The Age of Desire

Jennie Fields' novel about the friendship between Edith Wharton and her governess turned literary secretary and confidante, Anna Bahlmann, is told through the points of view of both women. Even though I enjoyed learning more about Wharton's life, including her affair with a younger journalist, I much preferred the story line that dealt with Anna Bahlmann's life, including learning that her brother, William F. Bahlmann, was once a professor at Central Missouri State University - the same university my younger brother retired from about 100 years after Professor Bahlmann.
"The Age of Desire takes us on a sparkling journey through Wharton's turn of the century world: Paris with its glamorous literary salons and dark cafes; the Whartons' elegant house, The Mount, in Lenox, Massachusetts; and Henry James's manse in Rye, England. Edith's real letters and diary entries are woven throughout."

 The secret to understanding some of the (I thought) gratuitous story lines in Juliet Nicolson's novel Abdication, is knowing the author is the granddaughter of Vita Sackville-West. Otherwise, the book is a somewhat interesting re-imagining of the story of Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII's affair and his subsequent abdication in order to marry the twice-divorced American. Personally, after viewing the award winning, The King's Speech, I believe the Brits lucked out.

Rhys Bowen's 'Molly Murphy Mysteries' never fail to provide a period piece really worth reading. In this eleventh in the series, Molly and her new husband, Daniel Sullivan, a captain in the New York Police Department, have been invited to spend their honeymoon on the Newport, Rhode Island estate of Alderman Brian Hanna.
The Alderman's generous offer may not be entirely without strings as he had mentioned to Daniel that something was troubling him and he wanted Captain Sullivan's advice as a police detective. When Hanna is found dead at the base of the cliffs that overlook the ocean before he even has a chance to welcome the couple, Molly and Daniel both suspect foul play.
The local constabulary is quick to label the death a suicide. Daniel believes the Alderman could have been murdered, but before he can lend his expertise, he develops a life-threatening case of pneumonia. So even though Molly promised to give up her detective work once she was married, it is up to her to find the motive and the murderer in Hush Now, Don't You Cry. 

Obvious, isn't it, that of the three books I liked Rhys Bowen's the best?