A Lethal Engagement

Skelly returns to the Gilded Age (following Murder at Mistlethwaite Manor, written as AJ Skelly) with this 1890-set mystery. Cora Beaumont expected there would be a hiccup or two on the maiden voyage of the Lady Air airship but she didn’t expect a dead body. Traveling with her fiancé Terrence Tristan, his older brother Nicholas, and their cousin Ophelia Hortense, Cora is en route from the United States to England to visit her future in-laws. However, just as their journey begins, the body of a woman is discovered in the airship’s third-class section. After her father’s death, Cora is now in charge of the CAB Airship Company, and as far as she is concerned, that means she will be taking an active role in any investigation. Skelly deftly enriches her intriguing plot with fascinating historical details about airship travel and a vividly etched cast of characters that includes a plucky heroine who isn’t about to take a backseat to any man when it comes to running a business or investigating a murder.