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

Murder of a Dead Man by Holly Newman

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

Murder of a Dead Man (A Chance Inquiry Book 4)Barbara’s rating: 3.8 out of 5 Stars
Series: A Chance Inquiry #4
Publication Date: 5/28/24
Period: Regency
Number of Pages: 264

While this is the fourth book of the series, it is my first and it is my first by this author. It was well-written and well-paced with the mystery and its clues dribbled out at just the right frequency. It turns out to have been quite a conspiracy – and you’ll wonder throughout the book if it is one perpetrator or many. You won’t have any trouble making the list of possible villains – it is just a matter of who you choose from that list. I enjoyed this book well enough that I have already purchased the first book in the series so I can begin reading from the beginning. Hopefully, I will have read them all before the next book’s release.

One of the things I enjoyed about this book was the portrayal of the victim. Normally, I don’t want to know much about the victim other than hearing it in passing because I don’t want to become emotionally involved with them. However, that wasn’t the case with this story and I appreciated that – just this once. Our victim was a good man, a loving man, but he suffered from a mental health issue that once was called Multiple Personality Disorder. Yes, it truly is a real thing, but I’ve not normally seen the sufferer portrayed in a positive light. Usually, it is that some dastardly personality takes over and does dastardly things leaving the ‘normal’ personality to take the blame – for instance, Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. While we never learn what caused Malcolm’s personality to split into multiples, there is enough story for you to make a good guess. Anyway, I came to admire the victim and was very sorry that he died.

As children Lilias, Malcolm, and Alastair spent their summers playing together in Scotland. Then, as they grew up, Lilias and Alastair fell in love and wanted to marry, but her father refused because Alastair wasn’t ‘Scottish’ enough and he made arrangements for Lilias to marry Malcolm. Lilias loved Malcolm – as a friend – and they had a long and reasonably happy marriage despite Malcolm’s mental issues. However, an event happened, and it made Malcolm feel it was unsafe for him to be around his family. Malcolm checked himself into a sanitorium where, after a few years, Lilias received word that Malcolm had killed himself. Then, imagine her surprise and dismay, when after two years of mourning she announces to the family that she is going to marry Alastair – only to be told she couldn’t do that because Malcolm wasn’t dead. OOPS! Then, he really was dead and Alastair was arrested for murder. OOPS!

I really enjoyed Sir James Branstoke and his wife Cecilia Branstoke. Their camaraderie, love, consideration, and working relationship were well-defined since it was the fourth book in the series and it was fun to see them work together. When they were asked to investigate Malcolm’s death to find the real killer and set Alastair free, they decided to use a two-pronged attack. Because Cecilia was still recovering from a serious case of influenza that had swept through their village – and she was expecting their first child – they determined to check Cecilia into the sanitorium. That would allow her to investigate from the inside while James investigated things from the outside. As the clues add up, we meet some interesting ladies within the sanitorium. They are bright, mischievous, full of energy, and the only reason they are in the sanitorium is because that is where they want to be. With those ladies involved, the villains never stand a chance.

I’m always looking for new and new-to-me authors and I may have found one to add to my go-to list. The plot is well-developed and the presentation is good. It was a fun read and I’ll definitely read the first book in the series to see how that goes. I hope it will have a tad more action and excitement than this one. Overall this was a nice read. I will say that I probably would have rated it higher had the book not pretty much ignored the Privilege of Peerage laws.

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

The Dreadful Duke by Grace Burrowes

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The Dreadful Duke (The Bad Heir Day Tales #1)

Barbara’s rating: 4.3 out of 5 Stars
Series: Bad Heir Day Tales #1
Publication Date: 4/26/24
Period: Regency London
Number of Pages: 308

This was a delightful first book in a new series by this author. Finn Cathcart is an amazingly talented sculptor, who has made a name (and fortune) for himself on the continent and in England. He’s also handsome, self-confident, and self-reliant – and has no use whatsoever for anyone in the aristocracy – except to take their money, of course. He loathes anything to do with the Huntley dukedom and would love to see it revert to the crown and cease to exist. No skin off his teeth. Except, he isn’t a bad heir and can change his mind when a small, helpless, young child (Emily) is adversely affected. It seems that the ‘finder’ they have sent to find Finn finally learns that weakness and uses it to get him to accept the honors.

Finn is Finn and doesn’t intend to be anyone or anything else. The current duchess, his Aunt Edwardia, can fall into a hole and never find her way out as far as he is concerned. She is to blame for the death of his baby sister, his mother, and him finding himself on the streets at the age of 8, totally alone to fend for himself. He cannot allow the dukedom to cause hurt to another small child.

Breaking all rules of protocol and manners, Finn arrives at the home of Wilhelmina (Willie/Mina) to introduce himself to the widow of his cousin. His cousin was the heir until he did stupid things and got himself killed. Mina was to be the next duchess, but now – what will happen to her? What will happen to Emily?

Finn and Mina are attracted to each other from the first. I loved how very honest and straightforward they were with each other. No prevarications – no “He/She won’t love me anymore if they learn xxxxx”. Nope, it was so wonderfully refreshing to see such honesty and straightforward love for each other. Even when the always-required third-act “event” happened, there was no doubt. No thinking ill of the other. Each had absolute confidence in the other. Gosh, I loved that part!

As with most of this author’s books, we get cameo appearances of characters from other series. In this case, it was Westhaven, Anselm, and the wine merchant – Fournier. We even got an honorable mention for The Duke of Moreland. Yep – love all of those visits. I thoroughly enjoyed Emily who was NOT the normally required brattish child. She was lovely and sweet-natured and very insecure because she had lost her father and her doting uncle all within a very short period. Finn picked up on that and carved her some lovely playmates – Draco the dragon and the Ursulas (Major and Minor) who are bears and are featured throughout the book.

I can recommend this book if you love a wonderful, love story with strong characters who know their minds. I would love to have a peek at Finn and Mina ten or fifteen years down the road because I absolutely know he will be a formidable duke and their love story will be held up to all on the marriage mart as an example of how things should be. Happy Reading!