A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem
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4.2 • 10 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
"[Manda] Collins is a delight" (Elizabeth Hoyt) in this fun and flirty historical rom-com, where an intrepid female reporter matches wits with a serious, sexy detective -- perfect for fans of Tessa Dare, Julia Quinn, and Netflix's Enola Holmes!
England, 1865: Newspaper columnist Lady Katherine Bascomb finds herself the subject of speculation when her latest article leads to an arrest in the murders plaguing London. The English believe women ought not to write about such vulgar things as crime, and a particularly attractive detective inspector is incensed that she's interfered with his investigation. To escape her sudden notoriety, Katherine heads to the country-only to witness a murder upon her arrival.
Detective Inspector Andrew Eversham is appalled when Lady Katherine entangles herself in one of his cases-again. Her sensationalist reporting already nearly got him kicked off the police force, and he'll be damned if he permits her to meddle a second time. Yet, her questions are awfully insightful, and he can't deny his attraction to both her beauty and brains. As the clues point to a dangerous criminal, the two soon realize their best option is working together. But with their focus on the killer lurking in the shadows, neither is prepared for the other risk the case poses-to their hearts.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
It’s the 19th century and most men don’t have what it takes to win Lady Katherine Bascomb’s heart—but most men couldn’t catch a serial killer either. Katherine is a well-known newspaper columnist on a mission to help protect other women from London’s violent criminals. Her reporting even helps to convict a notorious murderer, much to the frustration of the very intense, extremely dashing Detective Inspector Andrew Eversham. Katherine is just the kind of determined, headstrong heroine we love in a historical romance. Andrew might think she’s a mere meddler at first, but once Katherine witnesses a high-profile killing and the fiery pair are stuck together, he can’t deny that her intentions are pure—and that her mind is brilliant. But Manda Collins never lets the romance overshadow the book’s nail-biting mystery. That’s the beauty of Collins’ stories: You can have your tea cakes and eat them too.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Collins (One for the Rogue) kicks off her Lady's Guide series with this quippy Victorian romance, which sees a sweet relationship bloom during the hunt for a serial killer. Lady Katherine Bascombe, a happily widowed London newspaper owner, chafes at sexist restrictions on women's speech, leading her to devote a column to informing women of criminal activities in their city, most notably the actions of the mysterious, biblically inspired Commandments Killer. But with her amateur sleuthing into the murders, she accidentally gets principled detective Andrew Eversham kicked off the case, and his pompous replacement promptly arrests an innocent man. The case is considered closed until, on vacation in the countryside, Katherine stumbles upon a body apparently killed by the Commandments Killer. Andrew is called back into the fold to investigate and soon they are tackling the mystery together, and their sparks of attraction are fed by respect for each other's intelligence. They both have baggage Andrew distrusts the upper classes and Katherine is traumatized by her marriage but the real threat to their love comes when the killer makes things personal. Both romance and mystery fans will find this a treat.
Customer Reviews
Exciting new series
I received an ARC of this book to read through NetGalley. All opinions are my own. A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem is the first book in Manda Collins’s exciting new series A Lady’s Guide. After a miserable marriage, Lady Katherine Bascomb is happily widowed and running her own newspaper. She and her friend Caroline Hardcastle come up with the idea of writing a column called A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem as a way of informing women about the things that men say they are protecting them from when really keeping women ignorant is more likely to harm them. In the first column, they write about interviewing a witness involved in the Commandments Killer case, one that the police didn’t interview, and that article gets Inspector Andrew Eversham removed from the case. He’s quite unhappy about it, especially when his replacement and supervisor arrest and charge someone he’s sure is innocent of the murders. When the murderer seems to have followed Kate to a house party in the Lake District, Andrew is put back on the case, and sparks fly between them. I enjoyed this story with its intriguing mystery and look forward to reading future books in this series. Medium Steam. Publishing Date, November 10, 2020. #ALadysGuideToMischiefAndMayhem #MandaCollins #HistoricalRomance #HistoricalMystery #ForeverGrandCentral #bookstagram #bookstagramer