The slightly hapless Inspector Witherspoon is ably yet secretly assisted in his latest murder case by his housekeeper Mrs Jeffries who is in turn supported by the other staff.
The Inspector and Mrs Jeffries is the first book in a cosy historical murder mystery series. However, it does make references to previous cases which was a little confusing!
Inspector Witherspoon and his housekeeper Mrs Jeffries are really easy to like. Luckily he has household staff who work together to help him without his knowledge. Mrs Jeffries has a delicate touch to dripfeed information and make the inspector think it was all his brilliant deduction.
Part of me felt disappointed that Mrs Jeffries isn’t able to claim the credit for solving cases. Meanwhile another part of me admires her devotion to her employer. The historical setting in Victorian England supports this as she would be unable to work as a police officer herself so does the next best thing.
I enjoyed the little touches of humour in the style of writing and the two main characters are wonderfully depicted. I did have one bugbear though: the chapters ended on a cliffhanger so frequently stopped mid scene which I found a little annoying.
The Inspector and Mrs Jeffries is an enjoyable historical cosy murder mystery and I would be interested in reading (or listening to) more of the series.
Book blurb
This charming series of Victorian murder mysteries features mild-mannered Inspector Witherspoon of Scotland Yard and, more importantly, Mrs Jeffries, his housekeeper. A policeman’s widow herself, her quick wits allow her to nudge the Inspector in the right direction to solve the crime.
When a doctor is discovered dead in his own office, Mrs Jeffries is on the look-out for a prescription for murder, determined to discover the culprit, despite how her employer feels about interviewing suspects . . . “He hated questioning people. He could never tell whether or not someone was actually lying to him, and he knew, shocking as it was, that there were some people who lied to the police on a regular basis.”
