ARC Review: An Excellent Thing in a Woman by Allison Montclair

An Excellent Thing in a Woman
Author: Allison Montclair
Series: Sparks & Bainbridge Mystery (Book 7)
Publication: Severn House; Main edition (February 4, 2025)

Description: The owners of The Right Sort Marriage Bureau are back, and more determined than ever to bring love matches to the residents of Post-WWII London . . . so something as trivial as a murder investigation isn't going to stop them!

London, 1947. Spirited Miss Iris Sparks and ever-practical Mrs Gwendolyn Bainbridge are called to action when Gwen's beau Salvatore 'Sally' Danielli is accused of murder!

Sally has taken a job at the BBC studios at Alexandra Palace, but when the beautiful Miss JeanneMarie Duplessis - one of the Parisian performers over for a new variety show - is found dead in the old theatre, a number of inconvenient coincidences make him Suspect No:1.

Just days earlier, Miss Duplessis had arrived at The Right Sort, desperately looking for a husband - any husband - to avoid having to return to Paris. As the plot thickens, Iris is pulled back into the clandestine circles she moved in during the war and it soon becomes apparent that to clear Sally's name, she and Gwen would need to go on the hunt for a killer once more!

My Thoughts: The seventh Sparks & Bainbridge mystery has Iris and Gwen surrounded by the new art of television in order to help their friend Sally when he is accused of murdering a French dancer. 

JeanneMarie Duplessis had come to the Right Sort Marriage Agency with an urgent request to find her a husband to keep her in England when her dance troupe goes back to France. The request, and the client's urgency, come as a surprise to the women. Even more surprising is finding her body when they along with Gwen's young son Ronny and his friend John are given a tour of the television studio. 

They soon come to realize that the murder and the murder of the marionettist who has also come from France connect to some things Iris experienced in her previous career as an Intelligence agent during World War II.

Dealing with her grief at the loss of her fiancé Archie, Iris is spirally into depression and self-medicating with alcohol. It is only investigating the two murders that draw her out even though she will have to work with her ex-fiancé Mike Kinsey who is now with Scotland Yard.

This was another excellent entry in the series. I especially enjoyed seeing the early days of television from both the production side and the viewer's side as Gwen gets her first television. I also enjoyed seeing how well Gwen has adjusted from the losses of World War II. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.