Revenge, Served Royal

[cornerofmadness]

Revenge, Served Royal by Celeste Connally

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I am jumping into this mystery series after somehow missing book two. This is early 1800s and there feels like there are a few anachronisms but they weren't that bothersome. Part of it is the main plot point of Lady Petra and her maid and cook being invited to Windsor castle by the Queen to be a judge in a baking contest to celebrate the royal anniversary. Petra's cook is one of the bakers. I think the way the contest was run felt too much like today's baking challenges but like I said that is minor.

One of the judges, cook book author Sir Rufus Pomeroy turns up murdered and Petra doesn't believe the young man who is slammed into the dungeon is guilty. She sets out to prove it with the help of Duncan Shawcross (her lover who works for the crown), her maid and her Aunt Ophelia who also is a major suspect in this because at the heart of this is a tangle of debts, celebrity scandals and bad behavior from the aristocracy.

I still very much like Petra (though I was a bit disappointed by her actions in the end because I dislike characters doing dumb things to force drama) It was a little harder to predict the actual killer and why than it was in book one. I do hope though in the future it involves less of the Crown Prince and recognizable royals because they don't really make credible suspects since we know it can't possibly be them and if it was, what would anyone do about it? A lot of historical mystery series love to toe that line.



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