Book Review: The Bloomsbury Affair by Anita Davison

So, once more I’ve stumbled late into a series of cosy historical mysteries, and once more I’m left vowing to go back and catch up with the treasures I’ve missed early on in the series. The Bloomsbury Affair is the fifth in the Flora Maguire series by Anita Davison (though, a little confusingly, Flora is now Mrs Harrington rather than Miss Maguire, but that’s a minor detail).

In Edwardian England, former governess Flora Harrington is settled with her solicitor husband Bunny and they’re doing very nicely, thank you. Affluent, well-looked after by the staff, socially well-connected and with the delightful addition of a new baby, everything is going fine — until the arrival of Edward, Viscount Trent, a young man to whom Flora was formerly governess. Ed was on a train with a young man who was found murdered, and he’s the main suspect. Convinced that he can’t be guilty, Flora and Bunny, hampered by Ed and to the exasperation of the detective on the case, set out to prove his innocence.

What follows is a romp through Edwardian London involving the aristocracy, a mysterious interloper and a plot to inherit, all against the background of exiled Russian revolutionaries, including Lenin himself. The plot was twisty yet credible and kept me guessing all the way through. The historical background was cleverly done but not overdone, and somehow Davison manages to subsume her readers without them noticing, so that I felt I was sitting in the lobby of the Dahlia Hotel, or in the doctor’s waiting room in Cheltenham or wherever else she happened to take us.

The book’s greatest strength, however, is its characterisation. All of the main characters are well-drawn and entirely believable. Flora is slightly uncomfortable with the gulf she sees in social class yet human enough to enjoy her advantages, and the relationships between the main characters are wonderfully done. Flora’s interactions with chirpy maid Sally and aristocratic Ed both respect their individuality and yet keep within the social requirements of the times. And Flora’s relationship with Bunny is humorous and touching.

I’m a harsh critic and no book is ever perfect, but the only criticism I have with this one is minor. It’s part of a series and the author seemed to want to make sure we knew it, though actually it worked fine as a standalone. Early on in the book there were plenty of references to Flora’s previous adventures, which added nothing to the plot and served only to spoil a little of the mystery for me for when I go back and catch up with the others. But that’s a minor gripe. I’m looking forward to books one to four in the series — and I’m certainly looking forward to book six.

I received this book from Aria Fiction and Netgalley in return for an honest review.