All Done By Kindness

 

All Done By Kindness / Doris Langley Moore
London: Dean Street Press, 2020, c1951.
246 p.

This is the first novel by Doris Langley Moore I've read, and I really enjoyed it, for many reasons. She was one of the first female fashion historians in England, and started the first costume museum there, with the support of luminaries such as Dior and the Queen Mother. She wrote novels, society guides, and plays and had a wide artistic circle. All this appealed to me! 

But on to this book itself. I didn't know much about it when I began reading, which is a great way to go into it. It follows the Sandilands family, a country doctor with two adult daughters, after he is given a trunk of old paintings by an elderly patient. She is grateful for his care for her despite her increasing lack of funds - all she has left is a big old house that's now mostly shut up. These paintings turn out not to be the junk they'd all first assumed. 

Dr. Sandilands' two daughters are quite different from one another. Beatrix, the eldest, is orderly, bossy and controls the household. Linda, the younger, is laissez-faire, with a part time job in the local library, and not much concern about housekeeping. She knows that her boss, librarian Stephanie du Plessis, is an amateur art specialist as well as a fiend when it comes to research, so asks her to take a look at the paintings. Stephanie comes up with a solid provenance and theory, and believes they are worth a whole lot. 

So Beatrix and Dr. Sandilands head up to a real art expert in London, Sir Harry Maximer. But his opinion on them depends greatly on what he wants to do with them. The scheming is underway! 

The book starts a bit slowly, but gets going once the paintings are in play. So many characters with their eye on them, so much shadiness, so many ploys and counterploys! It's great fun. I was all in once Stephanie de Plessis appeared; how many times does a clever librarian get to be the driving force in a novel? I loved it. 

It's fun, with a dash of serious art history, some romance, and a really satisfying ending with only one minor thread not tied up. The villain gets an unusual comeuppance and it made me laugh. For a clever and amusing romp, with art and librarians and museums involved, this one is a great choice. I'd definitely read more of Moore's work on the strength of this one.