2019/51: Proper English -- K J Charles

“You’re contorting yourself to be fair to him,” Fen observed. “I don’t suppose you’d tolerate a fiancé treating you with disinterest.”
“To be honest, if I had to marry, I’d far prefer a husband who was mostly unaware of my existence.” [loc. 825]

Patricia Merton is at something of a loose end. Her brother, whose household she's managed for years, is getting married, and Pat decides it would be better all round if she were to set up on her own. Luckily, she doesn't have to start her new life just yet: her old friend the Honorable Jimmy Yoxall is hosting a shooting party in Northumberland, and Pat -- who is an excellent shot (All-England Ladies Champion) and prefers to be 'one of the boys' -- is looking forward to spending time with her friends and her older brother Bill.

Until, disastrously, it turns out that Jimmy's fiancée, a 'daughter of industry' whose dowry might save Jimmy's estates, has invited herself to the gathering. Together with Jimmy's acidic sister Anna, her husband, an offensive friend of Anna's, and Jimmy's mother's goddaughter (Miss Victoria Singh, a Girton graduate and principled vegetarian) it's far from the quiet, amicable break that Pat had anticipated.

And that's before she meets Miss Fenella Carruth, the fiancée in question, who is giggly and blonde and buxom, and utterly charming -- and whose presence Jimmy barely acknowledges.

A delightful love story wrapped around a murder mystery that satisfies from the moment the (despicable) victim is discovered, Proper English is witty, warm and well-paced. The secondary characters are interesting individuals (even the household staff have characters!) and the various means, motives and methods are pleasingly twisty. The narrative viewpoint is entirely Pat's: she is eminently sensible and practical, but not especially worldly, and she's in for several surprises.

And Fen is a delight. She knows that people don't take her seriously: "I don’t look serious. I’ve got a big bosom and a giggle. " She's curvy and pretty and frothy, and far from stupid..

This novel's set a couple of years before Think of England, and readers familiar with that volume will note a few subtle references (as well as, of course, being quite sure of the happy ending). Proper English certainly doesn't require any knowledge of the other book, though: it stands alone perfectly well, though may tempt you to read or reread Think of England.