Miss Morton and the Deadly Inheritance is a captivating and utterly delightful addition to the historical mystery genre, brimming with elegance, suspense, and a touch of romantic intrigue. Catherine Lloyd delivers a pitch-perfect balance of drawing-room drama, sly social commentary, and a thrilling murder mystery, all wrapped in a gorgeously atmospheric Regency-era setting.

The plot is expertly woven, with each clue peeling back the genteel surface of Victorian society to reveal betrayal, deception, and greed. Caroline’s friendship with the delightfully blunt and loyal Mrs. Frogerton adds charm and emotional depth, creating a strong female alliance that’s as refreshing as it is formidable. Their investigations feel organic and clever, especially as Mrs. Frogerton’s skepticism proves invaluable when the solicitor’s office is turned upside down—literally and figuratively.

The mystery deepens with each chapter: a brutal street attack, a missing younger sister, a charming but potentially duplicitous suitor, and a mysterious envelope with Caroline’s name. It’s a masterclass in slow-burn suspense, filled with red herrings, gaslit drawing rooms, and whispered conversations behind fans and doors. The stakes feel real, especially as Caroline realizes her name, her past, and perhaps even her future are at the center of someone’s deadly scheme.

I truly enjoyed reading this book.

An engaging mystery with a charming historical flair, and is a great addition to the series. The plot unfurls with a mix of suspense and intrigue, as Miss Morton navigates the challenges of her newfound inheritance while unraveling a murder mystery. I love Mrs. Frogerton!
Many thanks to Kensington and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Miss Morton and the Deadly Inheritance is the third outing for Miss Morton by Catherine Lloyd. Released 20th Aug 2024 by Kensington, it's 272 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback due out in 3rd quarter 2025 from the same publisher. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is an engaging, light Regency historical cozy series featuring a heroine whose late father's mess continues to impact her circumstances. She's recently inherited from another relative (an aunt) and is disinclined to sort out her disgraced father's estate. She's dragged into (and implicated in) the mystery by the complicated related deaths of the legal folks involved. Skullduggery, envy, dishonesty, and murder all make appearances.

As the third book in the series, it follows on closely from developments in the earlier books. It is understandable as a standalone, but not ideal, and with the codicil that the characters' interrelationships have developed over time, so there will be spoilers if read out of order.

The mystery itself is well constructed, but thin, and readers really should bring a robust suspension of disbelief. All in all, however, it's a good light cozy in a decent series. With 3 books extant, it would make a good binge/buddy read, as well as a good choice for public library acquisition.

Three and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I read Books 1 & 2 to prepare for this ARC and am so glad I did. I love me some Miss Morton. She suffers no fools and in a time when it wasn't acceptable to kick ass, she did so. I can't wait to see what happens next in the series!

#MissMortonandtheDeadlyInheritance
#NetGalley

Miss Morton and the Deadly Inheritance is another excellent addition to the series! Catherine Lloyd does a fantastic job blending mystery with rich character development. The plot is engaging, with plenty of twists and turns to keep you hooked. A well-paced, enjoyable read for fans of cozy mysteries!

This is the third book in this series, and I, while I suggest you read the others first for background it isn't entirely necessary. Each book in this series has been a solid 4-star read and an overall entertaining mystery. If you enjoy these types of historical cozy mysteries, then I highly recommend the Miss Morton series.

Caroline is a strong character, and her sleuthing abilities are very well written. The other characters, especially Mrs Frogerton , are fun and interesting. Caroline and Mrs Frogerton make an excellent duo.

This was a well crafted and puzzling mystery. I'm looking forward to the next installment in this series!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The characters were engaging, although I would've liked to see more depth when it came to emotional matters, especially with the side characters relationships. The plot and the setting were so consuming. I thoroughly enjoy a historical mystery, but this book took it to the next level and made it a cozy mystery, which I loved loved loved. Now that I've read this book in the series I'll need to catch up and read the other ones.

Miss Morton is back more murder on her plate! This historical cozy mystery is full of engaging characters and the author did a great job with the setting and historical tidbits throughout the book. Lots of twists and turns kept me guessing until the very end. I can't wait to read more in this series.

2.5 stars

I’ve had mixed feelings on the previous Miss Morton titles, but this installment represents a bit of an upswing. While I found the first 40% of the novel a little annoying, the last 60% gets better.

The good: Caroline Morton is finally starting to trust her own two feet, and takes some steps into solving this mystery without being dragged into it against her will by Mrs. Frogerton. At last, the main character is acting like one! I also appreciate the fleshing out of some side characters. Letty the maid is a treasure, and it’s good to see Susan on the page again.

The not-so-good: I’m not wild about how every male character seems to be in love with Caroline; I think her interactions with male characters could be significantly more interesting by navigating the various ways they could find to be friends, colleagues, acquaintances, frienemies, etc. as members of opposite sexes in Regency England, but everything seems to come down to people finding Caroline hot and/or marriageable. However, this isn’t as big a part of the book as I’d feared, so it didn’t bother me as much as it has in previous titles.

I’m also tired of all the mysteries so far being tied to the Morton family; I understand that because of Caroline’s mind-my-own-business character it’s probably the only way to force her to care about a mystery, but I would absolutely love for Caroline to have to help Mrs. Frogerton weather something for a change.

I’m not sure if I’ll continue with the series, as I clearly have some beef with the protagonist and don’t care for the romantic elements of the series so far, so I suppose it will depend on if the next book has a really gripping blurb to hook me, as I do love Mrs. Frogerton and Lloyd is pretty skilled at crafting a twisty murder mystery that keeps me guessing.

Catherine is contacted by a lawyer about her father's will only to die shortly after. Multiple hurdles are in the way and she is in danger. There's Mr. DeBloom who ardently pursues her and does not get the hint. There's Dr. Harris, a friend who wants more from her. And there's debonair Inspector Ross who also likes her. Then there's Catharines pesky sister and cousin. Layers upon layers, lots of intrigue, kidnapping, murder, mines, inheritances, just tons of moving parts.

Aside from the romance, everything ties together in the end for a successful finish with the help of Mrs. Frogerton.

#netgalley #MissMortonAndTheDeadlyInheritance

London - 1838

Miss Caroline Morton works as a companion to Mrs. Frogerton and helps to accompany her daughter, Dorothy, to soirees during the Season. Her employer has been very kind to her as she had been left penniless by her father, a penniless Earl, who squandered all of their money. Her sister, Susan, is now in a boarding school that Mrs. Frogerton generously funds. A letter has come from her father’s solicitor saying that something new has come up in his will and he wishes to speak to Caroline.

Caroline has attended the funeral of her Aunt Eleanor at Greenwood Hall. Afterwards, the woman’s solicitor informs her that she and her sister have both been left 500 pounds each by her Aunt much to the chagrin of her cousin, Eliza, who has always been jealous of Caroline. Her cousin, Nicholas, is now the Earl of Greenwood and does not want the responsibility as he prefers to live in London.

There are lots of characters here and not a moment without some sort of mischief, murder, angst, and fear going on. Whew. This book was exhausting. A decent type of mystery. I really loved Mrs. Frogerton and would be happy to work for someone like her. Not a dull moment.

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

This continues to be an enjoyable Historical Mystery series, though this installment was not quite.as satisfying as the first two.

Wills and inheritance are pretty common subjects in this sub genre, but get a lot of the nuts and bolts of that here, which doesn’t make for great reading. It’s a fairly low stakes mystery, which I think is fine, but the book doesn’t do much to fill that out with setting and atmosphere. This series hasn’t been great for that in general, but this installment felt particularly lacking in that regard.

The mystery itself was fine, as was the pacing, and I the characters are likable if a bit simplistic. I’ll echo the opinion of other reviewers who have said that Mrs Frogerton feels more like a main character that Miss Morton does.

While this was better than book 1, it was nowhere near as good as book 2, and I was left vaguely disappointed and wondering what went wrong.

I like delving further into Caroline's fathers mess and there was some interesting twists and turns there [all that equals to him still being a complete and utter hideous person]. I also really enjoy Mrs. Frogerton [her daughter less so, though the son, who was also...snotty? at the beginning, redeemed himself in the end] and her ability to just shove-in when most "ladies" would never ever [she honestly cares little about what people think of her and is very comfortable with herself and what she does and we all should take a page from her IMO] - she just brings so much to every story and my admiration for her grows with each book. I do wish Caroline would learn some backbone from her, while I love her gentle ways, she does need to be a bit more forceful as to avoid being railroaded like she has been.

All that said...the mystery was V E R Y thin [it honestly could not have been anyone else], the issues with Susan and her complete snottiness [and Caroline's too gentle way of dealing with her] made me want to SMACK someone and I just wanted a resolution so we could move on [because OH MY GOSH she was so dumb and unreasonable and so convinced that everything including world poverty and smog were Caroline's fault *EYEROLL*], *AND*, it looks like what was friendships is now going to be a FREAKING LOVE TRIANGLE and I am not amused [love triangles are lazy writing plain and simple and I hate them so very much. There is absolutely no need and this just makes me cringe]. It is the one trope that will break me and should there be a book 4 and this nonsense continues, it will probably be the last one I read; as I am enjoying [to varying degrees] this series, I will be really disappointed.

While I had higher hopes for this book, it honestly wasn't ALL awful [just parts here and there] and I will absolutely read book 4 if it is written/published and hope that TLT is worked out and I won't have to end a pretty decent series.

Thank you to NetGalley, Catherine Lloyd, and Kensington Publishing for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoy this series. I find the characters interesting and I like the setting - historical England. I look forward to more in the series. The mystery keeps me guessing

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

The story of a strong woman whose reputation is her only asset. Lady Caroline Morton has been left penniless after the death of her bankrupt father. In reduced circumstances she found a position to the supportive Mrs Frogerton, who treats Caroline like one of the family. The story centres around the mysterious death of the solicitor who had recently contacted Caroline about the existence of a later version of her father’s will. It appears someone is concerned enough about changes to the will to kill in order to hide the contents. Then when a clerk who attempted to blackmail Caroline, to reveal the contents, also dies…events take a sinister turn, which involves an attempt on Caroline’s life.
There is a satisfying cast of characters, from the blunt Dr Harris to the gentlemanly Inspector Rose, and the spoilt Susan (Caroline’s younger sister.) There is a subplot involving runaway Susan that had undertones of Pride & Prejudice about it.
I liked the gentle humour in the book and became a fan of Inspector Rose. There were times when Caroline risked coming across a little too saintly…but then the author skilfully brought her back to reality. It occurred to me how lucky Caroline was to be employed by the generous Mrs Frogerton (on whose goodwill much of the story relies) but it was a minor point and didn’t detract from the overall enjoyment of the read.
I enjoyed the read and will look out the earlier books in the series. This is Book 3 but can be read as a standalone novel. I picked up hints that in previous stories Caroline was not the strong woman she is now and suspect this may be an interesting character development.
ARC supplied in return for an honest review.

This is the third book in the series, and though there is an unlaying story from the past books, it is easy to follow. I enjoyed the story, which had lots of twists and turns, and kept me guessing till the end. The characters were well-written, but I really didn’t like Dr Harris lol. The book was not overly descriptive which I prefer. It was all about finding out who the murderer was. I look forward to reading more from this author. I received this as an ARC from Netgalley and freely give my review.

Rating 4.5
This is the third book in the A Miss Morton Mystery series. This is a historical mystery series that is excellent. I am enjoying these books more as the series continues, the characters are so wonderful and the pace keeps my interest. The thing I love about this series is it shows a London society that I have not seen in many books and I find interesting, the titled family that have nothing, the wealthy family that did not inherit their money. I feel this book could be read as a stand-alone.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.
This books is the 3rd in a series, so you will want to read at least one of the others to get familiar with the 'cast'.
I'd give this a solid 4.0 for being entertaining and twisty, good for readers who like puzzles.
I really enjoy Catherine Lloyd as a writer, her characters and their interactions are always interesting and the focal points of her books.
Miss Morton (an impoverished young lady) and her employer, Mrs. Frogerton make an interesting pair and provide a fresh dynamic to the historical 'accidental' mystery genre. The supporting characters are strong as well. If anything, I would wish for a bit more 'anchoring in history' kind of details. Note that although this instalment is described as Regency, it's NOT - this book and the 2 previous are set in the late 1830s.
This is a fun series and I like that it's in London as it presents more opportunities than the other 'typical' country village setting.

Victorian London 1838. Did the dishonourable and bankrupt Earl of Morton leave a newer will. How will this affect Lady Caroline and her sister Susan. Then people connected with the family law firm start dying. Mrs Frogerton seems to be once again the driving force in the mystery but will Caroline finally solve the puzzle of the will.
An entertaining and well-written Victorian mystery with its cast of likeable and varied characters. Another good addition to this enjoyable series.
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Omg this book! This book right here!!! Such a good experience. I recommend everyone to read this book as fast as they can because it's really good and the characters are fantastic and the story is fascinating.