Allison Montclair's Sparks & Bainbridge Mystery series is one of my favorites. In the 7th entry, An Excellent Thing in a Woman, set in London in 1947, Iris Sparks and Gwen Bainbridge are proprietors of The Right Sort marriage bureau. They feel that one of their clients may be a good match for a young Parisian dancer who claims she needs to get married quickly so she doesn't have to return to France. But they are unnerved when the woman's dead body is discovered--the third of their customers to be murdered since they opened the bureau. Could it be that an unsatisfactory first date ended in tragedy, or are there other intrigues in play? At the same time, the pair are facing compelling personal issues. Iris is desolate after the murder of her boyfriend, Archie, and Gwen is in the throes of a new intimate relationship with Salvatore (Sally), a good friend of Iris's since their Cambridge days.

I loved the depiction of early television, as the BBC cobbles together diverse programs for those few who have purchased a TV. Sally is the stage manager for a show that is intended to entertain British viewers with a look at dancers, singers, and puppeteers from across the Channel and finds himself the number one suspect in the young dancer's murder. I marveled at the way Iris and Gwen once again get involved in a police investigation and are able to put together clues, suspicions, knowledge, and personal experience to help solve the mystery, sometimes in the face of personal danger. It was also fascinating to learn more about what Iris did in World War II--still protected by the British government--and how incidents from her past might be clues to a current mystery.

I think Sparks & Bainbridge are one of the most engaging duos in historical mysteries--both in their personal lives and in their chosen career, which often becomes entangled with law enforcement. And Allison Montclair, who is actually Alan Gordon, has managed to very effectively create and develop these females into admirable, relatable characters who never fail to engage and delight me. I'm not sure what the title means, nor why this book is substantially shorter than its series predecessors, but neither affected my satisfying reading experience.

My thanks to Severn House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

An Excellent Thing in a Woman, the seventh installment in the Sparks and Bainbridge mystery series is a very good and compelling read. As in all the books in this series which centers around Iris Sparks and Gwen Bainbridge, co owners of The Right Sort Marriage Bureau, there is a mystery involving a client searching for their future mate. There is a rather complicated plot involving a troupe of Parisian dancers, the start of BBC television and Iris Spark’s secret past involvement in WWII operations. If you liked the previous books (which I did) you will like this book. The mysteries are always well thought out and well plotted.

This was a strong seventh book in the Sparks & Bainbridge Mystery series, it had that mystery element that I was looking for and enjoyed the overall story being told. The characters had that overall concept that I was looking for and enjoyed getting through this. Allison Montclair has a strong writing style and was invested in what was going on.