Rating: 
Summary: Delightful romantic mystery
Review: After being wounded while fighting in the Boer War, Captain Harry Cartwright, the youngest son of Baron Derrington, returns home to London. His only income is his army pension and a pittance from the family trust. Through a mutual friend, Harry is recommended to the Earl of Hoodshire to investigate Sir Geoffrey Blandon to see if he is suitable to marry his daughter Rose. Harry's investigation leads him to discover that Sir Geoffrey's goal is seduction not marriage and his career as a private investigator is born.Word of mouth spreads about Harry's discreet inquiries. At a weekend party given by the Marquis of Hedrey at Telby Castle, one of the guests dies and the police are called to investigate. The Marquis hires Harry to make sure the police rule it a suicide but they do that without his help. When Rose, a guest at the castle, is pushed off the roof, Harry jumps into the moat to rescue her. They find the body of the missing lady's maid who was definitely murdered. The police return, but this time Rose and Harry are helping them. Marion Chesney, well known for her historical romances, also writes the Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth mystery series under the name M.C. Beaton. Her new "Edwardian murder mystery" series combines history, romance, and intrigue resulting in a delightful romantic mystery. The two protagonists, both belonging to the upper class, do not fit in the polite society very well, and find themselves drawn to one another. The who-done-it is well developed and captures reader interest from the outset. SNOBBERY WITH VIOLENCE gives readers a glimpse into the aristocracy during the Edwardian era. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: My favorite author disappoints me for the first time
Review: I am a huge Marion Chesney/MC Beaton/Jennie Tremaine, etc. fan. I own every single book she ever wrote, I believe, even some pretty obscure ones. I was so excited to see she was writing something new and got Snobbery with Violence immediately. You can imagine my surprise when I found that this new mystery is a total snore. The characters are bland and don't hold my interest at all, and this book lacks any of the laugh out loud moments of Marion Chesney's earler works. I'm going to try and hide my disappointment and go re-read the School for Manners. Hopefully the next book will be better.
Rating: 
Summary: M.C. enchants us with new characters to befriend
Review: I had a great time just getting familiar with the new characters in this new series. The story was a bit silly, but had some very charming moments. Every time I finish one of Beaton's books, I fear she will not write another soon enough. Look forward to Harry and Rose's next adventure.
Rating:
Summary: M.C. enchants us with new characters to befriend
Review: I had a great time just getting familiar with the new characters in this new series. The story was a bit silly, but had some very charming moments. Every time I finish one of Beaton's books, I fear she will not write another soon enough. Look forward to Harry and Rose's next adventure.
Rating:
Summary: disappointing
Review: i'm a huge fan of her books! i mean, i have read every one i could get my hands on! but this was such a disappointment. it wasn't comical or romantic at all, which are 2 of the best features of her other books! i'm so used to laughing at her characters and the bizarre situations they get into, but i didn't laugh once with this. i am hoping she will go and write something more worthwhile next time, like the countless other series' that she has out there.
Rating:
Summary: A charming and lively tale
Review: Marion Chesney has combined her period romance writing with her knack for writing an amusing mystery with witty characters in "Snobbery with Violence". It may not be great literature but it's certainly light-hearted and fun entertainment. Chesney has the ability to deliniate the characters with just a few phrases and her style is as engaging and easy-to-read as it gets.
Rating:
Summary: Snobbery with Violence
Review: Marion Chesney has combined her period romance writing with her knack for writing an amusing mystery with witty characters in "Snobbery with Violence". It may not be great literature but it's certainly light-hearted and fun entertainment. Chesney has the ability to deliniate the characters with just a few phrases and her style is as engaging and easy-to-read as it gets.
Rating:
Summary: Charming mystery, characters, and interesting history
Review: Returned from the wars in Africa, Captain Harry Cathcart has retired to his (low-cost) club and is well behind on paying his friend and acting-gentleman's gentleman when he gets a strange request. The Earl of Hadshire is concerned that a young man has been paying court on his daughter, Lady Rose, yet no proposal has been forthcoming. Can Cathcart investigate and determine if the young man is all he seems? With this job, Cathcart launches into a career of helping hapless British aristocrats recover from social embarassment, blackmail, and other consequences of their foolish acts. For Lady Rose, however, the consequences are tragic--thanks to her impetuous announcement, everyone knows that the young man was tampering with her affections--and Lady Rose, not the young man, suffers a destroyed reputation. A beautiful woman with a shady reputation becomes a target for any playboy and Edwardian England (the novel is set in 1907) has plenty of playboys. Cathcart is called in to head off embarrasment again--but even Cathcart draws the line at covering up murder. And when Lady Rose is invited to a house party in the country, deaths and disappearances start to happen too quickly to be called anything else--except by the local aristocrats who are willing to use all their powers to cover up anything that might stink of such commonness as murder. Author Marion Chesney creates a charming tale that combines romantic tension (Lady Rose and Cathcart are attracted but in denial), mystery, and a look at a historical era where the British aristocracy cling to the vestiges of their Regency glories even as the rest of the world heads toward modernism and world war. Cathcart makes a fine romantic hero as well as an intriguing sleuth with Lady Rose available to provide impetuous advice and push him to extremes. Lady Rose, with her ambitions to become middle-class, support for woman's sufferage, and contempt for corsets, lives in an era where such beliefs are just possible--and is punished just as society would punish such an outrage--by being put on the shelf. Cathcart's servant and Rose's maid provide a secondary romantic interest as well as humor. I also appreciated the bolshevick police sergeant. Chesney's writing draws the reader in, lets us share the romance but also the disgrace of Edwardian aristocracy, and propells a fine mystery through to its conclusions. I would be surprised if we don't see more of Lady Rose and Captain Cathcart--and look forward to the next installment.
Rating:
Summary: Hopefully, the beginning of a great new series!
Review: This is a terrific Edwardian mystery/romance from Marion Chesney, who, as M.C. Beaton, writes my current favorite mystery series featuring Agatha Raisin. If you like the Agatha Raisin books, Anne Perry's Charlotte and Thomas Pitt mysteries, and Agatha Christie's Tommy and Tuppence Beresford adventures, you'll love this book. Chesney creates 4 really memorable characters in this delightful story, told with her unique humor. Aristocratic Captain Harry Cathcart, a saturnine, anti-social Boer War veteran who must earn his living, turns to discreetly clearing up messes for the aristocracy and becomes quite successful. Lady Rose Summer, beautiful daughter of an earl, is over-educated and far too independent for her class and time. She meets Captain Cathcart when her father hires him to investigate a young man she has become infatuated with. Lady Rose's father later hires Cathcart to handle another delicate situation regarding King Edward VII. The two meet again and join forces to investigate the mysterious death of a fellow guest of Lady Rose's at a marquess's house party. The young woman has died of arsenic poisoning, and Cathcart and Lady Rose set about uncovering some sordid secrets among the aristocracy to find out why the girl was killed. Cathcart's manservant Becket, a young man Cathcart found starving and nearly dead from hard labor, has worked hard to educate himself, and eagerly assists in the investigation. Lady Rose's maid Daisy, a former music hall performer, is educated by Lady Rose throughout the story, and also joins the investigation. Becket and Daisy are clearly fond of each other, and clearly intend to bring the feisty Lady Rose and the proud Cathcart together. I hope Chesney intends to write more stories with these characters. This first novel would earn five stars, except for the fact Chesney over-populates the book with far too many characters for this rather short story. Still, as with the Agatha Raisin series, I beg for more, more, and more!!
Rating:
Summary: Better than Agatha Christie...
Review: When I found out that Marion Chesney was one of my favorite mystery writers, M. C. Beaton, I wondered how her mixture of charm and cynicism would translate into an earlier period of history. It turns out to be a perfect match: Edwardian England was a place where the men had new freedom but the women were still expected to live prim and proper (and boring) lives. This is a classic country house mystery with a wonderful twist.
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