D. E. Ireland burst upon the scene with last year’s witty Wouldn’t It Be Deadly, bringing Eliza Doolittle, Henry Higgins and the cast familiar to readers from Pygmalion and My Fair Lady to life. The sequel, Move Your Blooming Corpse is every bit as charming and witty, taking readers to Royal Ascot and into the world of horse racing.
It’s also the time of the Suffragette movement, with emotions running high, a key element in the mystery when a young woman’s body is found murdered in one of the stables. That she is part owner of Donegal Dancer, the same racehorse that Eliza’s father owns a part of, brings out Eliza’s worst fears: Is her father in over his head and now in jeopardy? Or was the victim, a married woman known to be having affairs with at least two other owners of the race horse, responsible for her own death?
Eliza and Higgins join forces with her Scotland Yard cousin Jack to investigate before another murder takes place. But will they be soon enough? There will be jealous spouses and a young man mad with grief; there will be more races, boating regattas and picnics as the duo race against time to try to keep not only Alfred Doolittle safe, but to find the real culprit just as Eliza becomes embroiled in the Suffragette movement and finds herself learning jujitsu moves>
The writing team get the period details just right, from a the clothing down to the food to the way Society and it mores affected behavior at a time when the world was changing and not everyone appreciated the change. And they keep the characters we’ve come to love true to their nature and their actions, with their dialogue recalling the originals. Take a loverly step back in time with Eliza and Henry Higgins and the crew.
Auntiemwrites Crime-Mystery Author M K Graff 