As much as Beatrice Hyde-Clare relished the challenge of figuring out who murdered a fellow guest during a house party in the Lake District, she certainly does not consider herself an amateur investigator. So when a London dandy falls dead at her feet in the entryway of a London Daily Gazette, she feels no compulsion to investigate. It was a newspaper office, after all, and reporters are already … already on the case as are the authorities. She has her own problems to deal with anyway—such as extricating herself from a seemingly harmless little fib that has somehow grown in into a ridiculously large fiction.
Truly, she has no interest at all. Except the dagger that killed the poor earl seemed disconcertingly familiar…
And so Bea is off to the British Museum because she cannot rest until she confirms her suspicion, while trying to allay her family’s concerns and comprehend the Duke of Kesgrave’s compulsion. For the handsome lord has no reason to waste his time solving a mystery alongside a shy spinster. And yet he turns up everywhere she goes.
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Six months have passed and Bea’s fictitious Mr. Davies is causing her more trouble than she could have ever predicted. A simple fabrication invented to invite Miss Otley into her confidence to aid her investigtion, it has has now spiraled wildly out of her control. Hoping to rid herself of the rumor for good, she sneaks out of the house in order to anonymously submit a death notice for Mr. Davies. But as she turns to leave the newspaper office, a man collapses at her feet with a dagger protuding from his back.
Expecting to settle back into her life as the quiet and unassuming spinster that everyone knows her to be, she has no intention to persue another investigation. But if the bodies are simply going to keep falling into her path and the dagger just so seems to remind her very much of one residing in the British Museum…
So Bea cannot deny herself the opportunity to slip out of the house and check the museum for herself to see if her suspicions prove correct. And who should pop up in the midst of her search, but the Duke of Kesgrave himself, her unexpected sleuthing partner from the Otley murder.
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The covers to the books in this series had caught my eyes several times in the last few years while book browsing online. I’m so glad I finally decided to give the first book in the series a shot because I think it is safe to say that this is turning into one of my favorite series. Regency? Check. Mystery? Check. Amateur female sleuth? Check. Sass in spades, banter, and a handsome man? Check, check, and check. Enough said, consider me sold.
With our main characters and Bea’s family life etablished in A Brazen Curiousity, this book flowed much more smoothly for me. I was happy to see far less of Bea getting entirely lost in lengthy internal monologues largely focused on flinging food upon the heads of handsome men. But I also was happy to see humorous call backs to these urges of Bea’s to throw food at Kesgrave scattered in this book.
The absolute ridiculousness that is Bea’s family never fails to both amuse me and infuriate me for their treatment of her. But I’m very happy to see that Flora is treating Bea much more like a member of the family and even working to enable Bea in maneuvering around Aunt Vera. Plus we get a lovely addition to our list of characters in the amusing Lady Abercrombie.
I’m so excited to see the connection and regard between Bea and Kesgrave grow as they bicker and banter with one another. Very much looking forward to continuing with the series.
4.5 stars rounded up to 5.
Murder in Broad Daylight
Appropriate for teen – adult
No sex
No memorable harsh language
Bea , the main character, witnesses the death of a well-known dandy. He had just been stabbed while walking along a very crowded street. Because of the crush of people, no one actually witnessed the attack.
With the help of the Duke of Kesgrave, she sets about to solve the mystery.
Good plot. Some amusing sequences.
Enough references to book 1 in the series that its plot might be ruined for a person who has not read it.
Good lightweight reading.
Book 2 picked up a few months after book 1 ended, and I found it easy to just jump right back into Beatrice’s story. No surprise the Duke of Kesgrave seems to be following her and puts himself into her path once again. Their delightful spats and traded barbs at one another continue to make me laugh.
Can’t get enough of the repartee between an “old maid” of 26 and the Duke. Some of the funniest and most entertaining dialog I’ve ever come across. Seriously. Honestly. I don’t know Lynn Messina at all and I’m a best selling author myself. I bought the entire series and pre-ordered the next one.
This is a fun and funny story! Ok maybe not the ending, but up until the very end I was laughing and giggling. This was just really fun. I liked and enjoyed the first one, but this one is great. I’ve already downloaded the next one! Thanks Lynn for a delightful story. Well done.