Review: A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem

Romance mixed with historical fiction and mystery is how I'd describe A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem, the latest book (and first in a new series) by Manda Collins. Sounds pretty intriguing, right? And with a really fun cover to boot! I liked this one but definitely didn't love it. It was fun but there was something...lacking.

Here's the synopsis:

England, 1865 : As one of England's most notorious newspaper columnists, Lady Katherine Bascomb believes knowledge is power. And she's determined to inform and educate the ladies of London on the nefarious-and deadly-criminals who are praying on the fairer sex. When her reporting leads to the arrest of a notorious killer, however, Katherine flees to a country house party to escape her newfound notoriety-only to witness a murder on her very first night. And when the lead detective accuses Katherine of inflaming-rather than informing-the public with her column, she vows to prove him wrong.
Detective Inspector Andrew Eversham's refusal to compromise his investigations nearly cost him his own career, and he blames Katherine. To avoid bad publicity, his superiors are pressuring him to solve cases quickly rather than correctly. When he discovers she's the key witness in a new crime, he's determined to prevent the beautiful widow from once again wreaking havoc on his case. Yet as Katherine proves surprisingly insightful and Andrew impresses Katherine with his lethal competency, both are forced to admit the fire between them is more flirtatious than furious. But to explore the passion between them, they'll need to catch a killer.

I loved the idea of this novel. The actual practice of it? It let me down a little. I was reading an egalley so I acknowledge there could be changes but I can't check them against a finished copy since wandering around a bookstore is not encouraged right now. I felt like there were a number of scenes where Collins repeated herself and others where they seemed to be out of order. For instance, right near the beginning of the novel we meet Eversham's boss Darrow. There's a scene where the two men talk and Eversham goes about his day. But then, a chapter or so later, they're back together and that's when the reader gets some backstory on Darrow. I didn't find it necessary to begin with and it was a weird spot to have it.

Lady Katherine, or Kate as she's better known by her friends, is very much a feminist which I appreciated. What was awkward was that it seemed like Collins was going out of her way to make sure the reader knew without any doubt that Kate was feminist. Like, I get it. She wants to make sure women have a voice. She runs her own newspaper. She's not afraid to discuss topics that were not "ladylike". I love all of that and maybe it's my modern sensibilities that made it stand out so much. It was also irksome that she was of noble birth and all these rich people were commenting on society when they have no clue what it's like for the average person, like those people who were getting murdered right under their noses. There were comments on classism and racism as well that drew parallels to what we're dealing with right now. And, while I appreciated them, it just didn't quite fit into the story. It felt like they were shoehorned into the plot and dialogue and it was jarring for me.

I liked the characters but I don't really feel like we got to know them very well. I was convinced for awhile that Caro couldn't be trusted because she was a new friend even though she and Kate were acting like they've been best friends since they were young. I was also irked that 1. It took forever to learn about how bad Kate's marriage had been and 2. It was her friend Val who told Eversham, and the reader, about it, not Kate.

The mystery was really intriguing and probably the best part of the plot. It kept me guessing and I really wasn't sure who the murder (or was it murderers, plural?) was going to be. I did have an idea early on, and was right, but that didn't keep me from being interested in, and anxiously waiting for, the reveal and (hopeful) capture of the killer. There were also way more layers to the murders than I could have guessed and that helped make it even more interesting. 

All in all, A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem was fine. Manda Collins' novel didn't thrill me and I probably won't pick up the next in the series but it entertained me enough while reading it. I'm sure there are many a reader out there who would love it more than I did.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Forever, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*