PDF A Scandalous Deception A Regency Cozy Beatrice HydeClare Mysteries Book 2 Audible Audio Edition Lynn Messina Jill Smith Potatoworks Press Books

Product details Audible Audiobook Listening Length 7 hours and 21 minutes Program Type Audiobook Version Unabridged Publisher Potatoworks Press Audible.com Release Date March 7, 2019 Whispersync for Voice Ready Language English, English ASIN B07PCW73F7

A Scandalous Deception A Regency Cozy Beatrice HydeClare Mysteries Book 2 Audible Audio Edition Lynn Messina Jill Smith Potatoworks Press Books Reviews

• I enjoyed the first book in the series and I enjoyed this one also. My only complaint is the the beginning pages of the book give a synopsis of the first book. I understand the need to connect the relationship of the characters but it could have been done in a preface instead of about 10% of the book. I just kept turning the pages to get to the actual story. This is an English murder mystery. I bought book 3 and hope it doen’t rehash the first 2 books before the actual story begins.
• The second in the series and the characters continue to entertain while solving a murder. Propriety and impropriety are weighed as the mystery is unraveled. The verbal parlays between the male and female leads are entertaining.
• I really enjoyed this story. The simple investigation of murder by an unlikely pair is both interesting and fun to read.
• I have thoroughly enjoyed all of this author's books and this one certainly follows suit. I think it may be one of her best.
• This second entry in this new series is much stronger that the first. Gone are the Duke's long, pompous speeches and Aunt Vera's windy etiquette. Bea's inner monologues are now verbal monologues and dialogues. Then there's the romantic subplot. It's progressing but doesn't bloom quite yet. I absolutely love the slow burn romance. Authors- this is how it's done. There's lots of witty dialogue and a good waltz to build romantic tension. I did guess who the murder suspects were and I did figure out who but not why. Bea picks up on a detail I hadn't remembered. This seems a little far fetched for her to come up with but it made the story more interesting than what I had thought happened.
  
  I really like Bea and I can relate to her. When I was younger I would have been a wallflower not by choice like Bea. Now I'm older and more forthright. Bea has very low self-esteem from 20 years of being the poor relation and being told by the ton that she's not beautiful enough or wealthy enough to matter. As a single female she matters even less to the world. It's starting to REALLY get on her nerves and she leads a charge against the double standards of her world. I don't agree with all the decisions she makes or all the things she says out loud but I certainly thought them. She's going from Fanny Price to Lizzie Bennet quickly. Aunt Vera thinks Bea's mind is disordered from all the recent trauma and Bea is happy to let her aunt think that, yet the story hints at the fate of women who are believed to be mentally unbalanced.
  
  The Duke of Kesgrave, Damien, is growing on me. He knows when to play the Duke card and when to tease Bea about it. I do think he is messing with everyone by pretending to be so seriously boring. He finds amusement in watching people fawn all over him even when he's boring them. The Duke has noted Bea's criticisms and he likes needling her just to see her reaction. I do believe the Duke has feelings for Bea, whether or not he can or is willing to acknowledge them. Her feelings are clear by the end of the novel. The story ends on a rather sad and somber note.
  
  Bea's family provides comic relief with their absurd obsession with Mr. Davies. It's sad how much they want to get rid of her, yet it was a woman's duty to marry. That was what ladies like Bea and Flora were brought up for and Bea has failed her duty. Yet to obsess over a poor law clerk who Bea once loved, a man who is supposedly married with children is too awful for words. What is he supposed to do? Flora's thought is so laughably sad. I do not think Aunt Vera has any maternal feelings for Bea. Flora and Russell are funny and are now treating her like an older sister. Uncle Horace finally appears but he has little to say. I can't tell if he's hen pecked or as unfeeling as his wife. Certainly he doesn't care much for Bea. His one big scene is tinged with a melancholy feeling, at least from Bea's point-of-view.
  
  There aren't many new characters in this novel. Lord Fazeley sounds like an awful person. He didn't deserve to die and he's probably no worse than many of the other gentlemen of the ton. The Duke's description of Lord Fazeley is perfect and shows just how much the Duke is NOT the man Bea initially thought he was. Lord Fazeley was connected to a number of people, including Lady Abercrombie, an eccentric, wealthy widow. I didn't care for her very much for the same reasons Bea didn't. This lady is the type that only cares about men and keeping them wrapped around her finger. Her revelations are a bit creepy. Does she really want to make Bea her protege or is she motivated by keeping her own secrets? I think she's totally selfish and wants to make sure Bea keeps her mouth shut, even though it seems like the secret is probably out. Lord Duncan, the nephew of the murder victim, is young and a bit immature, like the young gentlemen we met in the first novel. I did not like the way Bea behaved towards him. She bullied him and that's not right. Yes he may be a murderer but that's not the way to get information.
  
  In the tradesmen class of people we have three additional suspects. Mr. Cornyn, publisher of Gothic novels and perhaps soon Lord Fazeley's memoir. He seems to be a timid man, unable to stand up to pressure yet his ego is pretty big. His assistant, Mr. Hill, reads all manuscripts. If there is a memoir, Mr. Hill would know about it. He is not a likable man. Miss Cornyn appears very late in the story. She is a kind and loving daughter but a bit silly. Perhaps she's been reading too many of Papa's gothic novels. Why would any of them have cause to murder Lord Fazeley?
  
  I love this new series. It reminds me of Marion Chesney but not as over the top. If you like the traditional Regency stories where the hero and heroine work together to solve a problem, then you will probably like this one. It's not exactly a romance YET but I am sure it will be!
• Beatrice is now in London and her family has latched onto a lie she told to further her last case, but it did much for a while - her invented and entirely fictitious thwarted lover. Now though things are too much- her aunt is convinced she must find the man despite his wife and children to find similar traits to finally marry off her unwanted niece. So as anyone would do she kills him - by filing an obituary on the fictional man. But while at the office dropping off the notice, a man drops dead at her feet. Bea recognizes the very distinctive knife in his back and sets out to investigate. But somehow Kesgrave has found her - he recognized the false obit for what it was and connected that with the paper's description of the missing female witness. They work together again to solve the dandy's murder and meet some interesting folks along the way. They also struggle to understand what exactly their relationship is and why they are compelled to solve these crimes.
• This is my review of the audio versin as posted on Audible
  
  The second book in the series is as intriguing and funny as the first. Bea is still Bea - a spinster her family (aunt Vera especially) would like to see hide in the corner, away from the world, while she herself dscovers she's more than she has ever dreamed herslef to be. And the Duke of Kesgrave has a few more surprises in his sleeves. Not to mention the undercurrent romantic tension in their relationship...
  
  This adventure starts with Bea's imaginary former beloved becoming something of a "ball and chain"... Aunt Vera in particular is determined to find him and make his acquaintance. So what is Bea supposed to do? Well, the best thing would be to... kill him. Thus we see her visiting the offices of The London Gazette where she posts the obituary for poor Mr Davies. And there, at the entrance, Fate messes with her life again a man falls dead at her feet. She would gladly have nothing to do with yet another crime, but the dagger in the dead man's back seems oddly familiar...
  
  That's the starting point for an adventure full of twists, misunderstandings and disguises, with Bea and the Duke trying to solve the murder while avoiding a social scandal of any sort... The best part? The friendly banter between them) They argue, they exchange witty remarks, they agree to disagree on many points... and they grow to like each other more and more with every passing moment...
  
  Naration by Ms Smith is as good as with book one. The pace of her reading is adequate and she does all the voices well, without exaggerating the male ones. Her reading simply brings the book to life for you)
  
  DISCLAIMER I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.