Barbara’s rating: 3.5
Series: Lady Petra Inquiries #2
Publication Date: 11/12/24
Period: Regency London
Number of Pages: 320

At the conclusion of the first book in the series, I was very iffy about whether I wanted to read any more books in this series. I couldn’t come to love Petra and the story was much too modern for my taste. Not to mention that Petra was presented as very astute – but she did so very many TSTL things that I just couldn’t really get into it. Fast forward to this book and the author has made Petra more likable and she only did a couple of TSTL things. The story is still very ‘contemporary’ in feel, but it was a bit more tolerable this time. So, what am I saying? I’m saying I liked this book better than the first one and will probably try the third to see if the trend continues.

In this story, we have three mysteries to solve. The first is the death of Petra’s fiancé, Emerson, three years ago. She thought it was an accident, but it turns out it was murder and she is convinced that Duncan Shawcross is the murderer. Sadly, she has come to love Duncan and that breaks her heart. The second mystery is the murder of the Matron of the Asylum for Female Orphans. Who could have done that – and what happened to the inheritances of some of the young women at the school? The third mystery is one Duncan is tasked with solving. He is to infiltrate, identify, and bring to justice the members of the group known as the Bellowers who are agitating for the violent overthrow of the monarchy. OMGoodness – What a busy few days for our cast of characters.

Obviously, all of these cases are related and Duncan and Petra will have to work together to get the maximum results. Although Duncan continually withholds information from Petra, she ends up getting the same information from different sources until he finally realizes he should just give it up and share. The mysteries are good, and the solutions are logical, but you have to work through the characters to get there.

I enjoyed seeing Petra again and I was pleased to find that I liked her better. It was nice to see that Duncan and his brother had grown closer and it was nice to see the high level of involvement Petra’s friends Caroline, Annie, Frances, Lottie, and the street urchin Teddy. I also liked Nell and it will be interesting to see if she makes other appearances.

Overall, it was a fast-paced mystery with a wide cast of heroes and villains and you have to figure out which is which before you can solve all three mysteries. I was afraid we’d be left with a bit of a cliffhanger, but the author closed it all up and tied a nice neat bow around it.

I voluntarily read an early copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.