The Ambitious Stepmother (Hardcover)

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Review
'Fidelis Morgan's tale of love and greed and alchemy in 1699 is a heady compound of wit, wisdom and wildness. It's an unsentimental warts-and-all portrait that reeks of authenticity, written with a brio that reflects the age' Val McDermid 'Hilarious 17th century romp, which combines an authentic slice of history with a tantalising storyline. An authority on the era, Morgan has created an inventive book which wears its learning lightly. Colourful turns of phrase and witty descriptions -- like a bawdy P.G. Wodehouse -- leave you with a keen sense of the period' Daily Mail 'A lusty, audacious historical romp ...all the bawdiness of London at the turn of the 18th century is brought to life' Maxim Jakubowski, Guardian 'Thigh-slapping, exclamatory stuff ... loudly, lustily, enthusiastically done' Literary Review 'The perfect autumn read' Marie Claire

The Countess Ashby de la Zouche is an aristo down on her luck but determined to live in a manner befitting her title, despite the fact that she doesn't have two farthings to rub together. She and her maid, the bosomy Alpiew, turned detective in earlier books in this ribald late-17th century series, and here they are at it again. Described by one critic as 'Cagney and Lacey in corsets', and by another as 'tart noir in petticoats', they set off for France acting as unlikely chaperones to a beautiful teenager. Their mission is to preserve the girl's virginity, and at 100 guineas plus a sojourn in the country of all-night gambling, they think their boat has really come in. The Countess also sees a way of making some extra brass by writing of her travels for The Trumpet, one of the new newspapers springing up in England. But things start to go horribly wrong when she sits down to her first French feast and finds it is poisoned. The Countess and Alpiew are the very antithesis of what 17th-century women were supposed to be like. No demureness or modesty here, and nor is their relationship of the mistress-servile-servant type. They can curse along with the best, they eye up all the incredible hunks, and caustic witticisms come with almost every utterance. Their latest whodunnit combines mystery with farce and decadence, plunging them into a plot involving three Kings and a madcap set of circumstances at the Court of Versailles. Not least of the mind-boggling incidents is a run-in with a crowd of burly blokes whose hobby is embroidery. Following on from Unnatural Fire and The Rival Queens, actress and comedy writer Fidelis Morgan has another winner here. (Kirkus UK)

Product Description
Next in Fidelis Morgan's hugely entertaining series featuring the irrepressible Countess Ashby de la Zouche and her stupendously bosomed former maid, Alpiew. It is the silly season. News is thin on the ground. Newspapers are proliferating and there are even rumours that a woman is trying to start a daily paper. The Cues are desperate to hook in new readers for The Trumpet. As luck would have it the new wife of an old friend of the Countess wants her to chaperone her beautiful step-daughter, Virginia, to France, and so, to kill two birds with one stone, the Countess proposes that she and Alpiew write their Trumpet column from the Royal Courts. Almost as soon as their feet touch French soil, a recent spate of poisonings at the Courts proves fatal, and the Countess and Alpiew are once again plunged into a murder hunt. All this while they struggle valiantly to protect the young girl's virginity from a string of rampant Frenchmen. Their trail leads through Huguenot plots against the king and Catholic plots against the English, through the intricacies of the new French Cuisine, bigotry, decadence, sexual depravity, grand living and burly men whose hobby is embroidery.

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2 Reviews 5 star:  (1) 4 star:  (1) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   6 of 7 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Semper Fidelis!, 15 Dec 2002 By A Customer All I want to know is 'will there be more?' This is the third in Fidelis Morgan's highly original seventeenth century detective series - not a seedy Glaswegian detective in sight! Her heroine is a down-at-heel aristocrat and her over-endowed serving maid - the comic potential of this pair is well-served in this, the naughtiest of the trilogy - I had to put the book down to bellow with laughter in parts - the double-entendres come thick and fast in this one - surely all those TV and film developers must be beating a path to Morgan's door? Those great theatrical dames of a certain age would give back their DBEs to play this part. The plot, as usual, is complex and the violence is surprisingly gory, but the laughs are never far behind the poisonings and the perfidy. Alpiew and Ashby De La Zouche find themselves in France at the court of Saint Germain as minders to the stepdaughter of Mrs Franklyn-Green but no sooner have they set foot on foreign soil than they are set upon by footpads ... or are they? Crime writers take note, you don't have to write about a sleazeball detective with a polystyrene cup of lukewarm coffee to keep your readers guessing. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   0 of 3 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Restoration comedy or historical novel?, 28 Jan 2004 By  aapjebaapje "aapjebaapje" - See all my reviews This review is from: The Ambitious Stepmother (Countess Ashby 3) (Paperback) I missed the London setting but enjoyed the plot. This is easy reading for those of us who like a historical novel but are overwhelmed at times by the seriousness of some authors. However, I think that the author is in danger of reflecting Restoration comedies too fully in the names she chooses for her characters. A little more overt history and a little less slapstick probably wouldn’t go amiss. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 2 customer reviews...		Ad feedback   Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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