A Lady & Lady’s Maid Mystery Books In Order

Publication Order of A Lady & Lady’s Maid Mystery Books

Author Alyssa Maxwell writes the “A Lady & Lady’s Maid” series of historical mystery novels. The series features Lady Phoebe Renshaw and her maid, Eva Huntford. Together they bring killers to justice as they negotiate the challenges and changes of life after the Great War.

“Murder Most Malicious” is the first novel in the “A Lady & Lady’s Maid” series and was released in 2015. In post-World War I England, Lady Phoebe Renshaw and Eva Huntford step outside of their social roles and put their lives on the line in order to apprehend a vicious murderer.

December of 1918. While a tough year is drawing to a close, there’s a lot to celebrate for Phoebe Renshaw (nineteen years old) and her three siblings at Foxwood Hall, their beloved family estate. That dreadful war has finally ended, oldest daughter Julia’s engagement to the Marquis of Allerton (their houseguest) appears imminent, and they’ve all gathered to enjoy good will toward men and peace on earth.

However the peace of Foxwood Hall gets shattered on Boxing Day morning, when the Marquis disappears. Not fully missing, however, while there’s macabre evidence of foul play shows up in these gift boxes that are given to Eva Huntford and a couple of others. Having overheard her sister and the Marquis in this heated exchange just the night before, Lady Phoebe takes a personal interest in solving this mystery.

While the local constable suspects one of the Foxwood Hall’s footmen, Eva and Phoebe follow all of the clues to a totally different conclusion. However both of these young women are going to need to think outside of the box in order to wrap this case up, before a cornered murderer lashes out with ill will toward them.

“A Pinch of Poison” is the second novel in the “A Lady & Lady’s Maid” series and was released in 2016. Phoebe and Eva encounter one uncharitable murderer at this charity luncheon that’s sponsored by this posh school for girls.

Good deeds build character, and good character is what the Haverleigh School for Young Ladies is all about. Lady Phoebe, with Eva’s tireless assistance, has organized a luncheon at the school in order to benefit wounded veterans of the Great War, encouraging students to participate in the baking and cooking. However too many cooks do more than just spoil the broth, they add up to a recipe for disaster once Miss Finch, the headmistress of the school, gets poisoned.

The Haverleigh girls come from highly respected families, none of whom are going to countenance their darling daughters getting harassed by the local cops like common criminals. So Lady Phoebe steps in to handle the wealthy little debutantes with discretion and tact, as Eva cozies up to the staff. Did a teacher bear a grudge? Or did one of the girls resent the headmistress enough to do her in? And what about the school nurse, who is clearly shell shocked from her service in the war? Nobody’s above suspicion, not even members of the school’s governing body, some of whom had objected to Miss Finch’s “modern” methods.

However Eva and Lady Phoebe are going to have to sleuth with great stealth, or this cornered murderer might try and teach somebody else a deadly lesson.

“A Devious Death” is the third novel in the “A Lady & Lady’s Maid” series and was released in 2017. Phoebe and her sister Julia are yearning for a summer getaway at High Head Lodge, this newly purchased estate of Regina, their cousin. However they’re not the sole houseguests. Olive, Regina’s strange friend, is far from friendly, and Regina’s brother and mom, who are bitter over the unequal distribution of her dad’s inheritance, have descended on this house in order to confront Regina.

Eva is increasingly suspicious of Lady Julia’s new maid, in addition to all of the family tension. She questions Miss Stanley’s integrity and loyalty, and wondering why she would leave her ex-employer so very suddenly. And why would Regina seem ill at ease around this maid, almost as though they were previously acquainted? Everybody, it would seem, is on edge.

However things go from just tense to tragic once their hostess meets her untimely end, mysteriously murdered in her bed without any signs of a struggle. Now, with suspects in each and every room, Lady Phoebe and Eva have to uncover secrets that are hidden behind closed doors, before a murderer can ensure they never leave High Head Lodge alive.

“A Murderous Marriage” is the fourth novel in the “A Lady & Lady’s Maid” series and was released in 2019. Lady Phoebe and Eva are preparing for a wedding, however it might not be the happy occasion that everybody is hoping for.

Since the Great War, some family fortunes have suffered, including the Renshaws’. Julia, despite being the granddaughter of an earl, is getting pressured into marrying for money, and has settled upon Gilbert Townsend, a wealthy industrialist and a viscount. He is decades older than Julia, and it is obvious to Phoebe, as well as to Eva, who has been a lot like a surrogate mom to the girls, that this isn’t some love match. Nevertheless, the wedding happens, and in quite a hurry.

At the reception aboard the yacht of the groom, there seems to be tension between Gil and many of the guests: his best man, one fellow veteran of the Boer War, his current heir, his grouchy spinster of a sister, one nervous cousin called Ernest. The bride’s also less than pleased when she learns that her honeymoon is going to be more crowded than was expected, with Gil’s pretty secretary, among other people, is going to be coming along.

Julia, that same night, pounds upon her sister’s door, with a bandaged hand and reporting a hot-tempered outburst on her new husband’s part. Julia’s feeling regret and doubt about this hasty choice she made, however returns to the boat. But then the next morning, before the yacht’s even able to leave the harbor, Gil’s corpse is discovered in the water below, and Eva and Phoebe have to figure out who pushed him over, before the Renshaws’ social standing is irreparably stained by Julia’s arrest for the murder.