The Heir

Wilde (the Rosalind Thorne mysteries) delivers a middling series launch about the exploits of a 16-year-old, pre-throne Queen Victoria. The novel opens with the death of Victoria’s father, Prince Edward, and her subsequent cloistered existence at Kensington Palace, where her every move is monitored by her mother, Victoire, and her late father’s assistant, Sir John Conroy. Victoria’s official—and often unwilling—companion is Conroy’s daughter, Jane. The pair are out riding one afternoon when they happen upon a dead man on the palace green. Victoria reports the discovery to her mother and Conroy, who are quick to explain it away as nothing more than a teenager’s overactive imagination. Victoria enlists Jane’s help in uncovering who the man was, what he was doing on the palace grounds, and why their parents are so intent on brushing the situation under the rug. At first, the young sleuths’ exploits call to mind adventurous children’s classics like The Secret Garden, but Wilde’s uneasy blend of melodrama and mystery never quite gels, and many readers will be left wondering why she chose to center the story on a young Victoria. This is diverting enough, but it never takes flight. Agent: Jessica Faust, BookEnds Literary. (Aug.)