Another good mystery for the Petterils to solve in this, the eighth book in this series. There are still problems for the couple, a predictable twist and one niggling issue for me that spoilt my enjoyment somewhat.
Here’s the premise: a small baby is dumped on the Petterils’ doorstep. Whose is it, and why was it left there? The natural assumption is that it’s a by-blow of Piers’, but he denies it. His relations, disapproving of April, suggest maybe it’s hers until Piers points out the discrepancy in age and timing. So the search is on to find the mother… or the father, possibly. The mystery proceeds with some neat twists and turns, leading to a satisfactory resolution. I liked this part of the book very much.
The other element involves April getting broody (not unexpectedly) but seemingly she believes she can’t have children, and she’s discussed this with Piers before they married. Now this really bothered me. I’ve read the whole series to date, and I don’t recall any such discussion. Well, my memory’s not the best, so maybe I’ve just forgotten, but I spent quite a bit of time trawling through previous books looking for any reference to this, only to come up empty-handed. Now this shouldn’t matter, but when something is presented as having occurred earlier, and it’s something so important (Piers is a viscount, after all, so an heir might be important to him), I’d expect it to be memorable… or at least findable. I’m afraid that every time the subject arose, I was so cross that it became very distracting. I’d love to know whether I just missed the earlier discussion or whether it actually wasn’t there.
But that aside, this is another good read, which would have been five stars but for that annoying niggle. So four stars it is.
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