Murder in Berkeley Square
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4.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Offering “a vibrant picture of the roles Black and mixed-race people played in Regency life” (Publishers Weekly), this unique historical mystery series, featuring a mixed-race heroine with a notorious past, will appeal to Bridgerton fans who want a sharper edge to their drama.
A marriage of convenience saved Lady Abigail Worthing’s family from disgrace, but she’s finding her absent husband's endless conditions increasingly repressive. Unable to stay at their London home during the oncoming winter, she accepts a ride to the country from her neighbor, Stapleton Henderson. However, she's less than delighted that she’s his excuse to avoid a dinner held by Lord Charles Duncan, one of London's most powerful—and relentless—magistrates. More irritating, women are decidedly unwelcome at the evening’s prestigious discussion of criminality—even though Abigail and Stapleton have solved several cases together . . .
Then an unexpected blizzard strands them at Lord Duncan’s with his now-houseguests. Suddenly, an evening of fine dining, fine brandy, and insightful debate becomes an inescapable—and deadly—ordeal. The ultimate test for Abigial’s skill. One of the dinner guests is found dead in front of the Berkley Square mansion. And when another party is murdered, Abigail discovers each had received a taunting, prophetic nursery rhyme . . . coincidence, or clues left by a killer on the loose?
Through deft interrogation, she learns everyone present is connected to Lord Duncan's greatest failure in the courts: the conviction of a Martinique plantation informant for a murder he didn’t commit. But as Abigail races to find who was really responsible for the miscarriage of justice, she'll be forced to put her own and Stapleton's lives at risk in a gambit that will alter their fates forever—or end them permanently.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Riley's immersive if under-plotted third Regency-era cozy featuring Lady Abigail Worthington (after Murder in Drury Lane) finds the mixed-race gumshoe ensnared in a snowy retread of And Then There Were None. On Christmas Eve in 1806, Abigail is preparing to celebrate in the countryside with the Jamaican side of her family. She and her cousin accept a ride to their destination with Abigail's neighbor, Commander Stapleton Henderson, who's on his way to his own get-together at the home of London magistrate Lord Charles Duncan. As a blizzard sets in, the group decides to break their journey at Lord Duncan's, and he grudgingly agrees to put up the young women for the night. Before bed, Abigail discovers the body of a respected barrister in the snow, and she joins forces with Stapleton to determine if the death was accidental. Soon, more invitees to Lord Duncan's party turn up dead, and Abigail must determine if it's the work of an outsider or one of Duncan's powerful guests. The plot mechanics are fairly rote, but Riley seamlessly interweaves edifying insights about the period's racial dynamics. The result is a so-so mystery with a top-shelf atmosphere.