KJ Charles is a favorite romance author of mine, so the occasion of her releasing a new book is always cause for celebration. But the very early standalone Think of England has always been a particular favorite, so I was thrilled to learn that KJ Charles had plans for a prequel novel, an f/f murder mystery set at a shooting party at an English manor house in the Edwardian era. Proper English follows the talented shooter Pat Merton, who is competent and sensible and has never had much time for romance — until she meets her dear friend’s new fiancee, the beautiful heiress Fenella Carruth, who may not be as fluffy and cherishable as she pretends to be.
I adore and cherish romances where one of the principals appears to be a familiar type of character you’ve encountered a hundred times. Proper English only employs Pat’s pov (which is fine because Pat is a treasure), which means that we see Fen through her eyes only. If you didn’t know KJ Charles (or that this is an f/f romance), you might believe that Fen was going to serve the role characters like her usually serve: the flawlessly femme and frivolous YEAH I JUST DID THAT society bitch who exists to make Pat (not like other girls tm) feel bad about herself. Instead, Fen is fucking great. She lets people believe that she’s frivolous because it’s what they already want to see — but Pat is paying attention, so she’s able to see that there’s way more to Fen than curls and boobs.
Proper English is a murder mystery with a twist, that twist being that it’s also a romance novel, which means that everybody you care about has to end the story relatively happily. It’s great! I can’t believe I never thought of this as an innovation for a murder mystery! One of the saddest things about (some) manor house murder mystery novels is that the person who did it might end up being someone whose love story you were kind of rooting for. That can literally never happen in a romance novel. If the love is true, the lovers must be innocent. HOORAY. Moreover, the person who gets murdered also can’t be someone you cared about that much. It’s so good! I can’t imagine why murder mysteries haven’t all chosen to be romance novels.
If you love Agatha Christie but wish that she had included way more ladies kissing and way less racism, Proper English has you covered. It’s out on Wednesday, so you still have time to live your best life by preordering!
Note: I received an ARC of this book from the author for review consideration. This has not impacted the contents of my review.