This is book 9 in the series, and although the initial freshness has worn off and the disparity between April’s background and Piers’ rank is of less importance now, the author still manages to come up with an entertaining and intriguing mystery.
Here’s the premise: April and Piers have arranged a get-together for all Piers’ old friends from his days as an academic, before he inherited a viscountcy and was forced to give it all up. They’ve rented a house for a couple of weeks, but the owners have taken most of the servants to London with them, there are weird noises in the night and odd things disappear. Then there’s the sole remaining manservant, who’s insolent and lazy. And then there’s the lady who has some history with Piers, so that April is torn by jealousy. And then there’s an attempted murder…
From then on, the plot rumbles on almost under its own steam. The intrepid duo investigate the attack on the footman, while the lesser mysteries are rather easily resolved. For Piers, there’s the question of whether his academic friends could possibly be involved in bopping the footman over the head, and his loyalty to his friends is counterbalanced by April’s clearer vision of these people she’s only just met. For April, there’s the huge gulf between her own background and Piers’ highly educated upper-class friends. And the friends have their own uncertainties and insecurities.
It all comes to a satisfactory conclusion, naturally, although (as usual) I didn’t guess the identity of the villain. One line near the end shocked me, though – apparently only a little over a year has passed since Piers and April first met. Considering just how many murders and other mysteries have been squeezed into that time (including a trip to Portugal), and how much April has been required to change, from street urchin and thief to gracious viscountess, my suspension of disbelief is hanging by a thread. But the series is so entertaining, I’m happy to pretend it’s plausible. Five stars (again).
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