Title: It’s Elementary, My Dear Winifred

Author: Miss Mae

Romantic Historical Mystery

Class Act Books

ISBN: 978-1-935048-51-0

Word Count: 47,255

Price: Print $13.13; e-book $6.50

Blurb: 

Schoolmarm Winifred Merryweather guards her identity as the daughter of one of London's most notorious villains. To separate her life from his, she spends her lonely existence with her cat, Theodore, and meets twice monthly at the estate of Lord Nelson Chatham. Losing herself in the pages of a mystery story shivers Winifred's spine -- until the day that she’s forced to live through one.

Kidnapped and thrown together into a chaotic adventure, newspaper reporter Remington Hawthorne’s flirtatious charm thaws Winifred’s icy reserve. But can they uncover the meaning of the clues and survive before the tale reaches the page that reads, The End?

Review: 

This was such a wonderfully charming and enjoyable read!  I chuckled at the dry wit and pondered the twist and turns of the mystery. 

Winifred is a strong minded, educated and lovely young woman who hasn’t sought marriage because of her notorious father.  She is a resourceful character, always looking for the best in others and trying to be helpful.  Winifred awakens from being kidnapped and finds herself initially alone in a mysterious place.  As she begins to search from room to room she meets the attractive Remington Hawthorne.  He appears at first to be a bit of a charming rogue but you soon learn that he is a solidly good fellow with his own secrets. Together they discover that four other members of Winifred’s mystery reading group have been kidnapped and brought to the house too.  Each character has distinct quirks and skills that add to the puzzles and solutions. 

While “watching” the development of the very sweet romance between Winifred and Remington, you get to play a game like “Clue,” or even better -- one of those computer games where you have to solve the riddle in one room to get to the next!  I had to catch my breath at some spots of danger and I said “ah ha!” as riddles got solved and doors got unlocked!  There are surprises galore…in the clues and in the true identities of some of the characters!  As Winifred and Remington are thrown together and working out clues, they discover that their fathers have a certain surprising connection that they may have to overcome.  

The writing flows beautifully with the characters fitting perfectly in the historical time period and setting.  If you love mysteries (especially Sherlock Holmes fans) and historical romance, even Gothic, you couldn’t help but love this.  And if you don’t necessarily read those genres, but want to try something different, I enthusiastically recommend this book for a very fun puzzler and sweet romance!

Reviewed by Raye Staniel

WRDF Review