If you’re in the mood for a new historical mystery series, check out this guest review by Lara!

Lara is a teacher, feminist, knitter and proud co-parent to the greatest three-legged black cat in the southern hemisphere.

…

I was bumbling along in a reading rut, neither excited nor bored, just, well… fine. Then, Lady Trent came along and blew me right out of my rut and into reading heaven. I love her! I want to be her! I want to be her friend! And yes, when talking about her ONLY exclamation marks will do!*

*Yes, that is a reference to The Suffragette Scandal by Courtney Milan. What! A! Book! Read it now. Truly, you will thank yourself for making such an excellent life choice.

Lady Althea Trent’s story starts with a journey. She is travelling from her home in the country to London to visit with her recently deceased husband’s family. While it had not been a love match, her husband gave her companionship, independence, and a title. Most importantly, he was also a partner and mentor in all things scientific. Her husband’s relations in London – the Levanwoods – had shunned Lord Trent for his choice of bride (as Althea is only the daughter of a physician) but an about-face on their part leads to them inviting her to join them in London for the season. It is during this journey to London that Lady Trent meets Mr Read of Bow Street and the two strike up a conversation based on similar interests.

At this point I assumed that Mr Read would be the love interest, and it seemed a likely prospect, until Mr Prickles AKA the Duke of Norwich comes along. While Mr Read sticks around, it is the Duke and Lady Trent who shake each other up in unexpected ways. He is full of grouch and sass and she doesn’t care two figs for his thoughts and/or feelings. Thanks to the Duke of Norwich’s attention, she becomes a ~diamond of the first water~. Does this bother Althea? Nope, she doesn’t care. Could she work with the Duke to catch the Richmond Thief? More importantly, does she have a choice? Nope, the two are stuck together. The result of this union gave me the Good Book Squee ™ on a number of joyful occasions.

As there is a mystery element to this plot, I don’t want to give away any of the twists as they are so delicious. I need to stress, however, that the twists never create more than a pleasant tingle of anticipation. I have a preference for comfort reading; this preference demands that I never be overwrought by a book or find myself too worried about the well-being of the characters I love. This book is that rare beauty – a smidgen more romance than suspense, but with enough suspense to keep things interesting.

One of my favourite aspects of the book is that Lady Trent lives in thoroughly Regency circumstances while living according to modern ideals, while the characters and plot never feel forced or false. The integrity of the world-building is maintained! Huzzah! One of the ideas present in the book that might seem modern is that a woman can be a scientist and Lady Trent is just that. She is not bookish or nerdy; she is a scientist. Period.

The supporting cast do not disappear into the background, but rather make a jolly contribution to the enjoyment of this novel. There is the Duke of Norwich’s mischievous younger brother, and Miss Jane Trent, Althea’s sister-in-law and best friend. Jane is wooed by a corseted, aging dandy, to the delight of both them and the reader. The Levanwoods are another story: a mother who cares only for shiny things, a father who loves to gamble, and two memorable sons. John, the eldest, is a distracted poet. Or is he? Charles is a soppy lovestruck second son. Or is he? The Levanwood secrets are plentiful and juicy.

There are only two things about the book that gave me pause. First, two of the plot points feel a little forced – namely, Althea’s headache and the dead raven. In a book of plot points, twists and volte-faces, two somewhat jarring moments are not dealbreakers. My other criticism is that the ending was a little rushed and I would have liked it to be a bit more developed as I didn’t feel like things were really resolved.

This book is a confident, scientific B+. I am certainly not alone in enjoying this book as it has 4.08 stars on GoodReads and 4.2 stars on Amazon. This is enough to have me reaching for the sequel – The Ranleigh Question. The best part? The Richmond Thief is currently on sale for just under USD1!