THE MITFORD MURDERS

The pleasures of this English murder mystery, set in 1920, are many. Rachel Atkins's crisp performance is just right, moving the pace along without rushing and channeling everyone from nasal aristocrat to working-class copper. We follow Louisa Cannon, daughter of a washerwoman, who talks her way into a nurserymaid job with the Mitford family. The Mitfords were real people, whose adult children dominated 1940s British headlines. The novel's crime, a murder aboard a train, is also historical fact. The fun comes when Louisa and Nancy, the eldest Mitford girl, set out to find the murderer. A concluding interview with author Jessica Fellowes, who wrote the "Downton Abbey" companion books, promises more in this fun, well-narrated series, each set around a real-life unsolved murder. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2018]