Uneasy Lies the Crown
A Lady Emily Mystery
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4.5 • 74 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
In Uneasy Lies the Crown, the thrilling new mystery in Tasha Alexander's bestselling series, Lady Emily and her husband Colin must stop a serial killer whose sights may be set on the new king, Edward VII.
On her deathbed, Queen Victoria asks to speak privately with trusted agent of the Crown, Colin Hargreaves, and slips him a letter with one last command: Une sanz pluis. Sapere aude. “One and no more. Dare to know.”
The year is 1901 and the death of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch has sent the entire British Empire into mourning. But for Lady Emily and her dashing husband, Colin, the grieving is cut short as another death takes center stage. A body has been found in the Tower of London, posed to look like the murdered medieval king Henry VI. When a second dead man turns up in London's exclusive Berkeley Square, his mutilated remains staged to evoke the violent demise of Edward II, it becomes evident that the mastermind behind the crimes plans to strike again.
The race to find the killer takes Emily deep into the capital’s underbelly, teeming with secret gangs, street children, and sleazy brothels—but the clues aren’t adding up. Even more puzzling are the anonymous letters Colin has been receiving since Victoria's death, seeming to threaten her successor, Edward VII. With the killer leaving a trail of dead kings in his wake, will Edward be the next victim?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Alexander's engrossing 13th Lady Emily mystery (after 2017's Death in St. Petersburg) opens in 1901 when the dying Queen Victoria hands Colin Hargreaves, Lady Emily's diplomat husband, a cryptic note: "One and no more. Dare to know." The queen's funeral is barely over when Colin and Emily learn of a murder in the Tower of London. The corpse has been posed to resemble Henry VI. Meanwhile, someone is sending Colin on a scavenger hunt with a series of notes left in locations that recall Henry V. When three more bodies show up, all killed in ways that mimic the deaths of English kings, Colin is convinced that it's a warning to the new sovereign, Edward VII, that even a king can be killed. But Emily uncovers a connection between the dead men that suggests the murders are more about vengeance. Providing counterpoint are flashbacks to the 15th century, when Colin's ancestor William fought with Henry V at Agincourt. The two seemingly unrelated plots centuries apart come together in the end in a neat twist. English history lovers will be enthralled.
Customer Reviews
An Amazing Mystery
This is the first book I have read in the Lady Emily series and I have to say I want to go back and read more. A strong historical mystery that had me totally enthralled with the characters and the investigation. 1901 England and right before the death of Queen Victoria, Colin, Lady Emily's husband receives a enigmatic message from the Queen. With her son Prince "Bertie" soon to be crowned, a series of murders begin to take place. The victims are dressed up as previous kings and the worry is it is meant for the new King.
The dialogue and the author's indepth knowledge of this time in history is evident with real characters of the time woven into the suspenseful events. There was a parallel story intertwined with this one concerning Colin's ancestors which was interesting on it's own.
As Emily and Colin try to find the killer, they go into the underground of the city and are subjected to a lot of miscreants but cannot get the clues to add up.
There is so much to this story with several twist and turns that will keep you turning the pages to see if they can find the killer and determine what the real meaning of all the deaths could be. An excellent mystery! I read this through NetGallery