Barbara’s rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Series: Wrexford & Sloane #7
Publication Date: 9/26/23
Period: Regency – 1814 London
Number of Pages: 304

I’ve enjoyed this series since the first book. The characters have grown, matured, and become more three-dimensional. Plus, we’ve added some new and very interesting supporting characters to the group as well. With the major changes that have happened in the characters’ lives, the books have also become less recklessly hold-your-breath physical and more thoroughly investigative and intellectual. Not that there isn’t a good kidnapping, or a gruesome murder to solve because there definitely is.

Neville Greeley came home from the Napoleonic wars terribly scarred in both mind and body. He loves the peace and tranquility of working as the head librarian at Merton College Library. Lately, flashes of memory have been coming back to him and he knows he must contact Wexford to tell him what he is remembering. Greeley was the only survivor of an ambush that took the life of his best friend Thomas (Wexford’s brother), and the rest of their group of soldiers. What is he remembering? He’ll never be able to tell because he is found murdered the next morning.

Charlotte Stone, Countess of Wrexford, is in her disguise as Magpie while she watches a huge warehouse/workshop burn. Was the fire set deliberately? Is it something her other alter ego, A.J. Quill, needs to become involved in? She leaves – unsure. However, when she discovers what her wards – collectively known as the weasels – have to share, she knows she’ll have to at least ask questions. The building that burned was the workshop of a gifted inventor who was trying to develop a way to adapt steam to power large ships that could cross the sea. Sabotage? When she discovers their friend Kit has been approached to invest in a consortium that is trying to do the same thing, she knows she has to be involved.

As they work through the clues they come to realize the cases are related – to each other and to a traitorous atrocity from the war years. The villain is as sly and ruthless as they come. Can they discover the villain? Will they catch him before he escapes?

This was a fun and interesting read with the villain(s) about as vile as they come. One thing I really always enjoy in these books is the Author’s Notes. I know – right? The author always bases the books on some set of scientific inventions, etc. that was happening at the time and we always learn so much. I love that! Then, she always explains in the Author’s Notes where she deviated from fact – and she shares more facts. For me, it is always like getting dessert after having a delicious dinner.

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

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Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Series: Wrexford & Sloane #6
Publication Date: 9/27/22
Period: Regency London
Number of Pages: 304

Andrea Penrose has certainly come up with a winning series! The characters, both main and supporting, are likable, fully formed, and someone you’d want to call friends if you met them in real life. The writing is excellent and the solution to the mystery leads you through a labyrinth of clues and red herrings until the villain is finally revealed. Excellently done!

Charlotte Sloane and the Earl of Wrexford have only just recently married and they are looking forward to some quiet time to get accustomed to their combined household and to living together. That, of course, isn’t going to happen because Wrex and the ‘weasels’ (two street urchins Charlotte and Wrex have taken guardianship of) have found a body in the Serpentine. Wrex has absolutely no intention of getting involved in the investigation and reports finding the body to the constabulary. After all, they are all leaving to attend a house party and there is no time for such inquiries.

Ah! The best of intentions often go awry. After arriving at the house party, they learn the identity of the victim – and his relationship to the people who are hosting the party. Still – it is best to leave it to Bow Street. At least, it is best until they return home to find a summons for Wrex to meet with a high-ranking government official who is asking for his help. It seems the victim was a gifted engineer who was developing a revolutionary new weapon for the government. Now, the engineer is dead and the prototype along with the plans are missing. The government thinks the perpetrator might be someone within the higher ranks of government and they can’t trust themselves to investigate.

As Charlotte, Wrex, and their myriad mix of friends and informants spread out through all of London, the clues begin to pour in. Some they eliminate, some they have to investigate further until the exciting climax at a naval re-enactment held where it all began – on the Serpentine.

With danger around every corner, and more bodies showing up, Charlotte and Wrex are more and more determined to find the culprit and protect those they love.

I loved this latest addition to the series and I enjoyed seeing how Charlotte (a reformer through and through) is settling into her new, more constrained role as the Countess of Wrexford. I also loved meeting a new character, Peregrine (Lord Lampson) who is the young nephew of the first victim. It is going to be fun to watch how Peregrine blossoms under the love, care, and acceptance he receives from those in the Wrexford household.

All in all, it is a great read and a great series. I hope you will read it and 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.

View all my reviews