2018 Regency mystery, first of a series, by Sarah Zettel writing as
Darcie Wilde. After her father's business dealings came to ruin and he
fled with her elder sister, Rosalind Thorne has made her way in the
world as a social convenience: she knows everyone, she arranges for
the right people to come to the right parties, and so on. But when a
young wastrel is found dead in Almack's ballroom…
I am used of course to the generally positive portrayal of the
Regency from authors such as Georgette Heyer, and the more socially
conscious one exemplified by Olivia Atwater, and while closer to the
latter this is an interestingly different view: every polite
conversation is a game of chess, with limited moves available and the
possibility of making a fatal error at any moment. Some people are
secure in their position in society; most are definitely not. And of
course everyone, allies and enemies alike, has a distinct set of goals
which may or may not overlap with Miss Thorne's own. Or indeed with
her survival, in Society or anywhere.
The overall feeling reminded me very strongly of Zettel's earlier
Palace of Spies series: Rosalind is very limited in how much she can
do without courting social ruin, but she's clever enough to work out
which levers to pull in what order to orchestrate justice being done.
At the same time, this is a murder mystery, not only who but why, and
I confess that I at least did not have it all solved, but nor did I
feel in retrospect that there wasn't enough information for anyone to
have got it—a rare and pleasant experience for me.
Sometimes a bit slow for my taste, but that's part of the style;
Rosalind may work out what's going on, but the opportunities to do
something about it are limited and fleeting. I'll certainly continue
with the series.