By Tasha Alexander
Lady Emily is back for the fourteenth time! I love this series – and recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good mystery series with a strong female protagonist. I have about a 50/50 record of figuring out who did it over the course of the series before Emily…but I digress.
Lady Emily is in her cultural center literally and geographically in this one…well close enough. She is at the archaeological site of Pompeii (just outsideish of Greece, her passion) with her dark, spymaster husband, Colin Hargreaves and her bosom friend since birth, Ivy Brandon. Following her previous life trend, the murders then ensue.
The historical detail Tasha Alexander supplies always makes the setting, story, and mystery more real for the reader. I enjoy getting lost in a great story and learning along the way too. We simultaneously hear a voice, Kassandra, from Pompeii right before Vesuvius erupts, giving us a closer look into the people and day-to-day lifestyle of the area before the great disaster.
While we don’t get to enjoy the escapades of Emily and Colin’s children this go round, Jeremy, Duke of Bainbridge is back, and we meet some other colorful characters. Overall, a great addition to the series.
Pros & Cons & Potential Spoilers
Pros
- I love the return of all our favorite characters, except Cecile, whom I always miss when she is gone, and find myself craving champagne
- Learned a lot about Roman life and their treatment of slaves
- Want to visit Pompeii as badly as I did in the sixth grade all over again
Cons
- I want Emily to solve a murder before she or someone she loves is inevitably trapped with them somewhere waiting to be murdered, narrowly defying death. I want her to do a Hercule Poirot, all the suspects in the parlor awaiting sentencing reveal, one of these times
- I do not like the addition of one key character from Colin’s past this go round…I get it, but I don’t like it
- Following Kassandra’s story is interesting, but doesn’t really add much to the plot outside the strategic weapon at the end. Would rather her story provided further enlightenment about one of the characters we meet in Emily’s time