I didn’t think this was quite as good as the later books in the series that I began with but definitely well worth going back for. Nell has just returned from a spell in Holloway for chucking a brick through the window of 10 Downing Street (I’d guess that that is covered in another book) when Mrs Pankhurst sends her off to investigate a legacy of fifty thousand pounds that has been left to the Women’s Social and Political Union (aka the suffragettes). The money has been left to them by a high class prostitute who has suicided and Nell thinks everything is not as straightforward as it looks (and lets face it that’s not very straightforward to start with).

Most of the story takes place in Biarritz on the French Riveria but I didn’t think that the setting came quite to life.. Once again though the characters were excellent and I enjoyed seeing more of Bobbie Fieldfare, a bit of a firecracker in the suffragettes arsenal who took a brief role in A Perfect Daughter. I’m impressed that Linscott includes some defiantly anti-feminist characters among the women as well as the men in these books. It all adds up to an interesting picture of life before the first world war and as I think I’ve mentioned before I get the feeling that Linscott gets historical accuracy into these books without pushing research down the readers throat. This is rapidly becoming one of my favourite series.