Many thanks to @minotaur_books @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for the chance to read All’s Fair in Love and Treachery, book two in Celeste Connally’s Lady Petra Inquires mystery series–a regency-era mystery series with a feminist spin. Having loved book one (Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord), I was looking forward to getting my hands on book two, and it did not disappoint!

320 pages, Hardcover

Publication November 12, 2024

It’s June 21, 1815 in London and the city is celebrating the news of Napoleon’s surrender at Waterloo. Lady Petra, is not celebrating because she has just received a message that indicates

the death of her viscount fiancé three years earlier was no accident. The message goes further to suggest that the man responsible is her handsome, half-Scottish secret paramour Duncan Shawcross. Duncan, though, has left in a hurry with only a cryptic message for Petra. Is he running away from the truth or is something else going on? 

Lady Petra can’t focus all her time on this news, though, because a royal assignment from Queen Charlotte has arrived. The Queen has tasked Petra with attending an event at the Asylum for Female Orphans and making inquiries surrounding the death of the orphanage’s matron. The more Lady Petra investigates, the more she begins to see a link between the matron’s death and a group of radicals determined to topple the monarchy. 

There is a lot going on in this mystery, and readers will enjoy turning the pages quickly to see what’s related and who is behind it all. Lady Petra is such a wonderfully brave character, with a strong sense of humor. I had a guess as to the resolution of the mystery, but that didn’t lessen my enjoyment of the details and piecing it all together. The time-period details are fascinating (be sure to stay for the author’s note at the end), and the blend of humor and suspense make this an enjoyable read. I am hoping for book three!