Category: Regency Era (1811-1820)

The Regency in Great Britain was a period when King George III was deemed unfit to rule and his son ruled as his proxy as Prince Regent. On the death of George III in 1820, the Prince Regent became George IV. The term Regency can refer to various stretches of time; some are longer than the decade of the formal Regency which lasted from 1811–1820.
Preceded by: Georgian era
Followed by: Victorian era
Monarch: George III, George IV, William IV

An Extravagant Duplicity by Lynn Messina

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Historical Mystery, Part of a Series, Regency Era (1811-1820)Leave a comment

An Extravagant Duplicity (Beatrice Hyde-Clare Mysteries, #11)Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Series: Beatrice Hyde-Clare Mystery
Publication Date: 1/13/23
Period: Regency – London
Number of Pages: 310

As usual, this author has provided us with an entertaining and well-crafted read. Our murderer is among an insanely dysfunctional family that will almost remind you of the old Keystone Cops movies. When you add Bea’s wild and wooly family into the mix, you have a recipe for total and utter chaos – along with some witty and humorous banter. As always, we have a lot of Bea’s internal dialogue to know what she is really thinking – and most of that internal dialogue centers around the fact that she is expecting a ‘cherub’ and is afraid she’s going to have to curtail her investigating. Oh! My! I sure do hope that isn’t the author actually thinking of ending the series.

Roger Dugmore, a man who is old and feeble, died when he was trying to get out of bed, fell, and hit his head on a table. Or is that what happened? You’ll know for sure after Bea and Kesgrave finish their investigation. Dugmore’s grandson, Viscount Ripley, asked for their help – mostly as a lark. You see, Ripley is very young, very naïve, very immature, and very determined to come to the notice of Mr. Twaddle Thum so he can be featured in his gossip column.

Bea is distracted by the news that she is ‘with child’ and initially misses an important clue. Thus, she believes this really is just a horrible accident – until Kesgrave shares what he has noticed. So, murder it is, and there are plenty of suspects with several grown grandchildren and a daughter all living in the home.

As the investigation progresses, they learn that grampa wasn’t the nicest of men. He ruled his family with an iron hand and had no compunction about blackmailing or otherwise coercing his own family into doing his bidding. With so many suspects and alibis floating around it seems almost impossible to find the solution. But, of course, they do.

While murder is a serious subject, the author always manages to slip in plenty of wit and humor along with side stories to make the darker topic more tolerable. As always, this story was rife with Americanisms – just in case you needed to know that. The characters are engaging and fun, and the side stories keep it really interesting. Again, as always, there is a lot of self-dialogue on Bea’s part – sometimes that causes me to skip some paragraphs – sometimes it doesn’t. At any rate, it is an enjoyable read and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.

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

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Her Worthy Rake by Charlotte Anne

On By TracyIn Georgian Era (1714-1837), Non-Traditional Romance, Part of a Series, Regency Era (1811-1820), Standalone Title, Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

Her Worthy RakeHer Worthy Rake by Charlotte Anne

Tracy’s rating: 3 of 5 stars

Series: Standalone, but connected to “The Unworthy Duke”

Release Date: January 1, 2023

**Fair warning – the last paragraph of this review might be spoilerish – please don’t continue if you don’t want to know.**

Sophy Calder has been waiting for her twin brother Sherborne “Sherry” to return from the war. Her brother had been press-ganged into the Navy four years ago, but the war ended, and his ship returned to England over six months ago, and yet she hasn’t seen or heard from him. And now that she has gone through her own inheritance trying to keep the family estate from ruin, she can no longer wait for her brother to return and take over – a feat she was unable to do as all the estate accounts and funds are in his name and she is living in genteel poverty. When she gets no answers from the Navy by writing letters, she heads to London. But getting answers is no easier in person, even with the backing of the Duke of Woodhal and when she finally has some information in her grasp, it is almost lost by an unfortunate dip in the Thames.

After a disheartening meeting with his good friend and tailor, George “Owen” Tattershall’s day goes from bad to worse in the blink of an eye, when a collision with a winsome red-head ends with a swim in the Thames followed by stolen boots and a hackney ride to evade the men chasing said red-head – who turns out to be the woman who begged his cousin’s help the night of his engagement ball. Owen remembers Sophy well and offers his help, taking her to his adopted mother’s house, who hires Sophy as her companion, so she can stay in London and find her brother. Owen is surprised by his attraction to Sophy and the more time they spend together, the more he wants – but Owen has secrets that he assumes will prevent their HEA, but perhaps he shouldn’t make assumptions…

{This is where it might get spoilerish}

This book was not what I expected based on the blurb, it was a lot more complex – or more accurately – more convoluted than a simple romance/mystery. First of all, there are A LOT of characters, making the story hard to follow at times, which is not helped by the fact that the story tends to ramble, then there is a side-plot of Owen trying to secure funding for a printing project with his friend, oh and the fact that Owen is bisexual – which would be fine if it was actually pertinent to the story, rather than seeming like a gratuitous “inclusion” move and I wasn’t thrilled with his revelation of this to Sophy – where it is completely downplayed and he tells her that he loves her and only wants her now – which raises the question is he now “straight” or is he just going to ignore that part of himself? Either way, that needed to be addressed, as did other things – like why her brother let her go broke instead of making arrangements for her to send estate bills to his solicitor, and why did he risk so much for someone whom he didn’t seem to want a future with, and how did Owen come to be adopted? I finished this book with more questions than answers and felt unsatisfied even though it ended with a HEA. I really did like Owen and Sophy and rooted for their HEA, but without addressing how they move forward in respect to his sexuality, I am not sure how they can have a true HEA. This is the second book in the series – but it is billed as a standalone title. And to be fair, I didn’t read the first book, so I don’t know if the questions I had in this book would have been moot if I had read the first book. Anyway, that is just my two cents – do what you will with it. Overall, it was an original story with likable characters and fascinating author notes (which in my opinion were the best part of the book) and I am not sorry I read it, but it is not a story I would go out of my way to read again.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.*