All's Fair in Love and Treachery (Review)... Like Bridgerton, with a Side of Murder & Mayhem

There’s so much glamorization of past eras which, frankly, were probably, all-too-frequently, anything but. 

I’ve done it, you’ve done it.

 

The Regency era, though, certainly wasn’t without its charms. 

 

That showiness—of anyone who had a title, money, or was somehow positioned favorably—of the time, combined with the delicious intricacies of what was (and was not) acceptable, have made for compelling reading in more modern ages since... well, the Regency, when Austen, and others, were penning their tales (of men with fortunes in want of wives, and whatnot).

 

The clothing... the manners... the balls and luncheons and teas and promenades... the rules that polite society (mostly) followed... We need look no further than the massive success of Bridgerton (both book series and Netflix show), to understand the widespread appeal of it all.

 

But what if something even more exciting than who had their hat set at whose fortune—like, say, an unsolved murder—were at play... with a rather striking and headstrong young woman responsible for figuring it all out?

 

Ah, in that case, you’d get the second in author Celeste Connally’s series about just such a gal, All’s Fair in Love and Treachery.

 

 

When you’re an invited guest to the court of Britain’s Queen Charlotte, you know a couple of things.

You’d best be on your very best behavior... and your reply should always be “yes” to whatever the queen asks of you.

 

So, when Lady Petra Forsyth finds herself standing before Her Royal Majesty, who requests that she get to the bottom of a murder(!) at the Asylum for Female Orphans—the untimely demise of the orphanage’s matron, herself—Petra readily acquiesces.

 

She is soon disheartened in her mission, though. There are three prime suspects, none of whom she's eager to find guilty: an older orphaned resident at the home; the under-matron, who has now been moved up to matron; and one of Petra’s own dearest friends, a generous patroness of the home.

 

Nonetheless, when Queen Charlotte tasks you with a duty, you fulfill it, so Petra soldiers on... only to find that her not-so-secret paramour, Duncan Shawcross (another favorite of Her Majesty, in a performing-of-clandestine-missions sort of way) is also somehow involved.

 

But, when Petra tries to find him, she discovers that he has also disappeared... along with one of the few clues—a letter, which one of her sources claims to have seen.

 

With a plot that grows increasingly complicated by the moment—traversing London on a quest to find missing persons, waylaid missives, and put a stop to what sounds more and more like a deadly mutiny directed at the very monarchy, itself—Petra, along with a group of friends, acquaintances, and even enemies, engages in a mad race against the clock.

 

Because as surely as London is currently in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime, citywide celebration of Napoleon’s surrender at Waterloo, Petra understands that she, her friends, and the much-nearer powers that be are in grave danger of something far worse than any of them can imagine.

 

 

This was the first Celeste Connally book I’ve read, but I’m hooked.

 

Connally absolutely nails the Regency intrigues, manners, and pageantry—all the fun of the things long lost to us—while also imbuing it with a bit of modern sensibility. 

 

Lady Petra is no shrinking violet... there’s nary a scene where she’s embroidering anything, nor tinkling the ivories of a convenient-situated pianoforte. Instead, she’s a smart, clever, and headstrong young woman, bent on forging her own path, on her own terms.

 

Definitely a woman whose exploits Ms. Austen would’ve enjoyed reading about, hmm?

 

And honestly, I can’t think of anything more delightful than that. All’s Fair in Love and Treachery is a wholehearted YES from me.

 

~GlamKitty

(Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Minotaur Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. As always, all opinions are entirely my own.)