Lily Adler Mysteries: Book 5
Publication Date: August 20, 2024
Sometimes danger lurks in plain sight, and in the cutthroat London Season socialite Lily Adler must race against time to catch a killer.
Fans of Bridgerton will delight in this Regency-era mystery featuring an intrepid sleuth, plenty of intrigue, and a touch of romance.
London, 1817. The London Season is beginning once more, and Lily Adler’s return to her home on Half Moon Street feels different this year. No longer a recent widow, she has a life and friends waiting for her. Lily also has new responsibilities in the form of her protégée Amelia, the sister of her longtime friend Jack Hartley, who is escaping her own brush with scandal and murder.
It doesn’t take long for Lily’s growing reputation as a lady of quality who can discreetly find what is missing or solve what is puzzling to bring a desperate young woman to her doorstep. But helping her means unraveling a tangled web of family secrets. Soon, a missing will, a dead body and the threat of blackmail leave Lily facing danger every way she turns.
The glittering society of Mayfair conceals many secrets, and the back alleys of London hide even more. Lily Adler will need to find the connection between them quickly if she wants to stop a killer before it’s too late.
Lily Adler receives a mysterious summons in her London home. Curious to its nature, she replies, only to be faced with a familiar and unwelcome face. But when her investigation turns to murder, she must get to the bottom of this mystery before those close to her are hurt in A Scandal in Mayfair by Katharine Schellman.
Lily Adler is back in London after an eventful turn in the country. Waiting for her friend, Jack Hartley, to return from convalescing, she receives a note from Miss Forrest. Miss Forrest is certain her inheritance has been stolen from her uncle and begs Lily for help. But to Lily’s dismay, Mr. Clive, a seedy acquaintance she made in the country, is Miss Forrest’s new beau. Blackmailed by Mr. Clive to help, Lily must look into this matter.
However, with little evidence to prove Miss Forrest’s claims, Lily is ready to give up.
But when Miss Forrest’s uncle, Mr. Martin Forrest, is found dead with Mr. Clive found on the scene, Lily must uncover the real truth behind his death. Digging into the matter, however, is leaving those she cares for at risk, and the questions continue to mount. Will she be able to find the truth before it is too late?
I have enjoyed the Lily Adler Mysteries series since the first book. Schellman is a master of character development, and it shows in this book. The tension between Jack and Lily was at a high point at the end of the last book, and Schellman doesn’t miss a step in continuing and building from that in this book. It is lovely to see how Lily’s relationship with Mr. Page, the Bow Street investigator, has grown into true mutual respect. I did have the same complaint with this book as I have in the past as the killer fits into a mold, I wish I could see the author break free of. However, this book is so good that I can’t even dock it for it. I found the mystery unique and while I wish the villain had been slightly different, I couldn’t help but be hooked from the first page.
A Scandal in Mayfair is an exciting new chapter in the Lily Alder series. With complex mysteries and relationships that leave you breathless, get ready to be lost in time.
Katharine Schellman is a former actor and one-time political consultant. These days, she writes the Regency-set Lily Adler Mysteries and Jazz Age Nightingale Mysteries. Her books have been praised in outlets from Library Journal to The New York Times, with reviewers calling them “worthy of Agatha Christie or Rex Stout” (Library Journal). Katharine writes in the mountains of Virginia, where she lives with her husband, children, and the many houseplants she keeps accidentally murdering.
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Thanks so much for the review. I have not read this series yet, but the whole thing is on my wish list. Sometime I will just binge read all of it!