After a school mate spends the holiday at the ranch she reports, "Agnes is not given to exaggeration.

Sometimes the novels chosen are new, often they are from the backlist and occasionally re-issued from way back. This particular author is new to me but it sounds like she has written a number of Regency romances but from a smaller publisher and it looks like she has quite a fan base established and I am super excited to share more about this upcoming series with you guys today! Dolby’s manuscript for the book was the runner-up in the Comedy Women in Print awards, and there are plenty of fun scenes, the writing’s witty, but there’s plenty to think about too. That said I think this book left some options open for additional stories so if you indeed love this book, there is a possibility for future books to revisit favorite characters, but again it’s not necessary for this book to become a series. The mystery of Violet’s mother's disappearance added to the story and I was fully invested in finding out what happened to her.

She then finds herself working for the second detective in town and decides that becoming a lady detective is what she would really like to do with the rest of her life. The story follows Violet Hamilton, a twenty eight year old woman whose mother disappeared ten years earlier. Internal monologue: For much of the first half of the book all we are witness to are Violet's repeated thoughts and internal monologues about her mother, her life and her wish to remain unmarried. Violet came up against many hurdles in her journey to finding her mother but she never let it stop her. She isn’t your typical Victorian woman, going against social conventions by not wanting to get married and pursuing a career instead.

But the joy of No Life for a Lady is that it’s such a fun and fresh read, with such a wonderfully original and forward-thinking protagonist. It has all the fun elements of an amateur woman sleuth, sort of like Enola Holmes (but far less capable).Windows users should also consider upgrading to Internet Explorer 11, Microsoft Edge, or switching to Firefox or Chrome. I quickly warmed to the character of Violet, loving her spirit and total disregard for social conventions.

Those looking for a light-hearted, cosy historical mystery will find they’ve come to the right place with No Life for a Lady. Loved hearing about a woman riding horseback all over the New Mexico territory—8 years old and riding 20 miles alone to get the mail and bear hunting on horseback as an adult. I’m a big fan of historical fiction, mysteries and uplift, so this was the perfect mix of genres for me.Rather - I'm going to send it to a family friend who still ranches in the west; it reminded me of him a whole lot. Benjamin Blackthorn immediately strikes her as much more trustworthy than Knight, but he is recovering from a broken leg and insists it was his father, Bernard who was the detective: he now only sells furniture. Suddenly, Violet wonders if she’s really ready to find out her mother’s secrets and to have them become the talk of the ladies of Hastings, not to mention the men. She tells many stories about her life in rural NM in a charming way and finishes the book by talking about how things have changed since she was a girl.