Her street persona, for when she disguises as a street urchin to sleuth and nose the truth of a murder, alternates between Magpie and Phoenix. And heart-wrenching bits like “She managed a shaky exhale and allowed herself to sink back against the pillows. We only got to see the barest hints of these changes in action, but it was fun to see that character’s trajectory travelling along a compelling arch of change. The present volume was so satisfying, however, that it made me an insta-fan and regretful not to have discovered it from the get-go. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Miss Bates Reads Romance with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Andrea Penrose masterfully weaves the numerous plotlines of Murder at Kensington Palace into a scintillating whole. Their investigation leads them on a dangerous chase through Mayfair’s glittering ballrooms and opulent drawing rooms, where gossip and rumors swirl to confuse the facts. Some of the dialogue became rather repetitive, and some phases kept cropping up again and again, which was rather off putting. Raven and Hawk are funny, smart, and vulnerable in how much they love Charlotte and both love and are in awe of Wrexford. Rating 7: An all too familiar chain of events really crippled a story that once again had a good mystery at its heart.Supposedly in the early 19th century, the author put some effort into getting the period right, but sometimes makes a major gaffe.

When Charlotte, with Wrexford’s insistent help, sets out to exonerate Nicholas, she contends with long-buried feelings about the life she left behind and how to reemerge as Lady Charlotte when she’s lived incognito as plain old Charlotte Sloane for years. The reader does a great job with all these characters, I particularly like his renditions of the Scottish lady and the mathmatical lady. But, you’re right, I love this hybrid genre and there are such great books in it, with all the elements I love. For his part, Wrexford felt a bit more stagnant, with the author more unsure where to take this character beyond the basic premise of who and what he is. The early entries weren't well-written but the plots, the glimpses of Regency life and science, and some of the characters (the two boys) carried them along.Though she finds the brooding scientist just as enigmatic and intense as ever, their partnership is now marked by an unfamiliar tension that seems to complicate every encounter. It is completely impossible for me to believe that she's been so sucessful in life and in her art, given how idiotic she is in every aspect of it that we see. All the red herrings in this one, and there were many, had been electrocuted or charred to a crisp before presentation, making the solution seem just that much farther out of reach. I’m getting through Spencer-Fleming’s All Mortal Flesh and the volumes that follow in anticipation of a long-awaited new book in the series.

Charlotte Sloane, a widow living in genteel poverty who makes ends at least wave at each other by penning satirical drawings and publishing them under the nom-de-plume A.Her faithful friend the Earl of Wrexford is there to help her along with her two friends known as the weasels who have found their home with Sloane. Charlotte is certain that this accusation is as false as the one that brought Wrexford to her door in the first book in this series. Penrose reveals intriguing new aspects of her protagonists' characters and relationship in a story linked to the era's technological and social changes.

This chapter in the series involves the scientific innovations of electricity with regard with the (1802) invention by Alexander Volta of the voltaic pile, an early battery to generate electricity through chemistry. I love the addition of the Scottish lady (we need more of her, since she's a female character who's not a complete fool), I like the kids, and I loved the addition of the new mathmatical lady. In so many ways, it felt like a simple retread of the exact same plot we’ve seen in the first two books.

Penrose reveals intriguing new aspects of her protagonists’ characters and relationship in a story linked to the era’s technological and social changes. And while I’m still really enjoying the narrator’s presentation of this book, I did begin to struggle with this story more than the first two in the series. But I know I’ll be picking up Murder at Queen’s Landing the next time the mood for a compelling historical mystery strikes! As a respectable young widow she lives quietly but likes to accompany a titled friend to investigate crimes. Alongside the darkness the background romance between the two main characters continues to take two steps forward and one step back.