a lot of fun watch in the upper class shenanigans. Recommended for historical mystery fans.

I really appreciate the copy for review!!

A quick read, that fans of cozy historical mysteries will enjoy. I hadn't read the first book in the series, but I was able to easily learn the characters and get into the current situation. Some parts seemed a bit contrived &/or cheesy, but overall it was an interesting plot with several surprises and the main characters were endearing.

I love crime novels, particularly golden age such as Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh, or that have a historical setting. So I was very pleased to be given the opportunity to read A Death in Chelsea on NetGalley.

A Death in Chelsea is the second in a series of novels set against the backdrop of WW1, known as the 'Mayfair 100' (the telephone number for a house in Mayfair where a small, specially-formed crime fighting team is based). They are unofficially employed by Chief Inspector Beech to work on sensitive cases (aka those affecting people in the higher ranks of society/the public eye).

The team have a new case - a society gossip queen has been found hanged in her room in mysterious circumstances. Her enemies are numerous - and her family are convinced she was murdered. Can the Mayfair 100 team uncover the truth?

You don't need to have read the first novel in the series, A Murder in Belgravia, in order to enjoy A Death in Chelsea but it is easier to keep track of all the characters if you do.

This has a good, fast plot, and is nicely atmospheric but I found the constant placing of very 21st century attitudes in the mouths of those who are meant to be living and working in London during WW1 jaring and unhelpful. I am all for showing that people in the past weren't all hidebound, misogynist monsters who believe in the death penalty and that women were fragile flowers who should stay home, but the attitudes shown by the characters in this novel don't feel realistic.

I won't be reading any more of the Mayfair 100 books, but I am sure that anyone who loves cosy crime will love this set of novels.

A Death in Chelsea by Lynn Brittney

A murder has taken place...or was it a suicide? Gossip columnist (and blackmailer?) Adeline Treborne is found dead. The crime takes place in London during the First World War and there are many players, so keep a scorecard.

This delightful story with wonderful characters will entertain you all the way through. Many are suspect, and putting it all together to find the truth is such fun. And there is never just one murder in these stories, is there? Follow along as Chief Inspector Peter Beech and his motley team try to solve this mystery.

Lynn Brittney has written a wonderful “whodunit” that any reader will enjoy. Five stars for this book, as I await more from this author.

Historical fiction can range from the really excellent to really cringeworthy, and I'm happy to report that this is far more of the former than the latter. It is indeed a very interesting time period to set the story--the "Great War." Women's roles in society were changing, as was the nature of class and customs, so it's more believable that a group of women from various backgrounds could come together to solve crimes than it would have been, say, 100 years prior. I did have a little trouble at first remembering which character was which (hazards of coming in at book 2 in the series) but they are an adventuresome lot who are fun to spend time with. There were some very minor details and lines of dialogue that didn't quite fit the setting, but all in all, it's a quick read that will deepen your sympathy for the folks that survived WWI and its aftermath.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for a digital ARC.

Very pleasant cozy mystery. Interesting characters and well written. This is apparently the second book in the series, but it reads well as a stand-alone.