Customer Reviews

The Withdrawing Room (Kelly/ Bittersohn Detective series, 2nd)

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The Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn mysteries are wonderful. They've quickly become my favorite mystery series, after the Peter Whimsy books.

Who could not fall in love with Sarah and Max as they move closer to admitting their feelings towards each other in this second book of the series. I like that the series introduces Max as a "friend" in the first book, as Sarah deals with the murder of her beloved husband. Throughout all the series, you see her dealing with the death, falling in love with Max, and moving to make her life her own again. Great characters.

The mysteries are fun and lighthearted. Usually, as in Withdrawing Room, there's some twist that is not expected. But what makes the mysteries above average are the supporting characters, and the customs of Old-money Boston that are skillfully woven into each book.

I definitely recommend these wonderful books.

Charlotte MacLeod has a talent for taking all of the ingredients of a standard cozy and cooking up a very tasty little dish.

This book, which is in her Sarah Kelling series, takes a look at a Boston blue blood family on its way down. Sarah Kelling (of the Beacon Hill Kellings, has been forced to turn her historic, brownstone home into a boarding house. As a result she has a ready made bunch of entertainly eccentric suspects when one of her tenants winds up unexpectly deceased.

Highly recommended for cozy fans who enjoy a spoonful of absurdity with their mystery.

Sarah Kelling is a recently widowed young woman who is desperately trying to make ends meet when she is left almost penniless. Until the bank sorts out her finances, she decides to convert the gracious old family home she has inherited into a genteel boarding house for ladies and gentlemen who would appreciate the ambience in living in one of the former great houses of Boston. The largest of her rooms, the former drawing room which used to be called the withdrawing room, was were the ladies were sent to drink tea and gossip after dinner, while the gentlemen drank their port and brandy and smoked cigars. This is let out to a bumptious little man who comes with references from a family member, but who turns out to be such a pain in the neck that it's almost a relief when he falls under a subway train. The room is then snapped up by a man who claims to be an antiques expert with international connections. When his body is found in the local park, apparently the victim of a mugger, after only a few days of residence, Sarah begins to seriously question all of these happenings as being just TOO coincidental and asks a friend to help with an investigation. There are a few red herrings introduced by way of the other guests but, by and large, it's a tiny, read in a day, bit of gentle fun which would be ideal for a plane trip.

After Sarah Kelling's husband and mother-in-law die and she finds that the family homes are heavily mortgaged, Sarah takes the necessary steps to set up the Tulip St. house to take in "paying guests." True to form the boarders that Sarah gets are quite the collection of interesting characters and when one of the dies in a questionable subway accident Sarah is once again in the middle of murder and mayhem.

The characters in this series just continue to grow and delight me. Ms. MacLeod had a firm grasp on human nature and does a lovely job of entertaining us by using almost every facet of behavior know to polite society. This book is very much like a trip to visit one's eccentric relatives

Great mystery, A young widow opens a boarding house in Boston, one of her boarders is murdered, another boarder has a secret, Interesting relatives, a bag lady who seems to know more than the police do. If you enjoy Agatha Christie or Mignon Eberhart you are sure to enjoy Charlotte MacLeod.