Deadly Treasures by Vivian Conroy

Lady Alkmene grew up with a somewhat peripatetic existence, moving from house to house while her father was on botanical explorations and after her mother died. One boy that never seemed to care was Duncan Woolsbury. He used to torment her and Alkmene used to do her best to get even. Now Duncan is  getting older and his parents are afraid that he's never going to get married and present an heir to the viscountcy. They want Alkmene to present herself as a candidate to be his wife. She's very excited to travel to some far away place like Egypt or the Himalays. Unfortunately, it turns out he's excavating a medieval village in Cornwall.
When she arrives, Duncan is being held in between two constables. It seems a man was killed on the work site, his head bashed in with Duncan's own hammer. And there is a lot of intrigue around the site, supposedly there is a pile of gold buried somewhere in the castle. Duncan may have found some of it but there are plenty of people that would like for him to fail. So was the man killed because of something he did or to prevent Duncan?
I would have liked to see more character development in both Lady Alkmene and Jake Dubois. We're in book three and they're pretty much the same people we met in the first book.

Three stars

This book came out November 21

Follows Diamonds of Death

Diamonds of Death by Vivian Conroy

The book opens with a cat burglar (literally) stumbling upon a dead body. When the noise summons the household servants, they immediately jump to the conclusion that he is the killer. Jack Dubois feels differently and he enlists the help of Lady Alkmene since the dead man was married to Alkmene's aunt (her mother's half-sister.)
Alkmene is nervous about visiting a house of mourning, especially since she hasn't met Amy of her cousins before. And what she finds is astonishing. Her oldest cousin Albert is married to Helena, a woman who immediately resents Alkmene's arrival. His younger brother George is resentful of not being the heir and has a strange relationship with Helena. Her cousin Ann had written Alkmene several letters since the siblings and their father had returned to England but Alkmene wasn't sure what to do with them. Her father never discussed that side of the family and she gets the feeling that there is a reason why. She's worried it's because her aunt went insane before her death.
A nice addition to the Alkmene series. I like that both Jack and Alkmene are more fleshed out than they were in the first book. Still some slow places but overall a quick and fun read.

Four stars
This book comes out October 17
This book follows A Proposal to Die For
Followed by Deadly Treasures

A Proposal to Die For by Vivian Conroy

Lady Alkmene Callender is a bit ahead of her time. She's wanting to do more with her life than just sit at home while her father travels the world searching for rare plants. And she gets her chance when she overhears a man proposing to someone but being told that the woman's uncle would never approve. There is a joke that she could marry whomever she pleases when the old man passes away. Lady Alkmene then meets the woman, American actress Evelyn Steinbeck. But, she doesn't meet her for very long. instead, she spends some time talking to her hostess, the Countess of Vivienne, and learns that Evelyn and her uncle were at the theater when a young man came and caused a scene.
It will come as no surprise to mystery readers that the uncle is killed two days later. Alkmene immediately jumps to the conclusion that it was murder and decides to head out and discover if anyone else feels the same. She encounters the countess sitting with a young man who ends up being a reporter. Or a private detective. Either way, he has a lot of contempt for the aristocracy. But he allows Alkmene to tag along because he thinks there something to this issue as well. It's an adventure that's going to take Alkmene out of London and out of her everyday life.
This was definitely a first book. The characters felt fuzzy around the edges, like she was still trying to figure out who they were. And the story is also a bit scattered with story threads not really weaving in smoothly. The author mentions that she did a lot of online research to get clothes and cars, etc. right but the tone... I just finished a mystery actually written in the '20s and the language was SO different. There were so many words and phrases that were just too modern and kept pulling me out of the story.
An okay story but I probably won't keep reading the series.

Three stars
This book comes out September 19
Followed by Diamonds of Death