You might remember that I interviewed author Katharine Schellman last week HERE. I liked her Lily Adler mystery series so much that it's back this week with a review. And don't forget the giveaway!
More About A Scandal in Mayfair
A Lily Adler Mystery
Sometimes danger lurks in plain sight, and in the cutthroat London Season socialite Lily Adler must race against time to catch a killer. Fans of Bridgerton will delight in this Regency-era mystery featuring an intrepid sleuth, plenty of intrigue, and a touch of romance.
London, 1817. The London Season is beginning once more, and Lily Adler’s return to her home on Half Moon Street feels different this year. No longer a recent widow, she has a life and friends waiting for her. Lily also has new responsibilities in the form of her protégée Amelia, the sister of her longtime friend Jack Hartley, who is escaping her own brush with scandal and murder. But there is A Scandal in Mayfair.
It doesn’t take long for Lily’s growing reputation as a lady of quality who can discreetly find what is missing or solve what is puzzling to bring a desperate young woman to her doorstep. But helping her means unraveling a tangled web of family secrets. Soon, a missing will, a dead body and the threat of blackmail leave Lily facing danger every way she turns.
The glittering society of Mayfair conceals many secrets, and the back alleys of London hide even more. Lily Adler will need to find the connection between them quickly if she wants to stop a killer before it’s too late.
More About Katharine Schellman
Katharine Schellman is a former actor and one-time political consultant. These days, she writes the Regency-set Lily Adler Mysteries and Jazz Age Nightingale Mysteries. Her books have been praised in outlets from Library Journal to The New York Times, with reviewers calling them “worthy of Agatha Christie or Rex Stout” (Library Journal). Katharine writes in the mountains of Virginia, where she lives with her husband, children, and the many houseplants she keeps accidentally murdering.
Catch Up With Katharine Schellman:
Thoughts on A Scandal in Mayfair
Lily Adler is not your average amateur detective. The constraints placed on her by her wealthy society circle give her two things to deal with: unraveling a mystery and not breaking any of the sometimes maddening rules of polite society. Of course, the fact that she and her friends (and sometimes assistant sleuths) exist in this world adds an extra layer as you see their polite society mask and their true personalities, shown only to a select few. In turns they are annoyed by their place in society, threatened by the thought of losing it and use it and the rules that accompany it to their advantage. It's enlightening to look inside this complicated world.
In the Mayfair world, Lily's brushes with real danger and violence are few, most of the book is a slow and steady cerebral investigation. Of course, that makes the danger strike you as even more intense. Author Katherine Schellman, rachets up the tension in this book by frequently manipulating our sympathies. At first I felt so sorry for a victim of theft. But then she was connected with a shady character. Hmm. And then she looked guilty and I shifted my sympathy to the shady character. In a world where appearances are everything, it was tough to determine the true feelings and motives of so many of the characters. If you like surprise revelations that make you say, "Why didn't I think of that!" A Scandal in Mayfair is the book for you.
Happy news! I'm late to the party (A Scandal in Mayfair is Book 5 in the Lily Adler series) but I easily jumped into the world of Lily Adler without tiring exposition to bring me up to speed. There was just enough hint to past events to make me eager to read the first four books.
A Little Extra
Katharine Schellman also has a second historical mystery series: The Nightingale Mysteries with Vivian Kelly during the Jazz Age in New York City. Speakeasies, mob bosses, tenements...and murder!
Want to Win?
Enter to win a $25 bookshop.org gift card to winners in the US. Enter the giveaway HERE
Ready to Read
Thanks for sharing! I can't believe this is your first by her! I've loved this series and am eagerly anticipating the next one :)