Tasha Alexander's books are best read somewhere warm and sunny, preferably while drinking a beverage which includes a little umbrella. That's not to say they can't be enjoyed while commuting on a snow-delayed bus. It's just that while sitting in traffic, cold and surrounded by grumpy people, Emily's adventures provided too much contrast to my situation.
Still recovering from the injuries sustained at the end of Tears of Pearl and chafing under her mother-in-law's disapproving eye, Lady Emily finds solace in long horseback rides. At least, that is, until she comes across the mutilated body of a young woman. The local police think that it's the work of Jack the Ripper; Emily's husband Colin Hargraves isn't so sure. With the help of Emily's friend Cecile du Lac (and Sebastien Capet, the burglar/pretender to the French throne), Emily and Colin discover that the dead woman was a distant cousin to Mrs. Hargraves's odd neighbors and had escaped from a mental asylum. I spent the last third of the book convinced that I'd figured out the killer, and the motive - only to find out that I was completely wrong. On a mystery level, it's the best Lady Emily book since the first, and after a book featuring none of Emily's friends, I was happy to see Cecile, but I miss Ivy, Margaret, and Jeremy, and even Emily's overbearing mother. I don't have the next installment yet, but I hope it returns Emily to London where she (and we) will once again spend time with them.
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