A Fatal Fondness by Richard Audry
Publisher: Conger Road Press
Genre: Mystery/Suspense, Historical
Length: Full length (268 pages)
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Snowdrop

It’s September 1902, and Mary MacDougall has fulfilled her greatest dream—opening her own detective agency. But the achievement doesn’t come without complication.

Mary’s father insists that an older cousin come to work with her—as both secretary and minder. Jeanette Harrison pledges to keep the plucky sleuth away from danger, as well as from her unsuitable suitor Edmond Roy. This arrangement, embarrassingly, makes Mary the only detective in the state with a chaperone.

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Mary and Jeanette have not the slightest notion that one of these modest little matters will blow up into the most consequential and perilous case of the heiress-sleuth’s budding career. What begins in triviality mushrooms into disappearance, betrayal, international intrigue, and murder. As she learns more and more, Mary’s prospects for making the acquaintance of an assassin’s blade improve dramatically.

Witty, fast-paced, and enthralling, A Fatal Fondness—the fourth tale in the series—delves deeply into Mary’s world and paints the portrait of an unconventional young woman ever-ready to defy propriety for the sake of justice.

A quick moving read. An enjoyable story about a young lady with an over-bearing father and a huge desire to be a Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple of some sort. Actually it sounds as if I’m making light and yet this joking and disbelief is something Mary MacDougall goes through with many of the people she deals with. The idea of a woman sleuth in 1902 is beyond comprehension to both men and women.

This is a light, clean, mystery. I had no trouble finishing it in a few hours and while not deep, it always kept my attention. I don’t think this is listed as a YA genre, but I think it can be read by both teens and adults. It’s a feel-good type mystery and we all need to feel good now and then, don’t we?

Richard Audry (a pen name for D. R. Martin) has made his characters each have a unique personality which I think often makes them seem more real. He’s created a well-written and entertaining story.

This is Book 4 in a series titled “ Mary MacDougall Mysteries”. Audry also has another series published. All of his books have good reviews.