Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Series: Beatrice Hyde-Clare Mysteries #10
Publication Date: 6/13/22
Period: Regency
Number of Pages: 278

Goodness! What a lovely fun and entertaining read filled with wit and great good humor. I can only imagine how exasperating it must be to live with Bea, Duchess of Keswick. Then, to be her husband must make Damian’s, Duke of Keswick, hair turn prematurely gray from worry over the heedless risks she takes. I guess all of that is to say that the author definitely manages to bring the characters to life. Bea is definitely NOT your regular, run-of-the-mill duchess.

“From almost the very beginning, I have been troubled by your recklessness, the way you bound heedlessly into danger, determined to investigate murders that have nothing to do with you,”

“Realizing that I can lose you at any moment to a stupid and senseless accident is a thoroughly unpleasant revelation for me. I never imagined I could feel this way, and if I had had an inkling of what was in store, I would never have knocked on your window.”

All of that said, he doesn’t limit her – he tried once, but that didn’t last long. Now, he just goes along, helps her, and does his best to protect her. You’ll love Keswick! That is how he ended up in the pre-dawn hours picking a lock to enter a large building where an explosion happened the afternoon before. Bea is certain that the explosion was purposeful and therefore, the death that occurred was murder.

What good was a Corinthian if he could not rise at dawn, fully awake and alive to all the possibilities of life?

Their investigation moves along and Bea and Keswick sort through and eliminate suspects as they learn more – and sometimes they add suspects back to the list. What could the motive for murder be? Was it really an accident? No, Bea is sure it wasn’t and Keswick agrees with her. Could the murderer have intended all of the dire consequences for so many people – just by murdering one man? Was the man who died really the intended victim?

I absolutely love the light and witty banter between Bea and Damian as they solve the crime. I’d say you could read this as a stand-alone, and you can, but you might have a few ‘scratch your head’ moments because you’ll have missed out on learning the backgrounds of Damian and Bea and how they came together.

I definitely enjoyed this book and hope you will as well.

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Barbara’s rating: 3.7 of 5 Stars
Series: Beatrice Hyde-Clare #9
Publication Date: 11/11/21
Period: Regency London
Number of Pages: 261

Although Beatrice (Bea) Hyde-Clare, still hasn’t managed to deal with her chef putting pineapple into everything she eats, she’s nicely settled into her month-long marriage to Damien Matlock, the sixth Duke of Kesgrave. The pineapple fiasco is her own fault though – and she knows it – and she’ll deal with it – just not today. She loves being married to a man she adores and who treats her as an equal partner – until she feels he doesn’t treat her that way. Oops.

When Bea’s archnemesis tries to weasel her way into Bea’s good graces by telling Bea about a plot on her life, Bea doesn’t know whether to believe the woman or not. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time Mrs. Norton had born tales designed to hurt Bea in some way. This tale though, if true, will have major repercussions on both Bea and Damien. The plot, you see, is that Damien’s uncle, Lord Myles Matlock, is hiring a thug to murder Bea. That would allow his son, Mortimer, to become the duke’s heir.

Although Bea agrees to allow Damien to handle the situation, she manages to parse her agreement so she feels she can still investigate on her own. What does she find? She finds Damien, with a bloody silver candlestick in his hand, standing over the dead body of his uncle. Oops – again. Beatrice knows Damien didn’t murder his uncle – but who did? Their investigations lead them through many suspects from barristers to criminal kingpins and everything in between. It seems his uncle was a very unsavory character.

The only other book I’ve read in the series is A Sinister Establishment, and I did not enjoy this one as much as I did that one. The crime, the victim, the suspects, nor the motive intrigued me and I found the investigation to be slow and a bit plodding. I do love the wit and banter between Damien and Bea, but I’m not sure I like Bea much at all. In this book, she expects Damien to check with her and get her approval for every little thing he does. I expected to see a place where he asked if he had her permission to go to the restroom. Everything was about her expectations of him – and evidently, he wasn’t allowed to have expectations of her. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for female rights, but Bea’s version seems to be that the female is the only one with rights. She chastises, thwarts, and dissembles all the time and I just find it difficult to believe that Damien could love that about her.

I did mostly enjoy the story and may try another one to see if this version of Bea is repeated. If so, I probably won’t continue with the series. However, if they BOTH become equal partners in the relationship, then I believe I would happily continue with the series.

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

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