cover image A Fatal Assignation

A Fatal Assignation

Alice Chetwynd Ley. St. Martin's Press, $15.95 (221pp) ISBN 978-0-312-00596-2

The second in Ley's series of Regency mysteries (A Reputation Dies reunites the detective team of Anthea and Justin Rutherford, nubile niece and eligible bachelor uncle, familiars in the ton. When Sir Aubrey Jermyn turns up dead in a Bond Street modiste's inner sanctum, the team goes into action. Unsavory details about Jermyn's womanizing and pandering emerge with a cluster of likely suspects more than willing to wreak vengeance on their abuser. While witty Anthea and scholarly Justin carry on mild flirtations in their social rounds, they piece together the events leading up to Jermyn's fatal assignation with his neighbor's wife. A neatly worked out solution maintains interest as the protocol of Regency romance and detective stories is followed in a lightly entertaining way. (September 2)