Review: Disappointing
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 11 22, 2013
Aubrey Talisker, Harriet (Harry) Honeywell and Charles Lampforth have been invited for the weekend to the country estate of  the dowager countess, Lady Gracedale. Also invited are her three stepchildren by her deceased husband's first wife and several other people.  It soon becomes apparent that  they all loathe one another.  In an attempt to bring harmony to the family, Lady Gracewell intends to announce the next day that she will be returning the family home to them.  The next morning she is found murdered.  Aubrey, Harry and Charles decide that they will help the local magistrate to determine who the murderer is and why the murder was committed.I had so much enjoyed the first book in the series, "Lord Scoundrel Dies", giving it a five star rating, that I immediately purchased this one and started reading it.  It was not long into the first chapter that I  realized I had made a mistake.  The author apparently couldn't decide whether to write a Regency romance or a Regency mystery and decided to combine both in one novel.  I quickly grew tired of hearts fluttering in chests and heat rising to cheeks and wondered why these people didn't head to the nearest clinic to have EKG tests performed. Wrong time period, I suppose.  The characters are interesting as is  the way that the three protagonists deftly handle them while trying to avoid offending their sensibilities. It is rather bad form to even hint that a member of the "ton" could  possibly fail to maintain the  proprieties expected of one of that class by stabbing another  member to death.  I wish there were more of that and less of, "Thrust against his long, hard body Harry experienced the familiar rush of delicious heat such close contact usually provoked."As in the first novel, the name "Harry" would make me think it was a man being mentioned and it would take me a second to realize that it was Harriet. That kept interrupting my flow of reading. For readers who enjoy Regency romances, I'm sure this would be a delight. As for me, I won't be looking for a third book in this series.