The Admiral's Lady
by Joan Aiken
in
The Mammouth Book of Historical Detectives
Historical Detectives
edited by
Mike Ashley
amazon.com
Paperback (August 1995)
 Carroll & Graf; ISBN: 0786702141
amazon.co.uk
                           Paperback - 543 pages (11 July, 1995) 
                           Constable Robinson; ISBN: 1854874063

        Review by Linda Waldemar, March 29, 2001
This is a very short story. The narrator is a doctor who is called to the home of Admiral Sir Mark Crawford. He has attended him before, but this time it is his wife who needs the attention. Upon his arrival, the doctor finds the Admiral and his nephew and niece, Henry and Mary Crawford are distraught. The wife dies soon after and the doctor is suspicious, espcially when he sees the floor of a nearby room covered with dead bees.

The very slight mystery implies that Admiral Crawford's wife may not have died of natural causes. I found the story to be less than satisfying.