I am always thrilled to discover a talented author with a series I
haven't yet read. I buy the back list and settle down for hours of enjoyable
reading.
This year, I discovered Andrea Penrose and her two cozy mystery series set in Regency London. If you are fans of Tasha Alexander's Lady Emily series, Deanna Raybourn's Lady Julia Grey series and Veronica Speedwell series, and Anna Lee Huber's Lady Darby series, you will love Andrea's books. I love the cast, the setting, and the plots. I forgive the few crutch words such as conundrum, dastard, and snick snick. Writers all have them. Mine changed with each book.
The first book I read was Murder on Black Swan Lane from Penrose's Wrexford and Sloane series. The cast is unique. The lady sleuth, artist Charlotte Sloane, secretly skewers popular society with her pointed lampoons. The Earl of Wrexford is a gentleman scientist. A creative crime-solving posse makes or breaks a cozy series in my opinion and this series has one of the most delightful. Charlotte has adopted two street rats, Hawk and Raven. Wrexford has worthy allies in his valet Tyler and housekeeper McClellan.Then there are Wrexford's friends Sheffield and Cordelia. Finally, there is Henning, the doctor who performs postmortems. Thanks to run-ins with a Bow Street Runner, Mr. Griffin, they are never short of mysteries to solve. There are currently seven titles in this series and I hope it continues long into the future.
The newest Wrexford & Sloan will be released September 26, 2023
When I finished the
Wrexford and Sloane series, I embarked on the Lady Arianna Hadley series.
Thanks to her disgraced aristocratic father, Arianna had quite the
swashbuckling past. Removing them from the strictures of polite society makes
her characters far more interesting. Arianna is a master of disguise with a
talent for mathematics. She returns to England to get revenge. Her love of
chocolate makes her a suspect in poisoning the Prince Regent which brings her
into contact with the Earl of Saybrook, an expert on chocolate tasked to
find the culprit. I love the extended cast in this series too. The couple
becomes embroiled in many cases to save the fate of the country thanks to their
spymaster frenemy, Lord Percival Grentham. Saybrook’s great aunt Constantina,
the dowager Marchioness of Sterling, is a fun member of the sleuthing team too.
They gather enemies and allies throughout the seven book (hopefully continuing)
series. My only complaint is that it makes me crave chocolate.
Lady Ariana's seventh mystery was released on March 22, 2022:
https://www.amazon.com/Swirl-Shadows-Arianna-Regency-Mystery-ebook/dp/B09MY8P6MW
So grab a cup of your favorite hot beverage, be it tea or cocoa or coffee, and settle down for an enjoyable adventure in the story worlds of Andrea Penrose.
Hint: Books make great gifts.
Andrea Penrose Books on Amazon
Andrea Penrose
on Facebook
Andrea Penrose
on Twitter
Andrea's Website http://andreapenrose.com/
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