Death Among the Diamonds by Fliss Chester ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

The Honourable Cressida Fawcett is an independent woman in the 1920s. She enjoys a good time and saving family friends from interior design disasters. She also sees herself as something of an amateur sleuth. But when she travels to her friend's house party for fun, to salvage the drawing room curtains, and hopefully discover the missing diamonds, she's not counting on having to solve a murder, let alone two!

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

September 2022; Bookouture; 978-1803146454
audio, ebook, print (296 pages); cozy mystery

Death Among the Diamonds is the first book in a new 1920s historical cozy mystery series featuring the Honourable Cressida Fawcett. If you are like me and read a lot of cozy mysteries, you may find yourself feeling a little deja vu. I don't expect completely unique stories in this genre which is primarily comprised of cookie-cutter stories. But there were aspects of this book that were more than just familiar vibes.

If you read Rhys Bowen's Her Royal Spyness series, you may find yourself comparing Cressida to Belinda, the fun-loving best friend of that series' main character. Cressida is a bit of a party girl if the unfinished stories of her friends are anything to go by. 

Cressida is also adamant that she is going to remain unmarried. She is of independent means, has her own flat, a sporty car, and a little dog. Yet when DCI Andrews of the Scotland Yard shows up to investigate the murder she gets a little funny-feeling - could it be the stirrings of attraction? 

And that brings us to the second instance of familiarity to another series I read. Lady Eleanor Swift is in love with a police inspector and though I haven't read book one in that series but I wonder if she had a similar first encounter with DCI Seldon. 

Despite these similarities, I enjoyed the book. The mystery is a good one and while I'm not usually a fan of the trope where the sleuth brings all the characters together at the end for the big reveal, it seemed to work for this book. 

Cressida did get on my nerves somewhat with her whining about how Andrews had to let her help with the investigation. She also takes evidence, withholds it, and seems to think that makes her invaluable to the investigation. That bugged me. If I was Andrews, I would have arrested her for obstruction.

I liked DCI Andrews. He isn't a bumbling idiot. He did seem to be down on his luck and says he hasn't been doing so well in solving crime lately. If anything he might be a bit depressed and he probably would have figured out the case if Cressida hadn't withheld key pieces of evidence and if he had a little more imagination.

If you a cozy mystery fan and don't mind a series feeling like others you've read, then this is definitely a series to give a try. I enjoyed it enough that I'll give another book in the series a try before deciding if it will make my must read list or not.

Buy Death Among the Diamonds at Amazon

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Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

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