Lady Katherine juggles Christmas festivities, a perplexing cold case and a wager with the annoying Captain Wayland that will prove once and for all which of them is the better detective.It’s the Christmas season in London, but the holiday festivities don’t deter Lady Katherine from investigating a death that happened months earlier. Since the victim was a maid, investigative resources were … resources were sparse, and the police hastily wrote it off as a random killing. But Lady Katherine and her friends believe it was nothing short of premeditated murder, and they vow to seek justice.
With her Bow Street Runner friend Lyle acting as a neutral party, Katherine teams up with her friend Prudence Burwick, her maid Harriett, and of course her pug Emma. Wayland has the aid of Pru’s fiancé Lord Annandale and his valet McTavish.
The two teams race against each other in a hunt for clues that takes them through the servants’ quarters, stables, and seedy underbelly of London in search of a dangerous killer who thinks they got away with murder.
Will the best men… or women… win?
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An interesting case that I really liked!
Lady Katherine has another case. This time she has to solve the murder of a maid. Together with friend Pru and maid Harriet she investigates. A lot of the story is about the wager between Lady Katherine and Wayland on who is the better detective. To the point where Katherine has to be careful not to lose sight of the real goal here and that is not to win the wager but to solve the murder and with that get justice for the victim.
A well-written, quite serious book. I found it a little hard to get into, but once it got going it was very interesting! An interesting case that I really liked! I think you could read this as a standalone perfectly well. Maybe you’d struggle just a bit with all the names in the beginning, but everything and everyone is explained well. For readers who already know the characters the beginning was maybe a bit slow. The language is Regency-appropriate. A few chapters are from Harriet’s POV, and I really liked that.
I recommend this book only if you’ve read the previous books in the series. Especially in the first third of the book, the authors make constant references to previous incidents, interactions, prejudices, and complications. While these references might help the reader, the references are often vague and given without context, often at the expense of the current story. Couple that with the artificial-seeming love-hate relationship between Katherine and Wayland, and the book was barely enjoyable.
interesting
I always enjoy a strong female lead in a Regency novel and and a good mystery. This one has a decent mystery. But while I enjoyed this book, all three women over looked the solution long after it became obvious. In addition, it had way too many of the pulp romance standard plot devices to suit me
a glorious series. if you love historical english mysteries get ready to be wowed!! dive in…
I like the historical aspect of the book. And the attitudes of the main characters.
Juvenile dialogue.
I’m going to read this series; very entertaining
A good summary.
Sometimes I lost track of the characters
Love reading this series!
My favorite of all of her books thus far.
This is an intelligent page turner, with twists and turns….very enjoyable mystery of the 1800s….my first of this author, but not the last. Súper for a winters’ eve, to curl up by the fire.
Lady Katherine Irvine has been called to a meeting at Lord Annandale’s home. Being the last to arrive due to Christmas activities with her family, she sees that Lord Annandale, his fiancee’, Prudence Burwick (Katherine’s best friend), Lady Lucy Brackley (sister of the Duke of Tenwick), Captain Dorian Wayland, Lyle Murphy, a Bow Street Runner detective and McTavish, Annandale’s manservant are already seated.
Lady Lucy has her leather bound tome in her hand waiting to make notes for her next book. She has asked Lyle to investigate a murder of Ellie Simpson, a maid who was found in an alley six months earlier, the same night as a terrible thunderstorm and a fire at the Hound and Ale Pub. Lyle has been unable to find much because the Runners have chalked it up to a random act of violence. He found that she was stabbed with a short, sharp object that was not found at the scene. The body had three stab wounds. Lady Lucy asked the group if they would investigate what she feels is a murder. The group accepts the task but split into two groups — the men against the women. The men will consist of Wayland, Annandale and McTavish. The ladies will be Katherine, Pru and Katherine’s maid, Harriet. Wayland and Katherine make a wager because they both feel they can solve this case before the other. The Twelfth Night Ball is approaching. Whoever solves the murder the quickest will choose the costume for the other person.
Katherine and Wayland each have a different idea about finding clues. The ladies begin by talking with Sarah Simpson, Ellie’s twin sister. She shows them what the police have given to her. It is Ellie’s small silk reticule, a silk and lace nightgown with an embroidered “M” inside (items they don’t feel a maid could afford), faded blue handkerchiefs apparently made from Ellie’s dress, a small Bible, another dress that was plain and worn, a pair of serviceable clothes, a pile of underclothes, a bracelet of braided scraps of embroidery thread. Sarah also said Ellie had a silver bracelet with a clasp in the shape of a heart with a little ruby set into the center (another item a maid could not afford).
In this book you are reintroduced to characters you have met in the previous books in this series — Lady Dalhousie who has a necklace that she constantly wears and loves telling a different story each time about how she obtained it; Philomena, the Duchess of Tenwick; Mrs. Fairchild, a rival matchmaker – a profession that is Katherine’s cover because women don’t investigate; the Earl of Dorchester, Katherine’s father; Lady Susanna Irvine, Katherine’s pregnant stepmother.
The book is fast-paced and will keep you on the edge of the chair wanting to find out who wins the wager — the men or the women.
I received an advanced copy of this book. However, I have pre-ordered it as well.
This is my honest review.