A Malevolent Connection by Lynn Messina

An old enemy comes to Beatrice Hyde-Clare with a ridiculous story about someone trying to kill Beatrice's husband, the Duke. Is Lady Abercrombie still scheming or is she really trying to get back in the duke's good graces so that she can return to society?

Beatrice actually does the intelligent thing and lets her husband know about the plot (so many books rely on the protagonist keeping secrets and that causing issues.) He is unruffled. So, Beatrice decides to keep a secret that causes issues when she decides to track the uncle (and presumed murderous relative) down. But, while there is a body that shows up, it is not the one that they expect. 

There are storylines that are dropped but regular readers of the series are going to enjoy this book.

Three and a half stars

This book came out November 4, 2021

Follows A Ghastly Spectacle

Followed by An Ominous Explosion

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

A Ghastly Spectacle by Lynn Messina

Beatrice Hyde-Clare is trying to figure out how to be a duchess. She is used to being in the shadows as a spinster, not put in front of the ton as the woman who snared a duke and has now solved several murders. She really doesn't think that her friend Lady Abercrombie's tack is the right one, but the woman has already invited a number of people to participate in a murder mystery dinner party so Beatrice feels obliged to attend. Of course, one of the attendees ends up dead (one of the hostess's paramours, in fact) and it is up to Beatrice to solve the crime. And she does, but there is still 40% left in the book.

I really loved seeing Bea's deductive reasoning to figure out who is going to be the faux murderer in the party and I did enjoy getting to see her relationship grow with the duke. The mystery was okay but after the 60% mark, I kept wondering why I was still reading until about the 70% mark. Some nice filler but I wanted the story to just get on with it already.

Four stars

This book came out May 14, 2021

Follows A Boldly Daring Scheme

Followed by A Malevolent Connection

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

A Boldly Daring Scheme by Lynn Messina

 Up until this book, all of the stories have been narrated by Beatrice Hyde-Clare, now a newly-minted duchess. She has described her cousin Flora as somewhat caring but basically a fluff brain. In this book, we jump into Flora's first person narration and see that, yes, she is sort of fluff-brained but that may, in part, be because no one has asked her to step up. In this book, she decides to do it on her own.

Even though Beatrice is now married, Flora knows that Beatrice must be missing her former fiance. Of course, Flora hasn't quite figured out that the fiance is fake but... at least her search gives her a purpose in her life. Of course, it does put her in the notice of Mr. Holcroft. She danced with him once but... meh. And now he's asking her what she things she's doing and being almost interesting.

An interesting diversion from the Beatrice books but Flora is still a bit vapid, even when she's doing interesting things. I have a feeling that she could grow into a stronger character but it wasn't in this book.

Three Stars

This book came out October 23, 2020

Follows A Sinister Establishment

Followed by A Ghastly Spectacle

This book came out June 16th, 2020

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

A Sinister Establishment by Lynn Messina

Newly a duchess, the former spinster Beatrice Hyde-Clare is thoroughly intimidated by her new husband's staff. They, however, are thoroughly NOT impressed by her. At least the butler sure says so to a footman when he doesn't know Beatrice is within hearing distance. Well, Beatrice is now determined to show them that she is more than a mousy former wallflower. Luckily, an opportunity presents itself when the chef next door is murdered. And his head is removed.

We get to see Beatrice in her element, solving mysteries, but this time, with her husband by her side the whole time. These books are short and the mysteries aren't particularly engaging but it is fun and fluffy and we get to see Beatrice grow into her role as a duchess. 

Three Stars

Follows A Treacherous Performance

Followed by A Boldly Daring Scheme

This book came out June 16th, 2020

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

A Treacherous Performance by Lynn Messina

One remark from an heiress, Miss Brougham, sent Beatrice Hyde-Clare's tentative hopes for a good (or even semi-decent) season into a tailspin. Years later, Beatrice is now engaged to a duke. And the former Miss Brougham has brought Beatrice a perfect reason not to concentrate on the fact that she will soon be a duchess. She wants Beatrice to find a long-lost family treasure.

Unfortunately, there is more to the story than just that and it sends Beatrice and her fiance off on another adventure, one that threatens their Happily Ever After.

A decent addition to the series. I highly suggest reading them in order as the sum of the total is more than just its parts.

Three Stars

Follows A Nefarious Engagement

Followed by A Sinister Establishment

This book came out November 15th, 2019

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

A Nefarious Engagement by Lynn Messina

 Beatrice Hyde-Clare never actually expected to make a match with the Duke of Kesgrave. And suddenly, she's gone from wallflower to the center of attention in the course of an evening. She needs to distract herself. But how? Maybe by solving the mystery of her parents' deaths. It was widely accepted that it was an accident but was it really? Or was it something more sinister?

Like the rest of the series, the mystery is a little thin and most of the joy of reading this book comes from the building romance.

Three Stars

Follows An Infamous Betrayal

Followed by A Treacherous Performance

This book came out April 9th, 2019

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

An Infamous Betrayal by Lynn Messina

Two murders. Unassuming spinster Beatrice Hyde-Clare has now solved two murders. Both brought her into proximity with the Duke of Kesgreave for whom she is starting to develop a tendre. Which is ridiculous. He is in the upper echelon of peers and she is an orphan with a family that is acceptable at best. So when a person familiar with her problem solving on her first murder comes to her and asks for help with a second, Beatrice jumps at the chance. 

It seems the mother of the man's fiancee had a lover. That came out during the course of the first investigation. Now the man is dead, having expired in the mother's bed. Unfortunately, the duke seems determined to help her solve the mystery, even going with her when she once again dresses like a man. 

The mystery is definitely unfairly clued but the overarching storyline of the series moves quite nicely in this book and there are plotlines for subsequent books that are seeded here. 

Three Stars

Follows A Scandalous Deception 

Followed by A Nefarious Engagement

This book came out August 12th, 2018

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

A Scandalous Deception by Lynn Messina

Lies can come back to bite you in the butt. Beatrice Hyde-Clare is learning that first hand. In the first book of this series, she made up a love interest in order to make a girl feel empathy and talk to her. It backfired when the girl immediately told Beatrice's family about the man. Now they are obsessed with finding him. What else can Beatrice do but put a notice of his death in the paper?

Too bad a man falls dead right in front of her as she is exiting the building, stabbed with a very ostentatious knife. She's already solved one murder, does this one need to be solved by her too? Probably not. But she recognized that knife... and looking for it does set her right back in the path of the Duke of Kesgreave. 

The joy of these stories really is in reading the whole series. The mystery is a little thin and so is the romance but the growing story is overall fun.

Three Stars

Follows A Brazen Curiosity

Followed by An Infamous Betrayal

This book came out August 9th, 2018

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

A Brazen Curiosity by Lynn Messina

I wish I had known when I started this book that it was part of a series. I have read Lynn Messina before and thoroughly enjoyed her books, so I couldn't understand why the romance was so ploddingly slow. The hero and heroine spend barely any time together. But the beginnings of a flirtation between a plain spinster and a pedantic duke are in this story. I wish we had seen more but I understand the need for a slow burn to make it through at least two more stories.
Beatrice Hyde-Clare is unfortunate to meet the Duke of Kesgrave in the middle of the night when she's looking for a book. She doesn't notice him until after she's picked up the candlestick from the floor. The candlestick that has obviously been used to murder the man the Duke is now standing over.
Edited March 14th 2021: Upon rereading, my first instinct was absolutely correct. This book is much more enjoyable when I have no expectations. I had completely forgotten reading this story until about halfway through when I went to Goodreads and, yes, I had read it before. On the Kindle Unlimited books, you can currently read the entire series and the sum of these parts are definitely greater than the whole.

Three stars

Followed by A Scandalous Deception
This book came out September 15
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley

The Impertinent Miss Templeton by Lynn Messina

It's 3 o'clock in the morning. Tuppence Templeton is bemused to find the Harlow Hoyden and her twin sister in Tuppence's bedroom. It seems that they need her help. It's a little far-fetched but leads to a delightful story of the very plain Tuppence finding her way back into the realm of the Earl of Gage. Although, it's not as if he even remembers her from their first meeting.
Nicholas Perceval doesn't remember her. He knows that someone interfered with his sister and a fortune hunger but he straightened out that miss in no time. He knows what he knows and what he knows is always, always correct. Yet, dealing with Tuppence Templeton is teaching him exactly how wrong he can be; about the way that inventions work, what women can do, how well he can run off a fortune hunter, and exactly how plain Tuppence is.
The story was a little thin but the writing is as entertaining as always. Ms. Messina writes the type of romance novel that helped me get nearly perfect on my SAT reading scores.

Four stars
This book came out August 30
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley

The Other Harlow Girl by Lynn Messina

Image linked from Goodreads

Le sigh. This was a good book (after the first quarter) but still not as good as my first Messina, The Harlow Hoyden. 
In this book, our heroine is the twin of the first book in the series. Lavinia, Vinnie, Harlow has always been considered the "good" twin, though a pallid copy of her sister. She is a gifted horticulturalist but it still comes as a surprise  when her name is put in for the British Horticultural Society.
The Marquess of Huntley (BFF of The Hoyden's husband) isn't sure why he put Vinnie's name in for the society. Women are not forbidden to join, but they aren't really encouraged either. Though the first meeting between Huntley and Vinnie isn't particularly auspicious (she soaks him with a hose), as the two are thrown together more and more often, they begin to find the ways in which they are compatible.
The first part of the story was both scattered and drag-gy. We got the same event from both character's point of view. Which, when done well (Mary Balogh), can be a wonderful way to get a glimpse of deeper character. In this case, I just wondered why we were getting almost a complete re-hash of the events. There was nothing added. Luckily, it straightened out and I started enjoying the story more. While the ending also had me a bit underwhelmed, I overall enjoyed this book.

Miss Fellingham's Rebellion: A Regency Romance by Lynn Messina

Image linked from Goodreads

Whoo. The beginning of this story was a little rough. But if you can soldier past the first twenty or so pages, it's a really fun story.
 The book opens with Miss Catherine Fellingham finally having her eyes open to her family's dynamics - and it's not pretty. Turns out her father is gambling at a pace that puts the family's finances in order and her mother thinks that selling commissions (a treasonous effort) is the way to recoup their fortunes. Her younger, much more beautiful sister has been so cossetted by the family that she is a vapid and insensitive person and her younger brother, though supposedly an adult at nineteen, doesn't seem to have grown up much at all. It is up to too-tall, too-serious, wall-flower Catherine to save the family.
But when she meets a handsome stranger while visiting the Elgin marbles (against her mother's wishes) with her youngest sister (possibly the only other pragmatic family member), she doesn't realize that she may be meeting her fate. However, the next time she sees the Marquess of Deverill, it's while he's talking with Lady Arabella. I'm pretty sure we met her in The Harlow Hoyden making the books loosely related. For Catherine, this discussion is mortifying. Lady Arabella is instructing Deverill to make Cathy "popular." Telling him that he is the only one with enough consequence to do so. Something to cure his boredom. We don't see much of the Marquess' thoughts until the end of the book, which I really liked. Being with Catherine, not really knowing his motives (although, as a removed reader, we're better able to guess than our protagonist), was a nice smooth reading with only one POV. Something you don't get to see in every book.

The big misunderstandings at the end were overdone. There were way to many.

A good book. I liked the Harlow Hoyden better but I definitely can't wait for the next ":A Regency Romance."

The Harlow Hoyden by Lynn Messina

Image linked from Goodreads

I seem to be on quite the kick of "hellion/hoyden" books right now. I was on a kick one day, requesting books that had interesting covers from NetGalley. This, was one of them. Being a new-to-me author was a bonus here. Another bonus? I quite enjoyed the story.
The Duke of Trent is quite bemused one afternoon to find a young woman assaulting one of his prize orchids (she was going to snap it off at the flower, rather than at the route). He's even more bemused to find out that his intruder is the well-known Harlow Hoyden, Miss Emma Harlow.
Emma is delighted to make the acquaintance of the Duke of Trent. She thinks that he's the answer to her prayers. Her prayers to find some libertine to seduce her sister away from a fiance that Emma wholly disapproves of.
Okay, there was a totally pointless scene at the end

the killer had to come back and strangler her a second time? Why? To eke out a few more pages?

.
And, DEAR GOD IN HEAVEN, I hope the typos are fixed before this book goes to print. I ignored them because this was an ARC but the duke's "think smile" and drinking of "ail" were... whew. If this were a published book, I would have been annoyed enough to mark this book down two stars.

UPDATE: The follow-up, The Other Harlow Girl, is about Vinnie finding her own HEA. Not as good, but still worth reading.