Murder on the Home Front

I first met Murder on the Home Front as a Netflix programme, which I really enjoyed. It plays up a potential romance between the author and her boss, which isn't mentioned in the book by the same name, memoirs of Molly Lefebure. These stories take place in London during WWII. I was lucky enough to get the book from my local library. While it took a while to get used to her writing style, by the middle of the book I was hooked. Bill even read it since it met his criteria for 'Very British' and 'not too sad'. Mind, the story is pretty sad for the bodies involved, but not for the main characters. 

Of course, being set in the 1940s and British, I did run across some words and phrases I didn't really know. So I've looked them up for this:

fruit & junket - according to Wikipedia this might also be called fruit & curds & whey. Made with sweetened milk and rennet. Not high on my list of things to try, but apparently quite a common dessert in the past.

dimity posy - couldn't find this online. Dimity is a type of cotton fabric woven with cords along the length (warp). It was generally used for household items such as bedding or curtains. Originally made from silk or wool, since the 1700s it has been made with cotton. A posy is a small flower bouquet (aka tussie-mussie, or nosegay - particularly if flowers are scented). Doilies were traditionally used to wrap the flower stems. My guess that a dimity posy is a nosegay wrapped with dimity instead.

prie-dieu - a type of prayer desk used for devotions. Wikipedia talks about these being found in churches and sometimes used in part of a wedding ceremony, but I recall that this referred to one seen in a murder victim's house. 

rexine - is a trademark name for a type of artificial leather, used in upholstery and for book covers, car dashboards and, for a while, teddy bear paws. It must have been widely used during the war as the author refers to it as 'the inevitable rexine'.

Bakst - probably refers to Léon Bakst, a painter and costume designer in Russia. 

Imagine an ornate alcove, rather than an actual room, with a big window for the said relatives to look through at ... ah, yes, at poor old Joe, or Liza, or Harry, stretched out on a magnificent bier between two giant standard lamps, against an exotic backcloth reminiscent of Bakst. Dramatic concealed lighting heightens the effect. It is certain that Joe, Liza and Harry never lay in such splendour all their lives; rickety old beds, seedy bedrooms, were no doubt their lot, damp and uncomfortable. But now that death has robbed them of all feeling and all pride here they lie, in the most sumptuous style imaginable. The relative of the deceased invariably express immense gratification.