The Ambitious Stepmother - Hardcover

Fidelis Morgan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0007134231 ISBN 13: 9780007134236

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2002

Synopsis

The Countess Ashby de la Zouch would not be every parent's choice of chaperone for a beautiful teenager, still fewer would entrust her with finding the girl a husband. But the second Mrs Alderman Franklyn-Green is willing to go to any lengths to get rid of her unwanted stepdaughter Virginia. The promise of 100 guineas and a sojourn in France is sufficient to secure the Countess's services, even if the girl is a complete shrew. Sadly, the exiled English Court at St Germain does not live up to their expectations. Worse, any hopes of enjoying fine French cuisine are dashed when a fellow guest is poisoned. Once more the Countess and Alpiew are plunged into a dangerous investigation, unravelling plots against three kings and negotiating the culinary eccentricities of the Court of Versailles.

About this title

About the Author:

Fidelis Morgan is an actor and an expert in Restoration comedy. Acclaimed for her stage plays, Pamela and Hangover Square, she also collaborated with Lynda la Plante on England's Channel 4's tense pschological thriller Killer Net. She has written nonfiction studies of charismatic female figures from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and contributed to the bestselling Virago anthology Wicked. In her first novel, Unnatural Fire, she combined historical interest with her life-long passion for crime fiction.

Fidelis Morgan is an actor and an expert in Restoration comedy. Acclaimed for her stage plays, Pamela and Hangover Square, she also collaborated with Lynda la Plante on England's Channel 4's tense pschological thriller Killer Net. She has written nonfiction studies of charismatic female figures from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and contributed to the bestselling Virago anthology Wicked. In her first novel, Unnatural Fire, she combined historical interest with her life-long passion for crime fiction.

From AudioFile:

In a series of tongue-in-cheek novels, the impecunious Countess Ashby de la Zouche and her maid servant scramble for a living and solve mysteries in lusty Restoration England. In this rollicking episode, the two are hired (or gulled) to chaperone an eligible and waspish maiden as she hunts husbands among exiled British nobles in France. Author Fidelis Morgan also happens to be an actor. In both capacities she contributes considerable zest, adventure, wit, suspense, and delightful characterization to her heroines' trials and tribulations. Is she over the top? Yes, but in a way controlled by her excellent performance technique. Her fondness for and extensive knowledge of the period and its theater inform even her (intentional) anachronisms. Altogether an unusually literate and unique contribution to the genre of detection. Y.R. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0007134231
• ISBN 13: 9780007134236
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352