Murder of a Merry Gentleman
Like Emma Woodhouse, Lady Petra Forsyth is handsome, clever, and rich. In this fourth book of Celeste Connally’s popular Lady Petra Inquires series, Lady Petra is involved in a scheme to auction off dances with eligible young bachelors at Almack’s Assembly Rooms. However, on the very first evening, Petra discovers one of the bachelors dead, having fallen through a rotted timber on the musician’s balcony. It is by all appearances an accident. But when a second bachelor barely escapes a fatal accident, Petra is asked by the Lady Patronesses of Almack’s to investigate the affair by pretending to be one of the eligible young ladies bidding on the bachelors’ favors.
At the same time as she is investigating this crime among the town, Lady Petra must also sort out the situation of Teddy, the street urchin she has befriended, whose mother refuses to accept Lady Petra’s help, even though she is imprisoned in Newgate and faces deportation to Australia. Readers looking for a nuanced analysis of class and crime in Regency society are bound to be disappointed, as are those looking for a serious examination of the restrictions placed on early 19th-century women. But those simply out to have a good time will certainly enjoy this charming holiday confection.
