Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: Forever Publishing, published November 10th 2020
Format: Paperback ARC
Pages: 352
Rating: 4/5 stars
Summary (Goodreads):
An intrepid female reporter matches wits with a serious, sexy detective in award-winning author Manda Collins’ fun and flirty historical rom-com!
England, 1865 : As one of England’s most notorious newspaper columnists, Lady Katherine Bascomb believes knowledge is power. And she’s determined to inform and educate the ladies of London on the nefarious-and deadly-criminals who are praying on the fairer sex. When her reporting leads to the arrest of a notorious killer, however, Katherine flees to a country house party to escape her newfound notoriety-only to witness a murder on her very first night. And when the lead detective accuses Katherine of inflaming-rather than informing-the public with her column, she vows to prove him wrong.
Detective Inspector Andrew Eversham’s refusal to compromise his investigations nearly cost him his own career, and he blames Katherine. To avoid bad publicity, his superiors are pressuring him to solve cases quickly rather than correctly. When he discovers she’s the key witness in a new crime, he’s determined to prevent the beautiful widow from once again wreaking havoc on his case. Yet as Katherine proves surprisingly insightful and Andrew impresses Katherine with his lethal competency, both are forced to admit the fire between them is more flirtatious than furious. But to explore the passion between them, they’ll need to catch a killer.
My review:
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I loved the fun nature that coursed throughout this book and the strong female protagonists. Kate is a widow living in Victorian London, running her late husband’s newspaper business. Being a widow gives her a sense of freedom she didn’t realize was possible, and I liked how she used that freedom to explore her interests of true crime and solving murders. She was passionate about encouraging women to not shy away from the topic of murder because women get murdered just as much, if not more, than men and they need to know how to protect themselves. Which is how the column, a Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem, gets born.
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I really loved how Kate was not afraid to advocate for herself and her independence in this book. She was witty and fun and not afraid to stick her nose in places where others thought it didn’t belong. Through Kate, we get a glimpse into what life was like for widows in Victorian England.
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Overall a fun and engaging book.
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CW: sexual content.
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