A Foreign Affair by Caro Peacock
Review by Jerelyn H. (I-F-Letty)
I have a weakness for mysteries set in the Victorian era. While I like most historical mysteries, there is something about this era in England, in this time of foggy gas lit streets, that takes hold of my imagination. It is the dawn of the industrial age, and technological advances in every quarter were on the horizon.
A Foreign Affair takes place just as the last Hanoverian King William IV is dying, and his niece Victoria is poised to take the throne. Never had an English Queen come to power without civil strife. But that isn’t what concerns Liberty Lane at this time. Her beloved father is killed in France in a duel. Liberty knows her father, and knows he has been murdered he would never have dueled. With a single minded intensity she sets off to prove this. She leaves the safe, but begrudging care of an aunt, and makes her way to France. She is thrown head long into political skullduggery which not only threatens her life, but that of the nation. A shadowy figure offers her a way to find out what happened to her father. Out of money and options she agrees to pose as a Governess to a wholly unlikeable man and his dysfunctional family, there is a connection to the death of her father here, if only she can prove it.
Ms. Peacock writes a great cast of characters that will reoccur in the next books. I have seen Ms. Peacock described as Christie-esque and I can’t deny they might have a little of that feeling, bodies do tend to turn up when she is around. Liberty is a young woman raised by socially conscious parents, with decidedly republican sentiments. I think that her upbringing, gives her the strength to defy convention, and to make her own way in the world, at a time that women were very much restricted. Peacock gives a very good portrayal of the challenges she might have faced. What I also loved was her understanding of the class system and how Liberty fits into it. I liked this book very much and what excites me is that there are three other books in this series and a fifth to be released in June. 4 stars
Sounds interesting! Yet another book to add to my Reminder List! 🙂
I will definitely check this out. Thanks for the nice review.
Added to my RL. Thanks for sharing!