Murder Through the English Post: A Beryl and Edwina Mystery by Jessica Ellicott

 This is one of a series set in a sleepy English village, featuring school friends who have reconnected as adults in post-WWI England. Both are in need of friendship, and they also reflect the impact of women's changing roles in England. Beryl is an American adventurer and free spirit, Edwina a proper and respectable Englishwoman of very straightened circumstances. Together they have formed an "enquiry agency," aided by the gardener Simpkins, who also is faced with a changing role when he inherits money. There's a satisfying glimpse of a bygone village way of life, and an unexpected twist at the end.

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