MURDER IN DRURY LANE

A resourceful baroness solves a theatrical murder while battling societal prejudice.

As the satiric comedy A Bold Stroke for a Wife unfolds on the stage of London’s Drury Lane Theatre in 1806, an even more compelling drama is playing out behind the scenes. Following a heated argument with actor Alexander Hildebrand, playwright Anthony Danielson is stabbed in the back with a spear by an unseen killer. In the audience, Abigail Carrington Monroe, aka Lady Worthing, waits patiently with her godfather, Neil Vaughn, for the final act of the play to begin. As she elaborates on her justifiable distress over her disreputable husband, currently “exploring the world,” and more immediately on the burglary of her home just hours ago, it becomes clear that Vaughn's plan to use entertainment to distract her from her recent troubles has gone terribly awry. The murder proves to be a more successful distraction, since Abigail, who’s already acquired a taste for detection, can’t help but investigate. Riley’s Regency Era thriller diverges from most period mysteries in two respects: The heroine’s first-person narrative is brisk and economical, and the whodunit plot is woven into Abigail’s story of survival in a judgmental society. As if her abandonment by her husband were not challenge enough, Abigail faces bigotry and sexism as a Black woman as well. It’s her empathy for Danielson’s widow that compels her to solve the crime, though the revelation of the killer might endanger the pending abolition bill in parliament. An Author’s Note provides much interesting background information on people, places, and history.

Not your grandma’s period mystery.