Maureen’s Lover by Lavinia Fitch

Thanks to Martin Randall

Title: Maureen’s Lover

Author: Lavinia Fitch

Publisher: Ross and Cromarty 

Source book: To Love and Be Wise by Josephine Tey (Inspector Grant #4)

To Love and Be Wise starts at the launch party for Maureen’s Lover: Lavinia Fitch’s twenty-first novel. 

Mrs Nora Williams, wife of Sergeant Williams (and mother of Angela and Leonard), is a big fan of Lavinia Fitch’s books. She says three things make her feel cosy: a hot water bottle, a quarter pound of chocolates, and a new Lavinia Fitch. 

We never learn much about Lavinia’s books. They’re about interchangeable young women called Sylvia or Daphne or Valerie. Possibly Angela, Cecile or Denise. They play tennis. They meet their lover while gathering violets in the dawn on Capri or something similar. One book, set in Valletta, features in Daughter of Time (Josephine Tey’s most famous book) but we know nothing about it except that the dust wrapper shows Valletta in “unlikely pink”. I can see that book fitting in nicely on my grandmother’s bookshelves, dust wrapper included.

However, we do know that Lavinia makes a lot of money from her books. She owns a very large Victorian  gothic mansion in Salcott St Mary, where her sister Emma, her sister’s stepdaughter Liz, and her nephew Walter all live. Liz acts as Lavinia’s secretary and she is engaged to the somewhat smug Walter, who is inclined to take her for granted.