One man’s unacknowledgement leads to a trail of plotted vengeance!

The Secret of the Lost Pearls (A Useful Woman Mystery #1) by Darcie Wilde     

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Rosalind Thorne accepts a position to guide her friend Bethany Douglas’s sister-in-law Penelope, an heiress, through the season. That’s not all! A valuable heirloom, a three string rope of black pearls have gone missing and Rosalind is called on to “advise” Bethany about the investigation. The main suspect is her friend’s sister Nora who has returned to the household, destitute and compromised, three years after running away with Douglas’s best friend Bryan Cantrell. Bethany wants Rosalind to get to the bottom of the problem.

Unfortunately Nora’s other sister Mariah has just seen Cantrell alive and well, strolling through a gallery with a young woman on his arm! Something is brewing, but what?

Throw into the mix Bethany’s uncertain and volatile mother, her embarrassing father, her sister Leonora, and the possibility of a spy in the household. 

Gerald Douglas is the latest heir to Sir Jasper Douglas. A man who wields the heirdom like a weapon to bring Gerald to heel. As he’s done to others before Gerald.

As things spin out of control Rosalind Thorne is hard put to make sense of things. Some of the results leave her (and me) speechless!

On her home front Bow street Runner Adam Harkness has gone to Manchester.  For how long is not known. A blow not spoken of, except to say a wistful goodbye. Adam and Rosalind have an unvoiced understanding.

An intriguing Regency mystery.

A Kensington Books ARC via NetGalley.                                              

Many thanks to the author and publisher.