Lady Emily investigates the murder of a glamorous debutante in the next irresistible mystery of Tasha Alexander’s New York Times bestselling series.

 

London, 1907: When the Season's most accomplished and elegant debutante, Victoria Goldsborough, collapses and dies at her engagement ball, the great and good of London Society prepare to mourn the tragic loss of an upstanding young woman. But all is not what it seems, and after a toxic beverage is revealed to be the cause of death, the king himself instructs Lady Emily and her husband Colin Hargreaves to unearth the truth.

 

Who would want to harm one of the most popular women of the year? Is it her fiancé with whom she had an unusually brief courtship; a rival for his affections bitter at being cast aside; her best friend who is almost certainly hiding a secret from Colin and Emily; a disappointed suitor with a hidden gambling habit; or a notorious jewel thief who has taken a priceless tiara from the Goldsborough home? When a second debutante succumbs to poison, the race is on to find a ruthless killer.

 

Emily and Colin’s investigation leads to a centuries old tomb in the center of London with a mysterious link to another death dating back to Roman times and the violent reign of Boudica, ancient Britain's fearsome warrior queen. As the stakes rise and the clock ticks down, Emily must find the killer before they strike again.

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"Like a great box of chocolates, all of Tasha Alexander’s books are deliciously enjoyable, some more than others, but all of them pure pleasure to consume.  The 19th novel in this series is no exception...Alexander always has an expertly done traditional mystery at the heart of her novels, complete with all the golden age trappings – red herrings, clever investigative set backs, surprising turns and reveals...The solution of the mystery in Lady Emily’s storyline was both heartbreaking and surprising.  After 19 books into this series I still didn’t see the twist coming, earning a chef’s kiss for this clever and endlessly inventive author.  The resolution of the Iron Age  storyline was heartbreaking and satisfying as well,  delivering a much appreciated history lesson. To the last morsel at the bottom of the candy box I savored my annual reunion with Lady Emily." -Aunt Agatha's

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"Plenty of motives and a surprise ending... [with] a bit of British Roman history woven into the mystery."-Kirkus

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"Identifying an unlikely culprit with ties to both stories, Lady Emily triumphs, to the delight of her reader fans." -Booklist

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"In both narratives, a central theme salutes the strong women who bravely shaped English society, from the warriors of antiquity to the

suffragette movement around the turn of the 20th century. A particularly engaging subplot incorporates a hilariously shady character, purportedly the inspiration for author Maurice Leblanc’s fictional gentleman thief, Arsène Lupin. Although Alexander often introduces

real-life people into her novels, this is the first time I can recall her serving up a fictional character as inspiration for yet another fictional character." -BookPage

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