Ice Blue (Lord and Lady Hetheridge Mystery Series Book 1)

I’m absolutely in love with this series. I binge read all 7 books in less than 2 weeks. The only problem is there is not currently a book 8!Detective Sargent Kate Wakefield comes from an impoverished background and has taken on the responsibility of her young nephew and her mentally challenged older brother. She is a an ambitious detective trying to rise in the ranks at Scotland Yard. It’s a good old boys network but DS Wakefield has no qualms about standing up for herself.Chief Superintendent Anthony Hetheridge, the 9th Baron of Wellegrave, leads a very structured solitary life outside of his capacity at Scotland Yards. That is until he meets DS Wakefield.It’s captivating to watch these characters grow in their personal relationship as well as solve the suspenseful crimes that take place in each book.Get to know the wonderful secondary characters, you will absolutely love them.I love English mysteries, there are a lot of colloquialisms which I really enjoy. Although there are many I’m not familiar with you can figure out their context.I don’t want to give anything away, i just want to emphasize that this serious is top notch. As an avid reader I normally only choose books within my Kindle Unlimited membership, however, I didn’t hesitate for a second to purchase all the books in the series after receiving the first book for free.I can’t recommend this entire series enough. Enjoy!

This is the tale of an almost-stuffy detective whom we learn is still vibrant and passionate beneath his “stiff upper lip” facade. We also meet a down at the heels younger woman that has always been poor but has the intuition and instinct for good police work and good manners.

Who needs to search the Internet when other folks know the kind of thing you love to read? In this case, I'll give a big shout-out to my cousin Rhonda for recommending this six-book series. The description won me over immediately, and as luck would have it, this one - the first - was available at a price I couldn't resist: Free. The same day I downloaded it, somewhat bored with the free-for-review book I was reading at the time, I opened it on another Kindle. And guess what? For the first time in a while, I polished off an entire book in one day. It helps that's it's relatively short as books go - just 240 pages - but I have no doubt I'd have kept at it no matter what the length. What's more, within an hour of finishing, I downloaded the next two.In the beginning, the stars of the show, Lord and Lady Hetheridge, aren't quite there yet. Well, Lord Anthony is - he's the Baron of Wellegrave and chief superintendent of the New Scotland Yard. Detective Sergeant Kate Wakefield - who, given what happens in this book and the series description, at some point will become Lady Hetheridge - works for him. Clearly, she's fiesty; just as clearly, he's smitten. But aside from some cheeky comments that belie the classification of this series as "cozy," they both focus on treating each other professionally and solving a murder.The dead man, gruesomely killed with a fireplace poker, is the husband of a woman once known rather well by the good Lord; from all accounts, he was a nasty sort and no one - not even his wife and daughter - are sorry he's no longer around. Still, it's a murder; so Hetheridge (known less formally as Tony), Kate and her wonderfully entertaining partner Paul Bhar set out to follow the meager clues and interview all who were at the disastrous dinner party earlier on the evening of the murder.Throughout, Tony grapples with his newfound attraction to Kate, who's half his age (as the book begins, he's about to turn 60). He's far from prudish, but a bit on the reserved side; Kate, not so much. As cozy mystery heroines go, she's a breath of fresh air. She's brash, but sensible - she doesn't second-guess her every move or make truly stupid moves like trying to escape a captor by running toward a dark alley rather than a crowded, well-lit store. Her candor - and insistence on speaking her mind no matter what - are her stock in trade, although those qualities are less appreciated by the Scotland Yard muckety-mucks to whom Tony answers.You won't learn further details from me, except to say that the case gets solved amid a few wrong turns on the team's part and edge-of-seat experiences for readers (well, me, at least). There's plenty of fodder left for the next book, (which, Lord willing and the creek don't rise, I'll start within the next day or two). Like this one, I expect it will be absolutely delightful!

A stro ng cast of charac ters on the side of law and or der, with the add ed spice of a pros pective ro mance bet we en the lead detec tive and his fe male ser geant.

A strong cast of char act ers on the side of law and order, with the add ed spice of a prosp ect ive rom ance betw een the lead dete ctive and his fem ale se rgeant.

The storyline of this book is has made me look forward to reading more. When a gruesome murder takes place in the home of Chief superintendent Hetheridge, not upsetting the rich isn't high on his list. For some reason as I read, I was picturing Roy Marsden as Lord Hetheridge. Maybe it's because Emma Jameson paints such visal characters along with scenes that took me inside Scotland Yard and the homes of the rich and famous, along with making twist and turns seem completely natural.

I got #1 free, then had to buy the rest. This is the ONLY series that I have paid full price for ALL the books. Can't wait for #8 to come out.They have a bit of Perry Mason to me in that I can't always guess who the guilty party is. I like the romance in them, but not any sex to them, very little foul language in spite of the situations involved. Hated what happens to some of my fav characters thru some of the books. Wish some of them 'get theirs' sooner. LOL.I love the May-December romance of Tony and Kate. Very prejudiced about that part - I happily lived that type romance for 27 years myself till he passed away.You DO need to read them in order or you WILL NOT understand them.

This story is cute and catches you unaware. The participants are definitely unusual and full of surprises! When a blueblood goes into police work, a prostitute marries a rich man, and a murder occurs by use of fireplace poker prepare to want to read straight through the night to untangle the clues.

Clearly the writer has made an effort to set her book in England, but so many Americanisms remain that it's clear she hasn't been near a native-English editor; and ultimately I found this sloppy and irritating. Many of the slips would have been comprehensible to English readers, bombarded as they are with American culture from TV and cinema; but they're just not "right", particularly in dialogue. For example: the policemen enjoy "curry and bourbon"? Try whiskey, or even better, lager. For "mudroom" try "laundry room"; for "pinky finger", "little finger"; and so on. And I never heard of "distiller's droop" - almost right, but it's "brewer's droop". So, sorry, I couldn't finish the book and won't be trying any more in this series.

Poor imitation of Elizabeth George, obviously written for the American market. The author's English friends made a pretty poor job of proofreading - there are still too many Americanisms. Hope they do better in the rest of the series. (don't know how Sgt. Wakefield managed to afford to buy several silk suits from Harrods, a live in carer for her two charges and pay London rental too; the Metropolitan Police Sergeant I know personally laughed his head off.

What an intriguing opener to a series. A strong cast of characters on the side of law and order, with the added spice of a prospective romance between the lead detective and his female sergeant. Murders occur in the upper echelons of society as well as in the gutter. There have always been rich pickings for writers among those born into 'old' money, those who have had to slave for it and the common people who grub along without ever having much of anything. This tale makes full use of the interaction, or lack of it, between those who occupy the different layers of British society. I found it thoroughly convincing. The settings were well-observed, the police procedural element was never overpowering in its detail and I wanted to read the second book in the series as soon as I'd finished this one. I can't say fairer than that.

This is obviously for the American market and the inaccuracies and lack of proofreading did irritate.Clearly no idea about UK, so why set it here? The classic was when a character who lives in a rubbish flat with an elder brother and nephew to support bought a number of suits (5 from memory) from Harrods with a personal shopper - seriously? It would never happen.It was pretty tame and not one I would recommend.

Apart from the rather far fetched plot, the book was marred by all the Americanisms. If the author wants to write about the UK then she needs to be more thorough with her research or find a better editor.This book was a freebie so I suppose I can't complain, but I certainly won't be buying any more of the series.