Description (from cover):'Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins make an incomparable pair of sleuths in the start of a delightful new series.
Following her successful appearance at an Embassy Ball--where Eliza Doolittle won Professor Henry Higgins' bet that he could pass off a Cockney flower girl as a duchess--Eliza becomes an assistant to his chief rival, Emil Nepommuck.
After Nepommuck publicly takes credit for transforming Eliza into a lady, an enraged Higgins submits proof to a London newspaper that Nepommuck is a fraud. When Nepommuck is found with a dagger in his back, Henry Higgins becomes Scotland Yard's prime suspect.
However, Eliza learns that most of Nepommuck's pupils had a reason to murder their blackmailing teacher. As another suspect turns up dead and evidence goes missing, Eliza and Higgins realize the only way to clear the Professor's name is to discover which of Nepommuck's many enemies in the real killer. When all the suspects attend a performance of Hamlet at Drury Lane, Eliza and Higgins don their theater best and race to upstage a murderer.
This reimagining of George Bernard Shaw's beloved characters is sheer pleasure. Wouldn't It Be Deadly transports readers to Edwardian London, from the aristocratic environs of Mayfair to the dangerous back alleys of the East End. Eliza and Henry steal the show in this charming traditional mystery.'
My thoughts:
I've only had the privilege of watching some of My Fair Lady and I loved Audrey Hepburn's character in it. When I heard that there was going to be a cozy mystery based on the characters, I knew that I wanted to read it. I enjoyed this one and I loved how the author used the characters in this book. The characters are very similar to the ones in the movie and play and I love how the author decided to stay true to the character's natures. That alone is a hard feat, and I admire that greatly. Eliza Doolittle in this book is a lot like the Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. However this book takes place after the Embassy Ball, Eliza has changed, but as the saying goes, 'You can take a girl out of the East End, but you can't take the East End out of the girl.'
Eliza tries her best to be her new and reformed self, but at times, the reader sees the East End Eliza make an appearance. I really enjoyed this book for it's characters and I thought that it was a well written cozy mystery. I am anxious to read the next in this series and see how the author continues Eliza's and Professor Higgins' story. I thought that this was a unique idea and I applaud the author for their use of creativity and plot to make this one I was hard pressed to put down.
I found this one to be highly amusing and entertaining. I simply cannot wait to read the next one. If you love My Fair Lady and like cozy mysteries, I highly recommend this one for you. I thought that the author stayed true to detail and did an epic job of taking something so famous and making a cozy mystery out of it that I immensely enjoyed.
Overall Rating: 4
Title: Wouldn't It Be Deadly
Author: D.E. Ireland
Series: Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins Mystery #1
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: September 23, 2014
Pages: 336
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Get It: Amazon; Barnes & Noble
Disclaimer: This book was purchased by myself and I reviewed this book without compensation of any kind. All thoughts and opinions are solely mine.
