Scandal and more!

A Wicked Conceit (Lady Darby Mystery #9) by Anna Lee Huber             

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1832, Edinburgh. Cholera is rife, although more in the crowded squalid areas of the city.

Kiera (Lady Darby)and her husband Sebastian Cage are expecting their first child.

Kiera has information she knows will hurt Cage and she withdraws from informing him at the request of Lord Henry Kerr who wishes to inform Cage himself. Kiera, although reluctant to do that, agrees. But as time draws out and Henry doesn’t comply she feels even more anxious.

A new play based on the book The King of Grassmarket is sweeping the various theatres. A play about the notorious gang lord, Bonnie Brock Kincaid. Rumours are running high is high that have Brock as the father of Kiera’s child, much to her’s and Cage’s annoyance and consternation. Brock (a very private man) is upset because his life and activities have become open to foes.

As Kiera angrily tells Brock, ‘The entire book was a disquieting swirl of fact and fiction, but too many of the more obscure particulars were true for us to believe they’d been cobbled together from what little was publicly known about Bonnie Brock.‘

Trying to track down the author is proving difficult. Then the publisher of the play is found murdered. It comes to light that there’s a sequel and that must be stopped. Where it is and who the author is joins the puzzle.

It seems the authorities are concerned about sentiments in the play. For starters Brock is heralded as a Robin Hood figure (who sent his true love into the arms of Cage. A tear jerker for the ladies.) Then there’s the idea that Kincaid’s actions might be deemed by the general populace as ‘heroic and not criminal, and so be inspired to follow the same path,’ as Cage so succinctly explained in the theater lobby to the aghast gasps of many.

Gage and Kiera need to find out who the author is, and that’s when things become more convoluted and more dangerous. 

Another startling story from this unusual couple and the satellite personalities that revolve around them. 

A Berkley Group ARC via NetGalley 

Please note: Quotes taken from an advanced reading copy maybe subject to change