Series Name: A Lady’s Guide # 1
“She was also rather tall, which he’d notice in London. It would have been impossible not to when all those curves had been pressed tightly against him the day they’d met. He’d forgotten in the time since then, but he certainly remembered it now.”
A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem by Manda Collins is a fun romance mystery read that will leave you guessing who the murderer is until the very end.
Lady Katherine Bascomb is a columnist for a well-known newspaper and believes that women should be informed about the criminal activities in their society, especially since women are often the victims of these crimes. She writes an article about the Ten Commandment killer who is plaguing the streets of London. However, Katherine’s article ends up causing more trouble than she had anticipated because it leads to the arrest of the notorious killer. To escape all the attention being directed at her, Katherine visits the countryside only to witness a murder on her first night there. Things only become more complicated for Katherine when the lead detective assigned to solving this case turns out to Inspector Andrew Eversham, whose career Katherine destroyed when she published that article. Andrew doesn’t know what to think of Katherine and her motives for writing that “damn” article, all he wants is to solve this crime and rebuild his career. However, as the two work together to solve this new murder, they find that appearances aren’t what they seem to be, both with the investigation and with each other. They will have to work together if they want to find the murderer before he or she kills again.
I liked this book; it was a light, fun mystery read that had me guessing what would happen next. There were some predictable moments throughout this book, and the relationship between Katherine and Andrew went from dislike to undying passion unbelievably fast. But I found I still enjoy the steady pace, and the characters were delightful and a lot of fun to read (especially Caroline). The mystery component is intriguing and offers the readers a few twists and turns that will leave them guessing ‘who done it’. It is a lighter mystery read, which means there isn’t much gore and the action scenes are pretty tame. The author did a great job weaving romance elements into the story. There are plenty of scenes with Katherine and Andrew that should satisfy most romance readers out there. I did enjoy the banter between these two characters and found they worked well together both as investigators and as a couple.
