2021 historical mystery; ninth in Huber's Lady Darby series
(post-Regency amateur detection). As the cholera epidemic is starting
to fade in Edinburgh and Lady Darby waits for her child to be born, a
wildly popular rogue's biography in the Jack Sheppard mould rakes up
old scandals…
I haven't mentioned the crime, and that's because it's not
particularly significant to the early part of the book: the
interpersonal matters and the historical details are where Huber's
enthusiasm seems to lie, and while there will indeed be murder and
kidnapping before all's done the book could stand without them in a
way it really couldn't if it were just about them.
Kiera and Gage have already worked out that making a fuss about the
book, or the plays based on it, won't achieve anything, but they do
want to find out who the mysterious author is. There's also a wave of
crime, perhaps inspired by the book or just claiming to have been,
which leaves their usual police contact in an ill humour; and Kiera's
sister is increasingly at odds with her; and she's keeping a secret
from Gage…
Bits are repetitive. Yes, we get it, Kiera is in constant discomfort
but feels she has to keep doing things anyway. Yes, her sister Alana
wants her to stop her investigations now that she's going to be a
mother. And so on. The first half in particular had its moments of
feeling padded, though by the climactic events this is largely
forgotten.
But even more than with most series one shouldn't start here. While
the story is more or less complete in itself, and there are
explanations for the newcomer, I felt that I got far more out of it by
having been around to read the earlier episodes that are only
mentioned in passing here.