The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh

The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh by Claudia Gray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love this series--a chance to revisit my favorite Jane Austen characters and their offspring? Yes, please! In this installment, the infamous Lady Catherine de Bourgh has suffered the indignity of someone trying to kill her not once, not twice, but three times. The impertinence! To stop the incompetent villain from succeeding, she summons her great-nephew, Jonathan Darcy, and his investigative partner, Juliet Tilney, to Rosings Park to uncover the would-be killer. Juliet and Jonathan are delighted to be reunited, and after some unfortunate misunderstandings, soon rekindle both their friendship and their budding romance as the investigation proceeds, much to their respective overprotective fathers' chagrin.

Many twists and turns keep readers (and the young sleuths) guessing until the very end. I am grateful to be able to add this book to my list of mysteries without murder.

For readers' advisors: story and character doorways are very strong, and language and setting should appeal to readers who love Jane Austen and the Regency era. No profanity that I can recall, no sexual content, and the only violence is both off-screen and unsuccessful. Jonathan Darcy's autism is realistically and gently depicted for the era, as is another character's epilepsy (trying to avoid spoilers here). The pace clips right along but doesn't race.

View all my reviews

 

A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder

A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Frances Wynn, now the “elder” Countess of Harleigh after her husband’s untimely death, has been controlled by others her whole life, so she seizes the opportunity afforded her by widowhood and moves to London on her own as soon as her year of mourning has ended, with just her young daughter and a few servants to accompany her. Her freedom is immediately curtailed by the news that her brother-in-law has placed a freeze on her bank account in his attempt to get control of her money “for the family,” because Frances was an American heiress who married an earl in need of funds, and that need did not vanish with his death. Luckily, the news came just after she received a sizable bank draft from her mother, who sent her younger sister and aunt to visit her for the Season. The money is enough to allow her to maintain her household while fighting the new earl in court. But Frances soon has other concerns, as there is a thief on the loose in Town, an anonymous letter sent to the police has accused her of murdering her husband, and one of her sister’s new suitors might not be what he seems.

Fun and fast-paced mystery set almost a generation before the start of Downton Abbey, so Countess Harleigh would have been a contemporary of Lady Grantham back when Lady Mary was a little girl.

I loved this mystery with its hint of romance to come and enough complications that I only solved half of it before the end.

For readers’ advisors: story doorway is primary, setting secondary. Only a couple of mild swear words. No sexual content, though sex is referenced in that the main character’s husband dies in the bed of another woman at the start of the book. Violence is mostly off-screen and not described in detail at all, though Frances does have a couple of attempts on her life by the end, including being threatened with a gun.

View all my reviews

 

Cassandra in Reverse

Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What would you do if you discovered you could go back in time (though no further than a certain date)? Would you use it to win the lottery? Prevent accidents? Or try and keep from getting fired from your job and dumped by your boyfriend on the same day? Cassandra Penelope Dankworth chooses the latter option. It is, however, exhausting, and perhaps not what the universe had in mind.

I absolutely LOVED this book. Cassandra was such a wonderful, heartbreaking character. I would say I wanted to scoop her up and hug her and tell her there was absolutely NOTHING wrong with her, except, of course, she would hate that.

I did have a really hard time believing she had gone 31 years without realizing she was autistic, as that was blindingly obvious from almost the first moments of the book, but then I read that the author wasn’t diagnosed until she was 39, so I guess that’s sadly more plausible than I’d realized. I also read that the author herself processes emotions as colors, which explains the phenomenally beautiful way they are described throughout the book.

For readers’ advisors: character and language doorways are strongest. A fair amount of occasional swearing. References to sex and a time loop sex scene (as Cassie tries to “fix” things) which is not described in detail. No physical violence aside from the anti-fur protesters who yell and throw fake blood on Cassandra when she accidentally stumbles into their midst.

View all my reviews