Review: Wicked good Regency Romance/Murder Mystery
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 5, 2012
Miss Emma Grey is in love with Richard Hamilton and he with her and the two plan to marry.  However, Emma's Uncle, the Duke of Arden, is not pleased that his niece has fallen in love with an infamous rake and orders her to visit him at his estate in the hopes of changing her mind; she agrees hoping she can change her uncle's mind.  Lord Hamilton is not happy to be separated from Emma for a long period of time and concocts a plan with the help of his friend Lord William Raike that will enable him to see Emma as much as he wants.  The plan doesn't go smoothly to start with and goes totally off course when a guest at the Duke's estate is murdered."The Wicked Wager" is a delightful blend of Regency romance and murder mystery with a great deal of humor added in.  The Regency romance takes center stage and there is not one but two love stories in this book.  I honestly don't know which one I liked better.  The book is focused on the Richard/Emma romance which is fun but I also enjoyed the romantic tension between William and Catherine.  In the end I enjoyed both romances equally.  Author Anya Wylde does a wonderful job with the comedic touches - some scenes are almost over the top but Wylde manages to make them funny but not ludicrous.  As for the mystery aspects, while the murder takes place rather late in the novel there are plenty of other mysteries taking place earlier in the novel.  Not everyone is who they seem to be and while I did figure out the trickery of one character early on I was taken by surprise at other revelations.  In the end, I was sorry when the book was over - I wanted my visit with these characters to go on and would love to read more about them."The Wicked Wager" is a wicked fun Regency Romance/mystery.