All’s Fair in Love and Treachery

Connally’s clumsy second Regency-era romantic mystery featuring Lady Petra Forsyth (after Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord) finds the headstrong heiress juggling personal matters with political ones. At the outset, Petra’s happy romance with Duncan Shawcross is threatened when she learns that, three years earlier, Duncan may have been responsible for the untimely death of her fiancé, Emerson. Then, Petra is tasked by Queen Charlotte with attending the opening of a new dining hall at the Asylum for Female Orphans and gathering clues about the recent murder of the orphanage’s matron, Mrs. Huxton. Meanwhile, London rejoices over Napoleon’s surrender at Waterloo, but beneath the gaiety, a group of dissidents plot to topple the monarchy. Though each of these narrative threads gradually intersect, Connally fails to keep the fire lit along the way. Flat dialogue and occasional overwriting don’t help. This puts an initially promising series on shaky footing. Agents: Jess Errera and Christina Hogrebe, Jane Rotrosn Agency. (Nov.)