Category: Historical Mystery

Fatal By Design by Cara Devlin

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Fatal by Design (Bow Street Duchess Mystery #5)

Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Series: Bow Street Duchess Mystery #5
Publication Date: 10/21/23
Period: Regency

Talk about an exciting read! We have another great mystery that will keep you guessing from page to page – perhaps not guessing about the who, but certainly the why. Then, there is Audrey and Hugh’s romance – there is lovely movement there, but I’m still apprehensive that Phillip will mess things up. That man just needs to REALLY die because pretending just doesn’t solve the moral issues for me.

This story picks up about four months after the last book ended. They received word about three months prior that Phillip had died after being lost in the sea after a storm. Audrey has spent the months since with Phillip’s brother and his wife – the new Duke and Duchess. Phillip’s family is mourning him deeply and, as usual, Phillip has left Audrey to clean up the mess and feel the guilt of not telling his family the truth.

The new Duke and Duchess are having a house party as the first entertainment since they were elevated, so Audrey is leaving their estate and heading back to Fournier. Not long after she leaves the estate, her driver discovers an abandoned coach on the side of the road – not only abandoned, but the driver is dead – shot. The passengers are missing, so Audrey decides to use her ‘gift’ to see if she can determine to whom the coach belongs and perhaps what happened. Shocker! The coach belongs to her estranged older sister, Millie, Viscountess Redding, and she’s been abducted – and . . .

Luckily, Hugh is attending the house party. Even though he is now a Viscount, he still has his sharp investigative talents – and besides – he misses it. Despite what is deemed appropriate and proper for a grieving spouse, Hugh and Audrey work together to find and hopefully rescue Millie from whoever has abducted her. They fear the worst when there is no ransom note and Millie’s maid is found floating in a nearby river.

Why would someone kidnap Millie? Why is there no ransom note? What does a ring with a very rare and valuable diamond have to do with it? Will they find Millie? Will she be alive if they do? Oh! My! Goodness! You’ll just have to read the book to find the answers to all of those questions – and more.

I can definitely recommend this book and this series. I will say that this probably wouldn’t be best read as a standalone book as you would be missing some very pertinent facts. I loved that we had more page time with some of the recurring characters and it was great to spend time and get to know them a bit more. Should you choose to read the book, I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. Happy Reading!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Petteril’s Corpse by Mary Lancaster

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Petteril's Corpse (Lord Petteril Mysteries Book 2)

Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Series: Lord Petteril Mysteries #2
Publication Date: 9/26/23
Period: Regency – 1812
Number of Pages: 183

In the first book of the series, we met (and loved) the eccentric Piers Withan who was ripped from his much-loved post as a don at Oxford and elevated to Viscount Petteril after the sudden loss of five of his closest male family members. To say he was unhappy about it all would be putting it mildly, but he was on better footing after solving a mystery that showed him and others that he could be a formidable foe if pushed. Also, in that first book we met Ape, a street urchin from the slums who saved Petteril and then basically became his shadow. We also discovered that Ape was actually a female who had been dressing and acting as a male (for protection) for so long that she had forgotten how to be female. I’m going into all of this because, if you haven’t read the first book (you really should), you’ll need some background for parts of this one to be clear. It is my suggestion that you read at least the first two books in the series for a proper understanding of the background, and the future books will probably be fine as standalone reads. BTW – Petteril has an affliction that keeps him from being able to recognize faces – especially those he doesn’t come into contact with on a regular basis.

Lord Petteril has convinced Ape to transition from her guise as a male and adopt her true identity as a female named April. To facilitate that change, Ape will travel with Petteril to his country estate, Haybury Court, as his assistant – and along the way, Ape will become April. Ape puts the transition off as long as possible, but when they are close to arriving at the state, she relents and makes the change.

The real adventure begins when they smell smoke in the woods as they are approaching Haybury, and decide to see what is burning. What do they find? A very naked body whose clothing is a pile of cinders in a nearby burn pile. Petteril immediately notifies the local magistrate who seems totally inept at handling the investigation because he wants to rule it anything other than murder. Did I mention the corpse had a knife sticking out of his chest?

It was so much fun watching Petteril outwit all of those folks who still equated him with the child they had known so many years ago. To them, he was still the strange, awkward, unusual child who, perhaps, wasn’t all there – so they ignored him, spoke down to him, insulted him – until they discovered he was so much more than they had believed. Oops!

Once they had finally identified the corpse, there were suspects aplenty – even a local highwayman known as Brandy Bill. April and Petteril sift through the evidence, investigate the suspects, and finally identify who, what and why. Believe me – you’ll be surprised. You may suspect some things, but – you won’t know.

This was a fun read with delightful characters, murder, mayhem, kindness, metamorphosis, suspense, and finally a satisfactory end. I recommend this book and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. Now, the wait begins for the third book in the series – Petteril’s Ladybird.

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