Paging suckers for an English country house mystery! The Mandeville series may be just the fix you’re jonesing for. First up, is it just me or does the name strike a subtle chord for Daphne du Maurier fans with: “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley…” etched on our brains?

A decade has passed since Louisa Arnold altered the doomed trajectory of Hill House, home of the Mandevilles, in author Callie Langridge’s excellent Book #1 A Time to Change.   Book #2 brings us to 1924, introducing a new main character, romance author Nell Potter. It’s now a very different England from the idyllic ‘Edwardian afternoon’ of the pre-war decade. WWI changed everything: to paraphrase Sir Edward Grey, the lamps went all over Europe and would not be lit again.

As the Brits take bitter stock of all that was lost, Nell seems to channel the national angst as she rides the train to Hill House, reflecting: “The leaves were full of their summer colour and plumpness, so unlike the barren wasteland inside her head.” She has a deadline looming and her creative juices have dried up. She is hoping to find inspiration from a change of surroundings, having accepted an invitation to the family pile from former Cambridge roommate Charlotte Mandeville.

Nell soon detects an unease in the idyllic environment inhabited by the genteel Mandeville clan. Early in the story, a menacing intruder alarms a maid in the house and then Nell encounters him on a walk. A WSPU suffrage activist, she has learned self-defense and doesn’t back down. The man is scared off by the family chauffeur and they call the police. Nell meets Inspector Painter, who plays a role in events to come, as does Paul Kenmore, a battle-scarred American trauma surgeon who forms a romantic connection with Charlotte Mandeville.

As the story progresses, the threat becomes more immediate and Nell begins to understand there’s a greater purpose in her presence at Hill House than formulating her next pot boiler romance. She must deal with her unresolved past trauma before she can embrace a possible future.

Ms. Langridge captures the wistful nostalgia and simmering anger of the period poignantly at times, and the shifting political tides are interwoven through the story in threads that speak to class tensions. Charlotte’s brother Edward describes her as enamored of the new Labor government and “something of a socialist these days.” They are at odds over his dealings with self-made real estate developer Andrew ‘Wilco’ Wilkinson. I felt there was some social justice barrow-pushing by the author in this element – it contributed little to the plot except an opportunity for Nell to admire Charlotte’s compassion for the under-privileged and signal her own virtuous instincts.

Although it was an engaging human drama, overall the story lacked the compelling well-centered plot of Book #1. I found myself meandering along, feeling as rudderless as Nell, lacking something to connect the various strands more coherently. The elements of spiritualism and time-slip seemed piecemeal. I was lost at times, trying to recall who is who in a sometimes overly busy mish mash of secondary characters.

The ending was a satisfying and touching resolution and although I felt the story as whole never quite jelled, I appreciated that Louisa was brought back to complete the circle and make sense of some threads that needed tying up.  The Mandeville Secret is a respectable but not powerful follow up to a first book that set up some very high expectations. It fell short, for me at 3.25 stars. For readers unfamiliar with the star-ratings at Regency Chronicle, 3 plus stars is a book we consider very good and recommend to readers.

We thank the author, Storm Publishing, and NetGalley for an advance copy. Cover image courtesy of Storm Publishing © 2023.  Review by Pam Baker© 2023 The Regency Chronicle.