Guest Post – Meet Philomena Amesbury, The Countess of Dunbridge

Please welcome Philomena Amesbury, The Countess of Dunbridge. She is the main character in Shelley Noble’s Lady Dunbridge historical mystery series. Today Phil and Shelly are sharing with us the latest installment in the series “Tell Me No Lies.” After getting to know the Countess, be sure to scroll down to the tour section to click the big red button for your chance to win one of 2 print copies of the new book.

Guest Dear Readers

I’m delighted to be here with you today, remarkable since I’m living in 1907. Isn’t it marvelous? For those of you whom I haven’t met, my name is Philomena Amesbury, Phil to my friends, The Countess of Dunbridge to the rest of the world.

Actually, it’s Dowager Duchess, the Earl, not the nicest fellow on earth, left this mortal coil soon after my twenty-fourth birthday. In my opinion, no one my age should be saddled with the odious designation of Dowager.

What could I do, but cause a few scandals, sending my father into a tizzy hence my spontaneous trip to America? Well, really, tit for tat. All these young American heiresses coming to England to marry titles. Why shouldn’t an impecunious countess go to America to earn her fortune?

I say, earn. Yes, something else that sent my father into a tizzy, but after being virtually sold on the “marriage mart” the first time around, I vowed to never, ever depend on a man, gentleman or not, for my subsistence.

After all, it’s the Twentieth Century, and I am a modern woman. Unfortunately, I don’t really have any useable skills. At least I didn’t think I had. I had found myself in the midst of a little murder investigation before I left for the states. But, really anyone could have solved it, except the inspector from the Metropolitan police who was assigned to the case. But that’s another story.

I think that was what finally sent dear Papa into an apoplexy. My little indiscretions he could ignore, my insistence on independence, he could discount as an odd kick in my gallop. But to hobnob with policemen was the last straw.

He strongly suggested I visited dear Aunt Sephronia in Yorkshire. I left for New York the following week.

19057 Packard Ah, New York! I had planned to stay with my friend, Bev, but in ASK ME NO QUESTIONS, I walked off the ship to find Bev leaning over her husband, who was sprawled out on the lap of his Floradora girl mistress in the back seat of his brand new yellow Packard.

He was dead as the proverbial doornail. Someone had to do something and I was happy to oblige.

Bev's auto yellow During that case, which you’ll be glad to hear, I solved with the invaluable help of my maid Lily, and my Butler, Preswick. Also with the aid, when he wasn’t trying to stop us, from Detective Sergeant John Atkins, whose handsome (of course) chiseled features could have been lifted straight from the cover of a dime novel. And who probably is the last honest policeman in the New York Police Department. (Poor Mr. Roosevelt went to all the trouble of cleaning the department up, only to have it degenerate as soon as he left to become President.)

cbf0eb950f10a2754d7996e482ac4b49 And also with the help of a not so gentlemanly, but by far more elusive and intriguing fellow, I have named Mr. X. for lack of a more definitive moniker. We’ve never actually seen what he looks like or learned his name, since he always appears in disguise like Preswick’s favorite detective, Mr. Sherlock Holmes . . . if he appears at all.

Balloons We’d barely finished with the social events of the summer before I was asked to help with a sticky situation in one of the prominent families of Manhattan. Their daughter’s intended was murdered at her birthday ball. Evidently, I had already earned the reputation of being efficient, thoroughly discreet and trustworthy as well as being able to get results while cushioning the family from scandal as much as possible.

You can read about this investigation in TELL ME NO LIES.

Who knew making a name for myself and becoming financially independent could be so fortuitous and so successful and so quickly?

Perhaps we’ll have a little rest now, our first Christmas in America. After all, criminals must take a holiday sometimes, don’t they?

About The Book:

Tell Me No Lies: A Lady Dunbridge Novel by Shelley Noble

Miss Fisher meets Downton Abbey in Tell Me No Lies, part of the critically acclaimed Lady Dunbridge Mystery series from New York Times bestselling author Shelley Noble.

Rise and shine, Countess, you’re about to have a visitor.

Lady Dunbridge was not about to let a little thing like the death of her husband ruin her social life. She’s come to New York City, ready to take the dazzling world of Gilded Age Manhattan by storm. The social events of the summer have been amusing but Lady Phil is searching for more excitement—and she finds it, when an early morning visitor arrives, begging for her help. After all, Lady Phil has been known to be useful in a crisis. Especially when the crisis involves the untimely death of a handsome young business tycoon.

His death could send another financial panic through Wall Street and beyond.

With the elegant Plaza Hotel, Metropolitan Museum of Art and the opulent mansions of Long Island’s Gold Coast as the backdrop, romance, murder, and scandals abound. Someone simply must do something. And Lady Dunbridge is happy to oblige.

Book Links: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

About The Author:

Shelley Noble is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary women’s fiction. (Beach Colors, Whisper Beach, Lighthouse Beach.) And the author of the Lady Dunbridge Gilded Age Manhattan mysteries. Tell Me No Lies is the latest of the series.

She has written eighteen amateur sleuth and historical mystery novels and novellas as Shelley Freydont. (The Sudoku Murders, Celebration Bay mysteries, The Gilded Age Newport mysteries.

A former professional dancer and choreographer, Shelley lives at the Jersey shore where she loves to discover new beaches and to indulge her passion for lighthouses, vintage carousels, and the past.