Author: Katharine Schellman
Series: A Lily Adler Mystery (Book 5)
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (August 20, 2024)
Description: Sometimes danger lurks in plain sight, and in the cutthroat London Season socialite Lily Adler must race against time to catch a killer.
Fans of Bridgerton will delight in this Regency-era mystery featuring an intrepid sleuth, plenty of intrigue, and a touch of romance.
London, 1817. The London Season is beginning once more, and Lily Adler’s return to her home on Half Moon Street feels different this year. No longer a recent widow, she has a life and friends waiting for her. Lily also has new responsibilities in the form of her protégée Amelia, the sister of her longtime friend Jack Hartley, who is escaping her own brush with scandal and murder.
It doesn’t take long for Lily’s growing reputation as a lady of quality who can discreetly find what is missing or solve what is puzzling to bring a desperate young woman to her doorstep. But helping her means unraveling a tangled web of family secrets. Soon, a missing will, a dead body and the threat of blackmail leave Lily facing danger every way she turns.
The glittering society of Mayfair conceals many secrets, and the back alleys of London hide even more. Lily Adler will need to find the connection between them quickly if she wants to stop a killer before it’s too late.
My Thoughts: In this fifth Lily Adler mystery, Mrs. Adler is approached by a young woman who is concerned that her guardian is stealing her inheritance from her. She is sympathetic but, when it becomes clear that the young woman wants her to burgle her guardian's house to look for her father's will, she isn't interested in the case. However, the young woman's suitor, known to Mrs. Adler from a previous case, blackmails her into getting involved.
Luckily Lily's friend Lady Warren has received an invitation to a ball to be held at the guardian's home and lets Lily use the invitation. She brings along Jack Hartley who has now retired from his career as a navy captain. Jack was Lily's husband Freddy's best friend from childhood and has been a loyal friend to Lily since her husband's death. Their relationship is changing gradually from friendship to romance, and both are dealing with some feelings of guilt fearing that they are betraying Freddy.
When the guardian is found stabbed to death the morning after the ball and the blackmailing suitor is found hiding in the house, it looks like an open-and-shut case. However, the suitor manages to convince Lily that he wasn't to blame, and she manages to keep the Bow Street runners from fixing on him as the killer.
Lily and Jack discover a twisted plot which includes more murders and some poisonings on their way to bring about justice and, incidentally, acknowledge their new personal relationship.
This was a very nice historical romance. I enjoy the characters and really enjoy the relationships between them. I also like the historical details which illuminate England in 1816.
I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.
I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.
I liked this book too.
ReplyDeleteSounds good. I read the Christmas book in this series.
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