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Mrs Jeffries and the household staff of Inspector Gerald Witherspoon of the Metropolitan Police are all busy planning Betsy the maid's wedding to their coachman Smythe, and it's getting to be trying. They all wish that they could have a murder to help solve to get their minds on something else. Ever since Mrs Jeffries, a policeman's widow, took the job as housekeeper for Gerald Witherspoon years ago, she and her talented household staff have, without his knowledge, helped the inspector solve the cases of murder that have come across his desk. Meanwhile, rich banker and amateur painter Lawrence Boyd is finishing up his latest canvas before hosting a luncheon that will announce that he has been named that year's honorary chairman of the Banker's Benevolent Society, a very prestigious honor – and one that he had bought with a lot of money. Boyd is universally despised and hated, as he is an extremely selfish man who has spent a lot of money and effort in trying to make himself famous as a big-time philanthropist. Alone in his room, Boyd is suddenly and mortally bashed in the head and turpentine is splashed about and a flame is set to the accelerant. Inspector Witherspoon is sent to take on this murder along with his associate Constable Barnes. Mrs Jeffries is afraid that Witherspoon's nemesis, incompetent and jealous Inspector Nigel Nivens, will go out of his way to try to ruin her boss's good name, so she warns all to be on special alert not to be seen helping in the investigation. It seems as if anyone who has had anything to so with the murdered Boyd hated him, from the family of the woman he jilted at their wedding only to marry her sister, to the people he did business with, to the staff who kept his house. The more Witherspoon and Mrs Jeffries investigates, the more suspects they have. Witherspoon is doing his best and Jeffries is up at nights worried that they will not solve the case before his superiors become unhappy. This is the perfect example of what readers want in a mystery cozy; a wonderful and appealing regular cast of characters you want to spend time with over and over again, and it takes place in an interesting time period, here Victorian England where you get to learn a bit about life in a different era. And as with the others I've read, this MRS JEFFRIES & THE BEST LAID PLANS is well-written, thoughtful and a solid murder mystery that's nicely filled with clues. There have been 21 other installments of the Mrs Jeffries series. I have read five of them and by golly they were so good that I plan to read them all!
Reviewed by A. L. Katz, May 2007
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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