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Stella Hart Romantic Mystery series by Lucy Blue
Book 1: Guinevere’s Revenge
Book 2: The Passion of Miss Cuthbert
Book 3: The Baronet Unleashed
Book 4: The Princess and the Peonies (to be reviewed at a future date)
Book 5: Le Jazz Hot (publication date 5/22/2025 – in two days!!! – look for my review on my Goodreads account, follow me there)
The series just keeps are getting better and better the longer it goes on. I wasn’t enthralled with the first book, but I got an early read of the the fifth book and am completely in love.
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for GUINEVERE’S REVENGE
Downton Abbey meets It Happened One Night in this 1920s romantic mystery romp.
American silent film actress Stella Hart has been terribly fond of her English “step-cousin” George ever since his uncle, Lord Barrington, married her mom. She’s a lot less fond of Mavis, his grotesquely snobbish fiancée. But when the lovesick gangster that Stella fled Hollywood to escape tracks her down at Barrington Hall, George pretends to be engaged to Stella to put him off the scent, and Mavis, poor girl, plays along. Then Stella and Mavis find a dead man in the woods, and things get really exciting.
The only likely witness to the murder is Guinevere, Mavis’s fuzzy little Bichon Frise. And Stella’s best suspect is George.
MY REVIEW for GUINEVERE’S REVENGE
The book is exactly as advertised. A lovely frothy screwball romantic mystery. 100% beach read approved.
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE PASSION OF MISS CUTHBERT
Stella Hart is looking forward to five blissful days alone at sea with her new fiancée, George—no relatives, no responsibilities, nothing to keep them apart. But Stella’s bosses at Pinnacle Pictures have other ideas. Miss Cecilia Cuthbert of the London office is on board to be her chaperone, and she will not be dissuaded. If Miss Cuthbert has her way, Stella will spend the whole voyage holed up in her cabin answering fan mail and signing autographs.
Desperate for freedom, Stella comes up with a plan. With the help of one of George’s old school friends and her own genius lady’s maid, Sophie, she will transform the ugly duckling chaperone into a distracted, happy swan. But while Stella only means to help Miss Cuthbert have her own shipboard romance, the result is murder.
Continuing the murderous and madcap adventures of silent movie actress Stella Hart that began in Guinevere’s Revenge, The Passion of Miss Cuthbert is another Agatha Christie romantic mystery Mrs. Christie somehow neglected to write. Acclaimed romance author Lucy Blue has created a classic 1920s detective with a modern chick lit heart. Also included: a short story adventure, “Guinevere’s Christmas.”
MY REVIEW for THE PASSION OF MISS CUTHBERT
Another delightful romp with Stella Hart, Hollywood Siren, and her long-suffering love George. Crossing the Atlantic takes time and Stella hopes that it will include Alone Time with her betrothed, despite the unexpected meeting of several old school friends of his and an equally unexpected chaperone provided by her movie company to keep her reputation unsullied. Her plans for mischief are outnumbered by well-meaning people.
Mischief finds her anyway with another dead body crossing her path. Most annoying.
She just HAS to investigate or the wrong person will go to jail for the crime.
Pitch perfect sweet romance with murder mystery. A beach or pick-me-up read (for me a Friday read after a long week).
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE BARONET UNLEASHED
Who DIDN’T want to murder Nathan Stanley?
Stella Hart has less than a month to finish her latest picture and sail home to England to marry her darling George. If she postpones the wedding again, her mother will disown her, and even the groom is getting restless. When her swashbuckling co-star smashes into a wall and breaks his nose, putting production on indefinite hold, she and George make plans to slip away and leave the movie unfinished.
But studio head Nathan Stanley has other ideas. He threatens Stella with scandal and ruin if she doesn’t stay in Hollywood. As a free agent and the future wife of a baronet, she can afford to let him do his worst. But when Stanley turns up stabbed to death with a dueling sword, somebody has to solve the murder.
Buckle up for flappers, floozies, gangsters, jazz, speakeasies, murder, and mayhem in 1920s Tinseltown in this third installment of the Stella Hart Mysteries.
MY REVIEW for THE BARONET UNLEASHED
While not as much of a lark as books 1 and 2 of the series, The Baronet Unleashed is still a delightful romcom-style murder mystery. I think why it is slightly less fun this time around is Stella is working rather than traveling. Sure, Stella thinks that acting is the bee’s knees, but day-job is day-jobbing; something always takes the glitter of the gold.
The tradeoff of the fun is a great deep dive into the American film industry in the twenties, which brings its own type of satisfaction. Ms. Blue has talked about her love of Hollywood History at cons and on her blog (no, I don’t stalk this wonderful writer … much) and it shines through in this book. The worldbuilding for the Stella Hart series is top notch from the characters to the transportation choices (ships and cars) and the clothing.
As to the plot, Stella stumbles across another body, her loving George (now fiancée), just a few steps behind. Between the rushed shoots of the movie and packing to go to England for the wedding, Stella pokes her nose into speakeasies, lives of the famous (hoping to be rich), and police business trying to solve the mystery.
As I said, a delightful cozy mystery. You can read the books in any order; they each work as a stand-alone, though the cast of characters build throughout.