Customer Reviews

The Wedding Caper (Zebra Regency Romance)

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A late-comer to the Priscilla Flanders mysteries, I recently picked up A Rather Necessary End. I was immediately hooked and had to search out the rest of the books in the series. Each one was a delight, and The Wedding Caper is no exception!

Priscilla is an intelligent, keen-eyed sleuth and Sir Neville is her perfect counterpoint. I've thoroughly enjoyed watching their relationship develop through the series. As a die hard Georgette Heyer fan, I'm also delighted with Ms. Ferguson's ability to sketch the Regency scene to pefection.

Could this be the last Sir Neville Hathaway & Lady Priscilla Flanders mystery-romance novel? Unfortunately, I found myself devoutly hoping that it was, because six installments into the series, and it really seemed as if the authour has run out of steam where these characters are concerned.

Lady Priscilla Flanders should be concentrating on her upcoming marriage to Sir Neville Hathaway and on her eldest daughter's, Daphne, London debut; instead she finds herself caught up in yet another murder investigation when a close friend, Lady Harmony Lummis, is murdered in Lummis' private theatre box at the Prince of Wales Theatre. The watch and the Bow Street Runners seem overwhelmed, and both Lady Lummis' husband and son seem totally unconcerned about ensuring that the lady's murderer is apprehended. Saddened and angry about her friend's death, Lady Priscilla is determined to see justice done. But first, Lady Priscilla must discover if Lady Lummis was murdered in a robbery gone terribly wrong, or if she was murdered because of something more personal. A task that becomes slightly more complicated when it comes to light that the murdered lady was having an affair with the principal actor (Reginald Birdwell) of the Prince of Wales Theatre. Was Lady Lummis murdered out of anger and jealousy then? And could the suspects number Lord Lummis as well as the actor, Birdwell? Fortunately for Lady Priscilla, she knows that she can count on her clever fiance Sir Neville Hathaway to help see justice done...

I really wanted to like this book. But I kept picking it up and putting it down -- it took me an entire week to finish "The Wedding Caper" and that was solely because I skimmed through a lot of it! I think that the problem was a lack of focus: was this a romance novel about how much Lady Priscilla and Sir Neville were looking forward to their wedding night, or a mystery novel about the murder-robberies at the theatre? And then there was also the small subplot involving Daphne's London debut and the young gentleman she'd fallen in love with -- it was all almost too much and none very satisfactorily developed. The mystery subplot really needed more "meat" to it, and I would have liked to read more about Daphne's season. Instead, I had to contend with Sir Neville's explosions -- I found myself gritting my teeth about the third or fourth time he exclaimed, "Blast it, Pris" or something along those lines, and his feelings of longing for Lady Priscilla. Perhaps I had lost all feelings of romance somewhere along the way and was just feeling bilious? But whatever the reason, I found "The Wedding Caper" to be a well written but bland read and totally lacking focus.

Description from the book back cover:

The long-awaited wedding of Sir Neville Hathaway and Lady Priscilla Flanders is only three weeks away - and an evening at the theatre should prove a welcome diversion. But before the final curtain, a noblewoman is slain in her private box ... Was the killer a mere thief, desperate to cover up his crime? Or did Lady Harmony Lummis die at the hands of her lover, the acclaimed thespian Reginald Birdwell? Neville and Priscilla begin to investigate before the body is cold, but the murderer eludes them. Now all the ton is abuzz - and gossip has it that Harmony's indifferent husband paid the handsome actor to keep his wife happy ... There is only one clue to follow: Harmony's jeweled brooch was ripped from her gown. The bauble is a family heirloom of unique design, and if the murdered has pawned it, Neville and Priscilla can track him down. But to find the killer, they must borrow costumes from the shuttered theatre and play the role of criminals ... on the most dangerous streets in London ...