Barbara’s rating: 3.3 out of 5
Series: Lady Petra Inquiries
Publication Date: 11/14/23
Period: Regency
Number of Pages: 304

Lady Petra Forsyth is the only daughter of the Earl of Holbrook. Her mother died when she was young and the Earl raised Petra as if she were his son because that was all he knew how to do. Since they rarely left their estate, Petra never gained any of the feminine graces and polish she would need were she ever to become part of society. No, Petra rode astride while dressed as a man and she loved it and therefore saw no reason it should ever change. For their own dark reasons, others in her family felt differently about that. Not her father, he was devoted and loving. Well, he was until her wretched uncle began to work on him to convince him Petra was ‘unnatural’ and needed to be wed – or – better yet, she needed to be placed in an asylum where they could care for her and teach her the error of her ways.

When in London, Petra learns of the death of a friend – one she didn’t even know had been ill. The more she learned, the more suspicious she became until she paid close attention to any conversation where a lady had ‘disappeared’ or suddenly died. One or two names always cropped up somewhere near those conversations. Were these ladies locked away in a hospital and tortured until they died? Who would do that? Why?

Petra is presented as a very astute young lady, but she does some remarkably TSTL things. Such as? If you suspected someone was the ring leader of a group who was locking away the ladies of the ton – and wanted to lock you away – would you accept a glass of wine from him when the two of you were alone? Or – if you had been bound in chains and locked away against your will, would you stand around reading files and ruminating about the sad life the perpetrator must have had rather than escaping as quickly as you could when someone gave you the chance to escape – especially when that chance came at a huge cost to their safety?

The male lead, Duncan Shawcross, is the illegitimate son of a Marquess. When the Marquess’s wife refused to allow Duncan to live in their home and replace their son as the heir, Duncan was sent elsewhere to be raised.

I am always looking for a new historical mystery to read and the ‘book blurb’ for this one sounded very interesting. What I found was a very interesting mystery that lacked the best execution and a heroine I couldn’t love. For me, this was much too modern and contemporary. I love a strong heroine, but this one was just too over-the-top. I will try the next book in the series to see if I like her any better, but she’s going to have to be a good bit different for me to continue with the series. I thought this book tried to be everything to everyone – all of the causes are in there – racism, sexism, classism, homosexuality – you name it, it is there. Because there is so much, none of it is done justice. There could also be some research for that period as well – I know the author is flouting all of the conventions, but there were laws that she couldn’t get around. For instance, the laws of Primogeniture would not have allowed Duncan to replace the legitimate heir to the Marquess. I could have loved this story had there not been so very much going on and were the story more focused on the mystery at hand. While I wouldn’t read it a second time, I am glad to have read it and will give the second book a try.