Tense times with this engaging duo!
Murder at Kensington Palace (A Wrexford & Sloane Mystery #3) by Andrea Penrose
It didn't take long for me to be up to my eyebrows in this the third Wrexford and Sloane mystery.
A particularly gruesome murder has Charlotte reaching back into her past and going to a place she'd resolutely put behind her. Wrexford as always is an immense support in such a very Wrexford way that I've come to love.
Just to recap, usually the Earl of Wrexford and Charlotte Sloane and their small circle of unlikely and very likeable characters are drawn into the depths of the rookeries and dark places of London when pursuing a crime. This time however the pursuit will lead into the tonnish limelight.
Wrexford comes across to those outside his circle as the epitome a man of Science and logic. Charlotte entertains a double life as the leading satirical caricaturist A.J. Quill. She harbours her own deeply held secrets, always struggling for anonymity and keeping to the shadows. Then there's the weasels, Raven and Hawk, the unlikely guttersnipes that have captured my heart just like they've won Charlotte's, and dare I say Wrexford's if he'd own to having one. Let me not forget Wrexford's valet Turvel,and Charlotte's maid, McClellan. Both treasures in their own way. And there's more!
The murder of a peer, Lord Chittenden, under disturbing circumstances in Kensington Palace Gardens after a Royal Society soirée ("which, along with the Royal Institution, was the leading bastion of London’s scientific minds.") occurs" Naturally Wrexford is a member!
An arrest is quickly forthcoming. The culprit is Lord Chittenden's twin brother, Nicholas. He's carted of to Newgate. Charlotte has strong doubts about this, given her childhood acquaintance with the brothers. There have been a string of recent alike murders. Is Nicholas really the 'Bloody Butcher?'
Of course Wrexford becomes involved as does Kit Sheffield and the weasels.
I love the way the boys are developing their distinctive talents. Raven is mathematically inclined and Hawk is engaged by the study of natural history and drawing.
Charlotte's in her role as Pheonix, an elusive underbelly inhabitant comes into play, but in this situation a new persona will be called for. One that gives Charlotte second and even third thoughts. One she doesn't want to adopt.
But as her maid McClellan counsels,
“You’ve undergone transformations before."
"Perhaps you should stop thinking of this transformation as the death of your old self...the essence of who you are isn’t changing a whit. You’re merely taking on new plumage...After all, one of your street monikers is Phoenix, a bird who rises from the ashes with bold, beautiful new feathers with which to fly into the future."
This new transformation will bring Charlotte out of the safety of the shadows and into contact with people she had firmly relegated to her past.
Then there's the unspoken side of the relationship between Charlotte and Wrexford. At times the air between them fairly burns the page up. It's so full of meaning, of promise, and unresolved tension. Then those poignant illusive moments slide away and we're left wondering! Talk about leaving me breathless!
Resolution is quite dramatically reached with several red herrings and some interesting twists.
As always Penrose's research on emergent technology during the Regency days is solid and fascinating.
A Kensington Books ARC via NetGalley
*****
A particularly gruesome murder has Charlotte reaching back into her past and going to a place she'd resolutely put behind her. Wrexford as always is an immense support in such a very Wrexford way that I've come to love.
Just to recap, usually the Earl of Wrexford and Charlotte Sloane and their small circle of unlikely and very likeable characters are drawn into the depths of the rookeries and dark places of London when pursuing a crime. This time however the pursuit will lead into the tonnish limelight.
Wrexford comes across to those outside his circle as the epitome a man of Science and logic. Charlotte entertains a double life as the leading satirical caricaturist A.J. Quill. She harbours her own deeply held secrets, always struggling for anonymity and keeping to the shadows. Then there's the weasels, Raven and Hawk, the unlikely guttersnipes that have captured my heart just like they've won Charlotte's, and dare I say Wrexford's if he'd own to having one. Let me not forget Wrexford's valet Turvel,and Charlotte's maid, McClellan. Both treasures in their own way. And there's more!
The murder of a peer, Lord Chittenden, under disturbing circumstances in Kensington Palace Gardens after a Royal Society soirée ("which, along with the Royal Institution, was the leading bastion of London’s scientific minds.") occurs" Naturally Wrexford is a member!
An arrest is quickly forthcoming. The culprit is Lord Chittenden's twin brother, Nicholas. He's carted of to Newgate. Charlotte has strong doubts about this, given her childhood acquaintance with the brothers. There have been a string of recent alike murders. Is Nicholas really the 'Bloody Butcher?'
Of course Wrexford becomes involved as does Kit Sheffield and the weasels.
I love the way the boys are developing their distinctive talents. Raven is mathematically inclined and Hawk is engaged by the study of natural history and drawing.
Charlotte's in her role as Pheonix, an elusive underbelly inhabitant comes into play, but in this situation a new persona will be called for. One that gives Charlotte second and even third thoughts. One she doesn't want to adopt.
But as her maid McClellan counsels,
“You’ve undergone transformations before."
"Perhaps you should stop thinking of this transformation as the death of your old self...the essence of who you are isn’t changing a whit. You’re merely taking on new plumage...After all, one of your street monikers is Phoenix, a bird who rises from the ashes with bold, beautiful new feathers with which to fly into the future."
This new transformation will bring Charlotte out of the safety of the shadows and into contact with people she had firmly relegated to her past.
Then there's the unspoken side of the relationship between Charlotte and Wrexford. At times the air between them fairly burns the page up. It's so full of meaning, of promise, and unresolved tension. Then those poignant illusive moments slide away and we're left wondering! Talk about leaving me breathless!
Resolution is quite dramatically reached with several red herrings and some interesting twists.
As always Penrose's research on emergent technology during the Regency days is solid and fascinating.
A Kensington Books ARC via NetGalley
*****
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